Very dry and cracked hands - help please!

[TheSeaPriestess]

My hands are in a right state, I do wash them a lot but they are consistently so dry and rough, to the point where they have tiny cracks and cuts on the back, particularly on my knuckles, so when I put cream on they sting like mad!

I use nutrogena and one from lush but my hands are still constantly dry. Has anyone found a magical hand cream to fix my horrible hands? They look so wrinkly and terrible, I find myself hiding them when I'm talking

Try goats milk hand cream...it's lovely. I'm a nurse so my hands are in a pretty bad way but this soothes really nicely and doesn't feel all greasy. I have just slathered on the sanctuary velvety hand cream which is nice too. Give them a good scrub with a salt scrub first,then slather them up,wear cotton gloves all night and they should feel better by the morning.

Loccitane shea cream or working hands from boots

I swear by this from the local garden centre. My hands were splitting and bleeding but no more.

I like Keihls - but you really have to like eucalyptus as it smells quite strong!

Eucerin; very effective and really works! Wouldn't be with out it!

Aveeno skin relief with shea butter. Got this based on a MN tip and it's the best I've tried. I haven't tried those listed above by PPs but I have tried Nutrogena like you, OP, and there's no comparison. It's also way better than the aqueous cream that the doctor always used to tell me to use.

One day I went to the hand cream section in boots and tried about 25 different creams. The most effective ones are the thickest; some of them, labelled 'creams' would drip if turned upside down. Anything that liquidy is too 'thin' to be effective.
I recommend, Palmers coconut oil hand cream / Nivea SOS hand cream.
However, what your hands need the most are creams full of urea. You can get these on prescription (forget the name). This is from experience getting hands so dry and cracked, the skins splits apart and I get blood coming out from the cracks on my hands so I've tried most stuff by now and recommend the urea cream overnight and one of the nivea or palmers for out and about in handbag.

Completely agree with the Aveeno tip - I have tried hundreds of hand creams in my time and it's absolutely the best.

Weleda Skin food

Check if your hand wash has methylisothiazolinone in it. This is in shampoos, some baby wipes, fairy liquid and hand washes. It can produce really cracked skin if you are allergic to it. check all your products and eliminate and see if your hands are better.

Coconut oil before bed :)

Bin all your hand soap, replace them with E45 wash, epiderm or similar. This should help so that your hand cream works better. I like neutrogena, and if you buy some cotton gloves you can also put them on at night over loads of the hand cream.

Hope that helps.

had a friend with a huge crack in the hand, i recommended lansinol nipple cream. i kid you not that it worked miracles! use at night with gloves:) bit greasy for after every bit of washing up.

My hands are very rough as I spent most of Easter decorating and used white spirit to clean my paintbrushes. I feel like it's stripped my hands and they feel sore. I was in town today so went into John Lewis and asked one of the assistants which of the seventy billion they stocked would be best. She recommended the Origins rejuvenating hand treatment but it was out of stock. She then said she probably shouldn't be telling me as JL didn't stock it but she swore by O'Keeffes that Gruffalo mentioned above. Am definitely going to try and get a pot at the weekend.

Try coconut oil. You might have an allergy or sensitivity to perfume or SLS or something and washing too much will make it worse. In Holland & Barrett you can get hand wash etc that's super sensitive for that.

I have really sensitive skin and coconut oil is the best hand cream Ive ever found. It's so soothing, smells amazing and really works!

I agree that the problem is likely to be your hand soap. I avoid any soap with sodium laureate sulfate (sp?) in the winter months. It had got to a point where no cream would help with my hands - cracks at the knuckles , bleeding etc. I found some SLS-free hand soap while on holiday abroad and my hands were back to normal within a few days. Now I don't even need to moisturise.

Badger Balm... also their cuticle cream is good for cracked hands.

I would try not washing your hands for a while...give them a good wash in the morning, put whatever cream on, cotton gloves then rubber gloves when you need them. I even put them on to go to the loo. Giving your hands a break works wonders

Thank you! I have ordered some of the o'keefes on Amazon prime and have dug out some Lanisoh which I will apply tonight before bed. I actually used that for dry cracked lips recently, they healed overnight and were super soft the following day. Never thought of using that.

I'll have a look for hand soap tomorrow. I do wash my hands all the time (slightly paranoid about germs) so this almost certainly doesn't help. I don't wear gloves when cleaning as well so I will make sure I will do this from now on.

Sls free soap (ideally organic olive oil based or similar low chemical and definetly petroleum free) followed by Weleda skin food. Also eating more raw oils (coconut, avocado, olive) helps too.

(CAVEAT: everyone is an individual and no one solution fits all!!)

Moisturiser by every sink. Moisturiser in handbag, desk drawer, by sofa, bedside. If hands are particularly bad then thickish facial moisturiser and socks over hands and watch a film or if you can tolerate sleep in covered hands.

I really like the lidl handcream with beeswax (Cien?). At around £1 its thick, low odour and really moisturises. We have this by our sinks and keep a supply of spare tubes.

Bodyshop Hemp hand cream. It works miracles. I wouldn't be without it. It's better than the O'keefe's someone mentioned.

Hmm interesting I was thinking I'd have to try O'Keefes based on the above PPs but I've tried Body Shop hemp cream and wasn't impressed. Too greasy and not hydrating enough.

Hemp cream from Body Shop is really good if you're constantly wetting and drying! It moisturises but also creates a barrier which is useful.
I use it for everything, including on my face while running in winter

O'Keeffe's is super- Body shop hemp made my hands feel dirty, but would be ok for nighttime under gloves. Also a PP mentioned urea... Flexitol Hand Balm is excellent& contains Urea & Shea Butter.