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Style and beauty

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Original poster

Please help my poor red raw cracked hands :(

74 replies

DitaVonCheese · 17/12/2011 21:16

Not particularly stylish or beautiful but my hands dry out and crack every winter and this year seems to be particularly bad. Even my beloved Crabtree & Evelyn hand cream isn't touching the sides. Any suggestions for (cheap) miracle cures?

Have a toddler and a newborn so have to wash my hands fairly often, though have now bought rubber gloves for the washing up. Can't really do the sleeping in gloves thing as still feeding DS at night (though suppose I could always just take them off in the small hours).

Wondering if Waitrose Bottom Butter would be any cop?!

Please help, I have the hands of an ancient crone

OP posts:

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 17/12/2011 21:18

Try the Flexitol one for a cheapo one.

Aveda 'Hand Relief' is good but not cheap.

HauntedLittleLunatic · 17/12/2011 21:19

Wear.gloves when you are out pushing the pushchair.

I also like Nivea intensive hand creme - worked wonders for me.

ZenPom · 17/12/2011 21:19

this is the best cream in the world.
If you get chilblains, then rub zam-buk in then udder cream on top.

lostlady · 17/12/2011 21:19

Me too.

The thing that works is foot cream from Boots- made by CCS, probably online too.

Put it on at night (sometimes I team mine with cotton Minnie mouse style gloves, sexy) and it does work.

I can never be bothered tho, hence my sore wizened hands

Wolfiefan · 17/12/2011 21:21

Ouch!
Neutrogena?
Gloves on at night after smothering with cream would help.
I also love Lush hand cream handy gurugu!
I found something called gloves in a bottle when DD a baby. Not a hand cream as such but apply and it acts as a barrier and stops hands drying out more. Got mine from lloyds pharmacy. I would apply it over/under hand cream of your choice.
Hope you feel better soon.

hollyonthesleigh · 17/12/2011 21:21

If you have a Savers near you they sell an olive oil cream,its dirt cheap and its the only thing that has worked on my red chapped hands.I apply it and then wear my cotton gloves during the day,keep re-applying it through the day,probably apply t 6-6 times a day.

MynameisnotEarl · 17/12/2011 21:22

Norwegian Formula Handcream is very rich and soothing - it's fragrance free too.

hollyonthesleigh · 17/12/2011 21:22

should say 6-8 times a day.

FrozenChocolate · 17/12/2011 21:25

kamillosan or that nappy cream in a grey tub

OhThisIsJustGrape · 17/12/2011 21:25

My hands are exactly as you describe yours to be.

The best thing I've found is actually Lasinoh (nipple cream ). It's quite sticky so I only use a little during the day - but tbh that's all you need - and I do slather it on thicker at night. I bf at night too but DS doesn't seem to mind!

It's about £10 for a tube but I've had mine 18 months now and it's still got quite a bit left.

The second best thing I've used is the Nutrogena one for very dry hands. I use that if I need something that absorbs quickly.

ElectricSoftParade · 17/12/2011 21:25

Just to say, whatever you use, when you are wearing gloves (outside or washing up) put on a layer and let it soak from the warmth of your hands and gloves. Saying that, I am doing this and do not have lovely soft hands but it does help a bit.

DH is away and I am greased up and all ready for bed. Have dry skin all over and have slathered on the face, hair and body a lotion which works for me and intend to go to sleep in gloves with Vit E oil under them. If you squeezed me like a toothpaste tube I would shoot out of your grasp like, well, toothpaste!

PiratecatClaus · 17/12/2011 21:26

olive oil cream sounds good.

my hands are suffering too, itchy and dry. and very sensitive. when i bang them, esp between my fingers my goodness it hurts. is this how everyone else feels?

HauntedLittleLunatic · 17/12/2011 21:28

Sorry yes I meant neutrogena intensive hand creme (norwegian formula).

PiratecatClaus · 17/12/2011 21:28

i tried some Kamilosan the other night, i should give it another go. i am awful i do something once, say oh, that's not really helped and don't bother again.

cairnterrier · 17/12/2011 21:31

I've found Pond's Cocoa butter to be really good. I always use washing up gloves and find that Palmolive's Sensitive hand soap suits my hands best. It might be worth looking at which soap you're using and also moisturiser. For some reason, I also find that my hands are worse in winter once I start wearing my sheepskin gloves.

earlyriser · 17/12/2011 21:32

Aveeno cream, easily absorbed, non irritating and the only think that doesn't aggravate my eczema

ElectricSoftParade · 17/12/2011 21:32

Pirate yes, I do know how you feel. Not great at all.

My DS has the same skin as me and I have to cover him so he does not itch. Apparently it is not a skin condition but just dry skin. Lucky DD has inherited DH's skin which is much more supple than ours :(.

I know it doesn't seem, in the scheme of things, too bad a trouble but if I don't moisturise my body at least once a day, I am so very uncomfortable and then scratch which makes it all worse. I just hope DS doesn't end up with scars from scratching like me.

StickyGhostofXmasPast · 17/12/2011 21:33

I second the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula, it's absolutely the best hand cream ever, you only need a little bit and it's not hugely expensive. I have a 7 week old and am constantly washing my hands, I'd be lost without it!

oreocrumbs · 17/12/2011 21:34

When mine are really bad I have a bottle of olive oil (about £1 from the chemist - but I suppose you could use the stuff in your cupboard). Warm it up a little bit and sit and soak my hands in it for as long as I can in the evening. I treat it like a hand 'treatment' - during the day I forget to use Body Shop Hemp hand cream.

Haberdashery · 17/12/2011 21:59

Kiehls Ultimate Hand Salve is the business. Or Mixa in the orange tube (it's a French thing and almost the same as the Kiehls one but a third of the price).

Original poster

DitaVonCheese · 17/12/2011 22:02

Gosh, thanks for all the replies. Will try some nappy creams as I have all those already and work my way through some suggestions.

I did used to have some of those white Minnie Mouse gloves for sleeping in. I was sharing a room with someone once and she asked about them and I told her I sleep-mimed. She was not amused

OP posts:

lostlady · 17/12/2011 22:05

I like to do a bit of jazz hands before go to sleep. DH is a lucky man

MrsShrekTheThird · 17/12/2011 22:07

have only skim read - apart from op, obv
Mine are like you describe in the winter. ouchies. My cure - overnight, literally - vaseline or any petroleum jelly (huge tub, inexpensive) lots slapped on and white cotton gloves from chemist. the gloves get a bit sticky in a few nights but wash ok, I do mine with the towels on a hot wash in non-bio and it gets rid of the remains of the vaseline.

MrsShrekTheThird · 17/12/2011 22:10

ps - actual rubber gloves, marigolds and the like, really aggravate my sore hands. I use some latex free hypo-allergic things from Boots iirc, they're ages old now and are still in great condition, I don;t remember them being toooo expensive to buy but well worth it if the ordinary gloves are causing aggravation.

Yourefired · 17/12/2011 22:10

I feel you're pain. Only solution was a product by a company called derma guard (was their water repellant one i think). This is an industrial product developed for hair dressers and others whose jobs require frequent hand washing etc. It really works, essentially it's a spray on wax. I got at a trade fair, but they are now on-line for ordering.

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