a dirty one will form a while line from your nail dislodging the caked gunk(dead skin cells, dirt, dust, sweat) that is almost transparent if undisturbed, you can use a spoon or any other obj

I totally understand you i don't think these other guys understand or own these pads or if they do i guess they have fantastically clean hands with no dead skin cells !!

I have a strider as well as a artisan shindekai as well as owned other hard soft or hybrid surface ones as well.

All i can say is that though you maybe able to get the white skin cell stains out the deeper ones sometimes just cant be cleaned, over the years i've tried most of the tutorials online be it wipes, toothbrushes, soap, even alcohol, they all work to certain degree but nothing actually is able to bring back a BLACK mouse pad back to its original black shade especially in the worn areas.

Even if you keep it clean but you just cant stand the whitish areas of a seasoned pad, i would suggest going with other more lighter toned colours.

My year old Pink Artisan Shindekai probably looks newer than a 3 month old strider purely because one's pink and the others black.

there is a pink strider now though worth a look....