Old lady hands

[tryingsomethingdifferent]

I'm 36 and although I don't have wrinkles on my face because the fat keeps them at bay my hands get really dry and I'm even starting to get faint age spots :o ! I admit I have never looked after them and I have 3 small children, 1 still a baby, so I am always washing them...

Any suggestions for damage limitation?

I'm 35 & so know what you're talking about (although my eyes have plenty of 'laughter lines') so look forward to seeing the responses!

weleda skin food mornings and evenings and a lighter moisturiser during the day.

The biggest difference to my hands was switching from liquid handsoaps to the big bars of olive oil soap which are so much less drying.

If you are poor - Flexitol handcream
If you are rich - Aveda Hand relief
If you are middling - Clarins or L'Occitaine

Don't believe anybody on here who tells you to buy the Body Shop hemp. It stinks.

Sorry, I reckon once your hands start going downhill, short of having fillers injected to re plump, theres not much you can do

Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated the hemp stuff.

I find all hand creams stop working so need to switch them. A good cheapy one is Boots own brand expert one for dry hands - about £2.75.

Or wear gloves a la Madonna

My friend who is a beautician recommends using a hand moisturiser with an spf during the day and then slathering them in vaseline at night then putting on cotton gloves

Do you reckon that's why Madonnas wears gloves? I hadn't thought of that!

I do put Vaseline on & gloves at nighttime and it does make a difference but will try some of the recommended ones during the day, thanks!

Wow thanks - I am going to try some of these but not slavering them in vasaline and wearing gloves at night - on a lot of levels I just can't see myself doing that (even if it does work, which it may do I guess) and DH would find it hysterical, ridiculous and revolting in equal measure I suspect!

MrsCambell that is interesting about changing from liquid soap - my only reservation about that is that the soap gets used by so many small, grubby, and not necessarily expert in hand washing and leaving the soap clean, children (mine and their constant stream of guests...) I think I will try it in the upstairs bathroom but not the downstairs loo mainly used by guests and kids in the daytime!

I will note down some of the hand cream brands mentioned and see what I can find (sadly I am not rich Remus )

cyb you may be right, my hands are still plump though (like the rest of me) just dry and these pale age spots are starting to appear - DH has noticed! I would like to try to stop these 2 things getting worse for a few years yet!

For sure

Cross post with TooBlunt sorry I wouldn't have written that if I'd known a poster actually used the vasaline in gloves!

agree with the bar of soap.
I sometimes get eczema flare ups on my hands and liquid soap makes it worse. the dc manage just fine even if sometimes the bar comes flying out of their hands

I have liquid soap for children and a bar for me

I'm pretty ancient (grown up/ teenage children). I personally find that, when I bother to look after my hands, they respond pretty quickly. You do need to moisturise every day, but they will look much better when you do. I just use a Neutrogena cream.
It's a shame it doesn't work on my face!

No worries Tryingsomething - I don't do it every night but my DH does think its strange when I do!! It does make a difference though when I do it.

I also occasionally slather my heels in Vaseline & put socks on going to bed as I've noticed my heels aren't as good as they used to be either!!

Aveeno do a lovely hand cream which is supposed to survive through hand-washings. It seems to stop my hands getting too dried out. Babies here too so mine are dried out from liquid soap. A bar of olive soap sounds a good shout :)

I find using a scrub on my hands to get rid of dead skin before I use handcream works well. Crabtree and Evelyn do hand scrubs and matching hand creams which I like.

Good suggestions for various creams, but when mine get really bad I use aquaeous cream instead of soap and it really helps.

As for the age spots, put a dab of sunscreen on the backs of your hands before you go out. There's a L'Oreal one with SPF30 that's antiwrinkle/anti brown spot and it doesn't have that sticky texture that lots do so it's not annoying on your hands.

Oh and the best non drying liquid soap I have come across is Pears. The worst was Palmolive.

E45 hand cream - I take it everywhere.

Never wash up without gloves.

I'm going to try the olive oil soap suggested upthread.

CCS footcare cream; cotton gloves at night; jazz hands to DH; hands look years younger in morning

You see I find pears liquid soap too harsh - honestly the difference to my hands since I started using olive oil bars is amazing.

And I've tried every hand cream going but when you have babies and are washing your hands so often - I really think its the soap that makes the biggest difference.

Vaseline just sits on your skin in my experience.

Another vote for Crabtree and Evelyn scrubs and cream - the scrub is magic (there is also a Dead Sea scrub sometimes demonstrated in shopping malls which is amazing). I don't have any objection to Body Shops Hemp though Clarins anti-aging is a more expensive, but better alternative.

does it have to be the plain kind? or would this be OK? I fancy the blackberry scented one. But the first one has ingredients of just olive oil and salt. The French ones have more additives. I know you can get plain French ones but...

I think any liquid soap is harsh, as you say. But I do keep the Pears one for DH and DC and with occasional use it doesn't instantly crack my hands as soon as they are dry like the others do.