Why are your hands slippery when dry, get “grippy” when they get a little bit wet, then slippery again if very wet?

Question

Why are your hands slippery when dry, get “grippy” when they get a little bit wet, then slippery again if very wet?

In: Physics

Answer 1

When dry, all the “grippiness”, or rather friction, between your hand is skin on the surface’s object.

When just slightly wet, the moisture fills in the tiny gaps between your skin and the object. It basically acts like a weak adhesive.

When your hands are very wet, there is so much water between your skin and the object that it nor just fills in the small gaps mentioned above, but forms a film between your skin and the object, thus greatly reducing grip.