That's where a pair of latex or vinyl examination gloves come in really handy (pardon the pun). Put the gloves on, do your ribbon work, take the gloves off and hands still clean.
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)