I need the best hand cream money can buy!

[Elfontheedge]

I've got dry scabby flaky fingers exacerbated by washing up. Yuk. Will spend a bit if it really works but within reason!

The Garnier Hydralock mentioned in that Gruniad article is brilliant - but I have a horrible feeling they have stopped making it.

I've got something called "mechanics hands" - lovely.
The current regime for fighting it off is Gloves in a bottle barrier lotion in the daytime with L'Occitane or Skinny Dip Finger Food overnight. I also swear by the skinny dip Miracle Balm for split or scaly areas.
www.skinny-dip.co.uk/store/hand-foot-creams.html

Liz Earle Hand Repair - lovely smell and gives you lovely hands, too!

Another vote for the scrub and hand cream from Crabtree and Evelyn. I think it is lemon and coriander. It is AMAZING. In the last year in my quest to find the perfect cream I have tried...

Dr Hauschka, Kiehls, Laura mercier, Neals Yard, Aveda and surely others....C&E wins hands down.

Clairns hand and nail cream is fab received this for Christmas as well as a soap & glory manicure set that comes with a hand cream and a hand mask with gloves although haven't tried this yet.

Ive tried them all...clarins wins every time.

This is fab

www.amazon.co.uk/Udderly-Smooth-Udder-Cream-Redex/dp/B002WGJHA4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359307598&sr=8-2

Khiels for dry and callused areas. I used to save this for just that but now use it regularly on hands AND face because it is so good.

Have you considered just getting someone else to do the washing up?

Clarins is lovely IF your hands haven't got too bad. Im afraid i think neutrogena stuff is rubbish. My complete miracle cure is YuBe cream. Got given sample in space NK, have had terrible chapped hands for the past couple of weeks. Clarins, neutrogena etc have done nothing. Remembered how good this stuff is on very chapped lips and tried it yesterday on my hands. Have gone from red, chapped, horrible hands back to normal in less than 24 hours. Amazing stuff.

Definitely use heavy duty wasking up gloves, and put hand cream on before you wash up, the heat hepls the cream absorb into your skin.

Aveeno Hand Cream with Colloidal Oatmeal worked a treat for me when I was washing my hands all the time with having a newborn.

Devotee of L'ocitane but recently switched to Neals Yard honey bee one and it's just as good.

Also Flexitol is good.

Nivea blue tub!! Cream of all creams!

Oh my so many answers! Lots of things to try. Oh you guys!

Neutrogena for me. I have tried lots of posh brands, including lots of those recommended here, and find them useless. Ok for keeping hands in good condition, but no good for serious repair.

The other thing I do for serious repair is the L'Occitane pure shea butter (in a tin, not the hand cream). Slather on in massive thick layer when you will be watching tv for an hour or so and wipe of any excess if and when you need to. A thick layer and gloves before bed is even better, but I tend to be up in teh night with the kids, so don't.

Neutrogena. Find it better than l'occitane.

I bought some Dr Hauschka cream in Space NK a few years back for my mum, who suffers from dry cracked hands. She rang me up a week later absolutely over the moon - she badly scalded her thumb and the side of her hand when she was young and it has been red and scaly for as long as I can remember - within a week of applying that stuff it was healed.

I've used Neutrogena which is good but Lidl have just started selling their own brand hand creams and they have an intensive one called SOS hand concentrate which is really good. Its briefly greasy then feels soft afterwards.

Clarins but not the SPF stuff. Have loved it for years.

Neutrogena. Fantastic.
Gloves in a bottle is not a hand cream but a barrier that prevents further drying. I use it under hand cream.
Gloves when washing up or out in cold weather.
Body shop also do hemp oil for hands.
Flexitol felt nice but didn't soak in IYSWIM. Ditto liz Earle and clarins.

Atrix intensive -it's an oldy but a goody

also Aldi make their own and it's fantastic especially considering the price

Another vote for The Body Shop Hemp hand protector.
It puts a barrier on your hands and is excellent and very rich if that's what you need.
There's also a new hand cream range that is lighter and smells less earthy than hemp.
It's called Absinthe.
Fantastic stuff.

Neutrogena has worked for me up to this winter - new baby therefore constant hand washing plus central heating etc. Baby has dry, sensitive skin too, and she was prescribed a massive tub of Diprobase. Sadly she can't use it (too sensitive ), but it's bloody amazing hand cream for me!

I also recommend L'Occitane Almond exfoliating paste - will help smooth the rough skin on your hands while moisturising amazingly. And smells divine. Will help your hands absorb whatever amazing cream you choose to apply to them no end.

(I'm so buying loads of the stuff recommended on this thread. It all sounds so good)