Sore cracked hands

[MrsBudd]

Anyone know a wonder treatment for sore cracked hands? Mine are so painful now the weather has turned, with tiny cracks on the knuckles. I've tried aveeno, e45, allergenics, sudocrem, working hands cream... Any other suggestions?!

Following! Elizabeth Arden 8 hour hand cream or palmers cocoa butter hand cream are my preference but I still get dry hands especially with all the hand washing and sanitising. Sometimes use the o’keefes heavy duty stuff at night on a bad/sore bit

But still searching for a miracle cream!

I would layer hyaluronic acid, then a soft hand cream and then an oil / greasy balm to seal all the moisture in.

Oh and you could wash with a moistened rock salt first or sugar to scrub off any callouses but be careful if they're too sore. It does really soften though.

Thick nivea cream or Vaseline or E45 thickly applied overnight and wear cotton gloves.

Neutrogena CICA-Repair hand mask gloves are amazing. My hands get so dry and cracked that it hurts to move them, but 10 minutes with the Cica repair gloves and I feel like I have new hands. They also do them for feet. The gloves are on offer for £1.99 in Boots at the moment.

www.boots.com/neutrogena-norwegian-formula-cica-repair-hand-mask-10279778

Aveeno daily moisturising hand cream works well too.

Are you taking preventative measures? Gloves on for all washing up and cleaning products? Soap bars not liquid?

I was recommended Body Shop Hemp hand cream by my gap for cracked hands and it worked really well

GP no gap!

I haven't been, but I will! Thanks for the tips, I'll pop into town and pick up a few options!!

I swear by Elizabeth Arden 8 hour hand cream or the boots no 7 protect and perfect stuff. You must get into the habit of wearing gloves whenever you can to keep them dry and protected from wind/rain etc

I'm the same, OP. O keefes working hands cream, washing up gloves and gloves when outdoors works a bit for me, but I still crack. It's blimming painful. I also agree re the soap. Liquid soaps are horrid for me in winter, I buy handmade cold process bar soap from a seller on Folksy, which is lovely and creamy.

What's causing it? What chemicals or weather are you exposing your hands to?

Are you in a job where you use lots of cleaning fluids, have your hands wet a lot etc?

Windy, colder weather has hit and I have two small children so I feel like I'm always washing my hands! I will switch from liquid soap though. I didn't realise this could be making it worse until someone mentioned it upthread. I work from home so there's nothing work related...

I used neutrogena hand cream the concentrated one. With cetraben extra when they were really bad and some hydrocortisone cream at night

The only two things that have worked for me (and quickly) are Cetraben cream and CeraVe moisturising lotion.
Both fabulous if put on overnight.

Yes, soap pulls the healthy fats from your skin, leaving it more vulnerable to wind / cold / chemicals.

Maybe keep a hand cream dispensers next to the hand wash and moisturise immediately every time (or as often as you can). It's what is recommended to construction workers but you can imagine that's like leading a horse to water! 😂

Definitely try ditching the hand soap, I must have tried most hand creams on the market but nothing changed until I stopped using anti bac hand soap. My hands were so so much better.

I used some carex at work recently and my hands immediately felt irritated.

O'Keefe's

This is going to sound odd but hear me out - I have a similar issue with the winter cold and handwashing. For me my skin ends up lacking both the moisture (water) and natural oils, and then the skin barrier gets damaged and it cracks and snowballs from there.

What I do is a hand bath before bed, using a basin of warm (not too hot) water with a tablespoon or so of low irritant oil in it (eg sweet almond, or avocado, or coconut are all good, assuming you don't have any allergies). The oil droplets will float on the water and you just need to soak your hands in the water and then gently rub the oil drops into your skin every few minutes - it's like the opposite of washing your hands with soap as it puts some water and oil back in. When you're done with that (10 mins or so is good, assuming it's feeling ok) gently pat your hands with a flannel to dry them a bit (not fully dry is fine) and put a thick gentle moisturiser over the top like the Norwegian formula neutrogena or something with Shea butter to help seal the moisture/oil in the skin. Hopefully your hands will feel much better in the morning. And then during the day moisturiser after every handwash. Repeat the oil bath as often as needed - I was doing it every day for a while but now down to twice a week.

You can also do it as part of a whole body bath in the bathtub of course but if you don't usually use oils please be very careful as the bath will get very slippery.

I usually pop a little bit of Epsom salt and/or sea salt in the water too as it seems to be quite soothing, but every skin is different so you might like to just start with the oil first and see how you go.

I hope you get some relief OP, cracked sore hands are awful.

I use Eucerin cream-you have to get it from the chemist.

I have contact dermatitis on my hands. Work in a job which requires loads of hand washing. I avoid all alcohol gel, saw Dermatology and the prescribed Dermol 500 and I only wash my hands with that now, I use diprobase at night to moisturise. Not perfect but much, much better.