OS way to moisturise extremely dry hands

Charliex

Sugar and olive oil scrub works wonderfully and adding in a spoonful of honey will give it additional softening results. Apply, scrub well and then leave to soak in for a good few mins before rinsing off.

stiltwalker

I use a homemade body butter that is mainly shea butter with a little cocoa butter and sweet almond oil, I usually add a touch of fragrance but it is fine without.

adelight

Olive oil and cotton gloves overnight or when watching telly and not using your hands.

she_who_can_not_cook

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I have very, very dry hands (can't wear rubber gloves because of latex allergy and hate them anyway even if non-latex). The cream I use is effective, the only effective one I know, and not outrageously expensive, but I could do with using it less often to save money. Does anyone know an OS alternative? (Not lard please, bleeeuuuugh!_pale_)

Thank you.

i know you said not lard but... i got some cheap mayo from a bbe site it was a big tub so i put it in the fridge but left a small amount out it worked wonders on my knees

SpikyHedgehog

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I have very, very dry hands (can't wear rubber gloves because of latex allergy and hate them anyway even if non-latex). The cream I use is effective, the only effective one I know, and not outrageously expensive, but I could do with using it less often to save money. Does anyone know an OS alternative? (Not lard please, bleeeuuuugh!_pale_)

Thank you.

I also have a latex allergy which I realised when using latex disposable gloves for washing up at my boys' scout hut - later that night I had a nice asthma attack . But I always use gloves for washing up - non latex, obviously! I know you said you hate them, but they really do make a difference. When I've washed up at work, my hands are horrible, as we don't have washing up gloves there. So, one of my suggestions is to try a pair at least for washing up, and anything else where your hands are in water ~(hand washing clothes, cleaning worktops, etc). I like bizzybees gloves & wilkinsons do the latex-free for £2 a pair http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/scourers-cloths+rubber-gloves/bizzybee-gloves-latex-free-medium-hypoallergenic/invt/0284726/?gf=a

Looked like some places were cheaper but I couldn't easily find links...

I got hemp hand cream from the body shop for my dad & a friend & they love it as it really helps their dry hands - I can't stand the smell as the patchouli is far to strong for me. The big tube is much more cost effective than the small one.

DS1 has aveno oat cream on prescription to help with his eczema as suggested by the dermatology nurse - available in supermarkets & chemists too.

I avoid lanolin as I'm allergic to that too & if I inadvertently use cream with it in, my hands start to itch annoyingly & it dries them out.

Do you have diagnosed eczema or 'just' dry skin? When DS2 was a baby, my dry skin tipped over into eczema that needed steroid & antibacterial cream on prescription to get under control, but as long as I'm careful, I can usually avoid it getting that bad. The trick is to keep the skin moisturised with something that suits you so it doesn't get to the dry & itchy stage.

An old remedy for eczema was to 'wash' with olive oil - aqueous cream is the more modern version & available in the big tubs & smaller tubes - DS1 used to keep a tube at school to wash his hands with rather than soap.

And typing this has made me aware of how tight the skin on my hands is! Off to moisturise!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

mrsf16 wrote: »

Aqueous Cream for washing your hands, then dry them off and moisturise with it too! xx

Seconded. I swear by it through the winter.

rosalie-lavender

I usually have a problem in the summer with very dry hands. In the winter it usually clears up. I use hemp hand cream from the body shop and stock up when there is a deal or offer on.

I am going to try some of these suggestions too. I have added a tub of aqueous cream to my next Tesco order.

valk_scot

I do a lot of gardening but I'm also a spinner (the wooly sort, not the sporty sort) so I need to keep my hands in A1 shape. I don't use handwash of any sort because the detergent ruins my skin, I wear rubber gloves for washing dishes and clothes (you can get non-latex ones) olive oil and sugar scrub regularly and use hand cream every time I wash my hands. I have several creams ranging from a rather posh shea butter and avocado oil one that a friend of mine makes to plain old coconut oil from Superdrug. I use hand cream last thing at night too, though I don't bother with the gloves. Lanolin doesn't bother me either which is fortunate as I do handle raw sheep fleece a fair bit which leaves my hands feeling fabulous.

TBH I wouldn't compromise on something like this. How much does hand cream for a week cost after all? £1? £2? Cut down on something else to pay for it. Life is too short to be miserable with dry, itchy hands.

It's worth finding out what dries them out though, it's almost always handwash or sanitiser tbh. Washing dishes twice a day v washing your hands with handwash x8 and rubbing alcohol on them a couple more times? A bar of superfatted soap costs a lot less than handwash and the saving will pay for the hand cream.

snowleopard61

Thank you all so much! Lots and lots of different ideas to try.

SpikyHedgehog, what I originally had was quite severe eczema or rather allergic dermatitis, caused by trying to wear rubber gloves for housework when I first got married many years ago. It wasn’t obvious that it was the gloves causing the allergy because my hands were then so sensitive (and cracked and raw) that they reacted to everything they touched even when I tried not using them. Eventually I was patch-tested and the latex allergy confirmed, but it took a lot of dermatology help before the eczema/dermatitis was eliminated. The tendency to extreme dryness, however, has never gone away.

To all who’ve recommended aqueous cream, many thanks, and I may give this another try. I have to admit I really don’t like it (putting your hands into a pot of cream before washing them always seems unhygienic to me, especially after dealing with cats' litter trays etc!) and have not found it very effective in the past, but it may be worth a try.

Valkscot, I’m tempted to agree with you that the cost of the cream I buy is actually money well spent, in the end, though I’ll give some of the suggestions on this thread a go too. FWIW (if anyone else has the same problem) the cream I use is actually sold as a foot cream, CCS Swedish, available from Boots and Superdrug but cheapest from Amazon. I discovered it by accident as I was recommended it for my feet and it helped my hands so much. (I just put up with the dry feet and use the cream on my hands instead!) It is quite astonishingly good and so far has been the only thing that has actually made my hands feel normal - provided I use it every single time I wash my hands, and at night. It isn't actually all that expensive, especially from Amazon ... it's just that I was looking at every possible expenditure I could reduce

Thanks again everyone.

BAGGY

If you hands are split use honey on them. It takes the inflamation down. I used to do this and cover with a plaster over night as it was just knuckle area. No splits left. Also I'd go with the oil also.