Hand cream that actually works to fix very dry skin.

[GrouchyKiwi]

I used to get an Avon (Australia & NZ) hand cream from my Mum but Avon no longer operates in NZ and they don't make the same one here. Since I ran out of that marvellous cream (Moisture Therapy, it was called) my hands have been very dry. I must have tried 10 different creams and none of them work.

I've tried:

• Neal's Yard Honey/Bee something or other, and the delicious Geranium one.
• Aveeno Daily Moisture, and Intensive Relief
• Sainsbury's pink hand cream (shea butter, maybe)
• Norwegian formula
• Garnier Intensive Restoring, and 7 Days
• Atrixo Intensive (this came closest but still not good enough)
• Palmer's Cocoa Butter
• Burt's Bees Shea Butter

and probably some more.

Help! What else should I try?

weleda skin food.
or nivea blue pot.
and layering - put on a moisturising cream and let it sink in and then layer a thick cream on top.

I had the most awful dry, cracked hands and tried pretty much every cream. The thing that has worked has been to stop washing my hands with anti bacterial hand soap.

Since I stopped my hands have been transformed and I can just use any old cream now.

Body shop hemp cream did nothing for me

Lush have a really good one, I think it's called helping hands? It clears my cracked skin in a couple of days

Lotil is the only cream that has ever worked for me. It smells rubbish but I get very bad cracked and bleeding patches on my hands and it sorts them out in a couple of days.

I slather it on at bedtime and see a big difference by the morning. DH hates the smell but that's too bad

I like L'Occitane in the small metallic looking tubes. It feels intensive but is not at all greasy.

Also put on hand cream with cotton gloves while you sleep (or even during the day if you're not using your hands, maybe when reading or watching the TV or talking on the phone?)

This is brilliant. Thank you. Lots to try!

I second UncomfortableSilence with their theory re antibacterial hand soap, especially the white/cloudy ones. Even one wash with them impacts the condition of my skin and I get small peeling circles. If I continue to use it I end up with raw cracked knuckles.

Now I wash with a bar of soap or a clear liquid non antibacterial soap. And any old cream is enough to keep the in good condition. I'm a nurse and cracked hands are a no no in terms of infection control, they were sore and looked awful. I cant believe how good they are since stopping the antibac soap.

I just use a normal moisturizer on my hands. I either use E45 or Aveeno both are really good for dry skin.

I use Balmonds intensive hand cream it's completely natural and in a pump bottle so no wastage in the bottom of a tube. You can get it in holland and barrett or amazon. I swear by it.

Soap and Glory's hand food is good and smells lovely