SCENARIO: My hands are so dry that my knuckles are RED! They are cracked in places, and they can be quite painful as the day wears on. I need to wash my hands for reasons related to my job often! What kind of products can I use that will last throughout the day? What treatments or things should I be doing to soften these babies?
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I use Lush’s Smitten on my hands every night and go to sleep. I wake up with the softest hands and cuticles. It’s definitely a thicker cream, something I wouldn’t use during the day.
For day, I recommend keeping lotion everywhere – in the car, in your purse, at the sink, at your desk at work…anywhere that you go. I do that and it makes me stay on top of putting on lotion. Plus the constant moisturizing makes my skin soft, smooth, and moisturized all day long. One creme that I have that lasts a really long time is the Savannah Bee Company’s Beeswax hand cream. I love it.
Another thing you can do is buy hand soaps that have lotion in them.
Hmmm I have this problem too because I’m anal about cleanliness with my new baby. What I do is scurb my hands with used coffee beans to exfoliate them (rubbing my hands together for around 3 minutes making sure to get all the crevices) and then I moisturize with gold bond healing skin therapy lotion. I also use that lotion after I wash my hands. At night I like to use udderly smooth (or similar product). I smear it on my hands put on a pair of spa gloves and then sleep with it on. Hope that helps
I adore Olay Quench. You might be better served with using something super thick and wearing gloves at night with it. My nephew had eczema and he was told to use Eucerin. It seemed to work well for him.
I keep a bottle of Curel Targeted Therapy hand and cuticle cream at my desk and in my bag. It works wonders.
i have the same problem cause i’m a waitress, so i have to scrub my hands every other minute it seems like. i’m a sucker for bath and body works products (just a minute manicure scrub from true blue spa and look ma! new hands,) as well as origins products (gingergloss smoothing body oil.) i also have this little tub of manicure salt that i bought from the salon where i get my manis/pedis/brows waxed. it’s from kvn coskm inc. and i got it for $15. i leave that in the shower and use it whenever i’m in there (on my whole body, actually! it’s amazing!!) and then i use my gingergloss for the day. i also have a cuticle cream that i use on my cuticles and knuckles during the day–well, whenever i get the chance to use it. i leave my just a minute b&bw’s scrub next to my sink and use that whenever i wash my hands at home, and then put on my look ma! new hands lotion. at night i’ll even use my shea it isn’t so foot cream. it seems like a lot of stuff, but it definitely works.. it’s still frigid here and i’m washing my hand’s over twenty times a day and i still get compliments on how soft my hands are! oh–and i use baby oil all over my body right after i get outta the shower before i even towel off. it works like a charm! :o)
I like the Gloves in a Bottle, it lasts through washings http://www.glovesinabottle.com/ and it is my holy grail of hand creams. A friend who is a doctor recommended it to me and I have been a faithful user for the past 3 years. It is great for gardening too. I also recommend paraffin treatments, they can soften you your hands too.
This might not be what you are looking for, but it might be useful in some situations 🙂
In Norway pharmacies sell a cream that is described as a “chemical glove”. It helped my mom a lot with a similar problem caused by working a lot in wet environments years ago; you just put it on before you start getting wet, and the wetness doesn’t get to your skin. The “glove” is invisible and you can’t feel it. I expect something like this can be found in most pharmacies/ drug stores?
use something very gentle like cetaphil to wash ur hands.i live in india and my mom used a handcream by blossom kochhar when ntn else helped.its not expensive.see if u cud get ur hands on it.it works like a charm!
I second the gloves in a bottle nomination, it really is effective for that exact type of thing! (I work in a hospital so I definitely share your pain…)
i like mario badescu elasto-seamollient hand cream.
http://www.mariobadescu.com/productDetail.asp?ProductID=44&CatId=16
Smells nice, and works great.
I wash my hands constantly too because I’m always working with bacteria in the lab, not to mention I just wash my hands a lot in general because I’m a germaphobe lol but my hands are the same way too and sometimes they even bleed a little once the winter is in full swing. I personally use Jergens Ultra Healing Extra Dry Skin Moisturizer every night before I go to bed and maybe once or twice a week I’ll use moisturizer or even vaseline if my hands are crocodile dry and put on those gloves you can get at Bath and Body works. It traps the moisture in to sooth your hands over night. I also suggest Aloe gel! I hope that helps