get one's hands dirty; dirty one's hands; soil one's hands

get one's hands dirty; dirty one's hands; soil one's hands:

1. Fig. to get closely involved in a difficult task.

• You have to get your hands dirty if you expect to get the gutters cleaned out.

2. Fig. to become involved with something illegal; to do a shameful thing; to do something that is beneath one.

• The mayor would never get his hands dirty by giving away political favors.
• I will not dirty my hands by breaking the law.

... McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verb

get your hands dirty : (informal)

to involve yourself in all parts of a job, including the parts that are unpleasant, or

involve hard, practical work

• Unlike other bosses, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty and the men like that in him.

... Cambridge Idioms

get your hands dirty; dirty your hands:

to involve yourself in doing work that is basic to something

• Erin likes to get her hands dirty by altering the computer code to make it run the way she wants it to.
• She'll organize the event, but she doesn't like to get her hands dirty by selling tickets.

... Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms

... http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+hands+dirty+and+dirty+hands;+soil+hands

... http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+hands+dirty