Light colored Keycaps, is it just me?

[typo]

I find light colored Keycaps to be a house keeping nightmare! They just get dirty sooner or later. Is this just par for the course or are we expected to scrub our hands every time we are about to type? Even then our natural oils or if we use lotion is going to get them dirty. Do you folks have some secret to keep them clean?

[LightningXI]

I just use one of those air blowers (not canned air) to just blow off dust. Otherwise, I wash my hands after eating / touching anything that could get on the caps, so normally dirt is not so much an issue.

[xudongz]

Dark colored keycaps get dirty too, maybe you just don't see it as much. At least with light colored keycaps, you know when it's dirty and needs to be cleaned.

I personally tend to remove and clean my keycaps every 6 months or so. It's also a good time to wipe dust and other debris from the keyboard plate and whatnot.

[azzipa]

Well said. But I still prefer dark keycaps for the exact reason OP cited. Natural oil secretions, dead skin, food, dirt, etc. Even in the age of COVID and extreme hand washing your light keycaps *will* get smudged. Sooner or later. Dark keycaps have the same amount of grime but I prefer not to see it. And I also pull caps every six months for a deep clean.

Dark colored keycaps get dirty too, maybe you just don't see it as much. At least with light colored keycaps, you know when it's dirty and needs to be cleaned.

I personally tend to remove and clean my keycaps every 6 months or so. It's also a good time to wipe dust and other debris from the keyboard plate and whatnot.

[typo]

See that's the thing. Just the natural oil on my fingers smudges them. Even if I just washed my hands. I just do not think they stay looking as good. I guess it is just personal preference. It maybe depends on what keycap. I think stock Topre and IBM are finger print magnets.

[Faceman76]

See that's the thing. Just the natural oil on my fingers smudges them. Even if I just washed my hands. I just do not think they stay looking as good. I guess it is just personal preference. It maybe depends on what keycap. I think stock Topre and IBM are finger print magnets.

I work with a lot of printed materials at work and my Unicomp would get nasty smudges on my most commonly used keys.  The cheap Amazon PBT caps on my 1800 doesn't have this issue.  I believe keycap color and material are both factors. 

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[funkmon]

I find light colored Keycaps to be a house keeping nightmare! They just get dirty sooner or later. Is this just par for the course or are we expected to scrub our hands every time we are about to type? Even then our natural oils or if we use lotion is going to get them dirty. Do you folks have some secret to keep them clean?

I scrub my hands every time I am about to type. No joke. I started doing it this year, and it's a game changer. I haven't had to wash a single keyboard.

[KaitlyynDuff]

I love using light colored keycaps more to be honest. This is because with the dark ones, you do not see the dirt building up and having disgusting caps that keyboards are horrifying lol. At least with light caps you can see the progress of trash building up and then you can clean it when you want to. It is better in the aesthetics department as you can build it is a more versatile color rather than going for the dark blues and blacks that we are usually used to. Hopefully, there are people who are having trouble with this as well so that you can have some friends about the dark keebs but it will be better if you are open to the lighter ones.

[Riverman]

I have a Realforce for Mac with bright white keycaps, and it doesn't take much to get a smudge on them.  At least they're easy to clean with a paper towel and any old household cleaner.  I do like how visible they are, though, so I'm fine with cleaning them more often than the black keycaps on my work keyboard.

[shansoft]

I don't have issue for dirty keycaps, except dust on darker one is much more visible.

The main problem I have is shine. Light color keycaps shine is much harder to see than darker one. The oily reflection is a big no no for me.