Ok so I can exfoliate my face with my hands...

[headfairy]

which saves a lot of money on face scrub but isn't entirely desirable. Can someone recommend a shit hot hand cream that doesn't cost a lot (because I'm going to have to buy about a thousand tubes to scatter around the house, the car, at work etc etc etc)

This is great and cheap!!!
www.vaseline.co.uk/Product.aspx?Path=Consumer/OurProducts/HealthyHandNail

This is excellent, but not so cheap...
uk.loccitane.com/FO/Shea-Butter-Hand-Cream,p01MA150K7.htm

Hope that helps x

My top tip for very dry hands is to use some moisturisers (anything decent, doesn't have to be expensive) and cotton gloves overnight. Slather on the cream (don't need to rub it in too much), put on the gloves and sleep on it. Makes an amazing difference very quickly.

I'm currently using a bog standard Aveeno oat moisturiser and that seems to be fine.

Cotton gloves like these. Think I just got mine in Superdrug though.

I recently had a hot cream manicure - bascially freezer bags filled with warm hand cream left on for about 10 minutes. Really helped my dry hands! I wondered if I could recreate this at home - haven't tried yet - however a gently microwaving of a bog standard cream in a bag could just work.....

Superdrug Vitamin E hand cream is great and cheap. Put Flexitol on at bedtime for an extra boost (and the great smell of elderly people )

^ hot cream manicure (sounds a bit blue dunnit) - what about slathering on hand cream, then cling film and hot towels? Rest your hands on the radiator for ten minutes?

Olive oil rubbed into your cuticles is good too.

Put a teaspoon or two of granulated sugar into the palm of one hand. Pour on enough olive oil to saturate the sugar.

Rub= hands together as though you were washing them. Give them a good few minutes of this, rubbing the backs and between fingers.

Rinse off under warm water with a little gentle soap.

Hands should feel much softer. Use something like Vasaline hand cream regularly.

Actually I'm currently using M&S Rose Hand Cream, cos it's nice and really smells like roses.

Hi headfairy. I had this problem until recently- I could hear the crackles as my over-dry fingers caught the filaments on my tights .

For me the solution is not the product but the frequency with which I moisturise my hands...
here's what I did:-

Put a pump dispenser of hand lotion next to every basin in the house. There are lots of lovely, expensive hand lotions in pump bottles- Moulton Brown etc or you can get a pump dispenser from Habitat, John Lewis etc- anywhere that does bathroom accessories, then fill it with your own lotion. The trick is to have the pump dispenser. I have lots of tubes of hand cream, but with busy toddlers I rarely used it. The pump is so much quicker- . I have MB in the downstairs bathroom, and a pretty ceramic pump jar upstairs. It was also incredibly satisfying squeezing all the freebie hand cream samples and Christmas smellie creams into said jar .

Oh and use rubber gloves every time you wash up in hot water.

Now my hands are silky

The best one is Neutrogena one, not the clear greasy one but a white one, about £4 from supermarkets in a blue and white squeezy tube.

The cotton glove with actual vaseline works a treat. Overnight, slather it on and put the gloves on. Magical! Works on feet too.

Yes that Neutrogena one is v. good, and Aveeno.

I have a pump of Aveeno in the bathroom, and one of Oilatum in my bedroom which I use after nappy changes. I also like the L'Occitane one and have a tube of that in my bedside drawer, some Sanctuary in the kitchen and something else in the downstairs cloak.
Agree that pumps are the way to go, I remember to use hand cream much more often if it is a pump rather than a tube.

Burt's Bees do a very good cuticle butter which is only about £5 for a little tin which will last ages.

Agree Neutrogena norwegian formula (the blue one) is very good. Once the hands are back to normal I would carry on with a light moisturiser like Vaseline intensive care or similar.

Actually using hydromol on Boy's skin twice a day has done wonders for my hands...