dried cracked hands

[f4leggin]

This may belong in Off Course - if so, I apologize in advance. My thought was that this problem is worst for those of us who have farms and work outside all winter..

Anyway - it's only November, and the snow hasn't hadly started here in Colorado, but my hands are such a mess already. I don't have excema - it's just from working outside in cold dry weather. I wear gloves as much as I can - but I have painful cracks all over my fingers and knuckles. I have tried every cream out there that I see for sale, but nothing does the trick. Does anyone have a hand cream or something else that protects hands really well? Recently I've been thinking of wearing latex gloves under my work gloves or sleeping with vasoline all over my hands and then gloves over that.. Any help would be appreciated...

Thx - Jill

[Simkie]

Firstly, stop using anything that has petroleum. It does not moisturize at all.

I use lotion from this company: www.labouquetiere.com and it's the best stuff I've EVER used. It's expensive, but lasts a good long while (one bottle lasts me 3 months of all over daily use) and it's just really, really nice lotion. I used to struggle with dry, cracked skin, but no longer have ANY issues.

[Beasmom]

Stay away from water-based lotions! Oil/wax and/or "butter" based products will protect and moisturize your skin much more effectively. I make my own at home. Try a good quality shea butter or something with a cocoa butter base. if it's got a bit of beeswax in it, so much the better.

[LarkspurCO]

I have a simple solution for you, and you already thought of it -- almost.

Instead of latex gloves, get the disposable vinyl gloves and wear them under your regular gloves. Latex gloves won't hold up.

I started using the vinyl gloves two winters ago and they have literally saved my hands. The gloves keep your hands warmer, keep the moisture in and, more important, keep the dirt and grime out. And they sometimes last for several days. You can buy them at Wal-mart or most any other pharmacy.

Try this for two weeks and you will be amazed. Trust me!

As for hand lotions, my favorites are the Burt's Bees products. I like the carrot lotion, almond milk beeswax cream and the shea butter cream (which I also use on hooves).

[citydog]

Earth Therapeutics Gardener's Hand Cream (http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=5646&at=0). :yes:

[EventingJ]

latex could irratate your hands more, especially if you are sweating in them. When I had to work outside a ton, i usually used vasoline on my ears and face to help protect them, and i would rub some on my hands occasionally. I really liked the satin hands from mary kay they helped keep my hands pretty moist! Also you could carry around a container of lotion - i like aveeno, and apply several times a day

[Guilherme]

Two Words: Bag Balm.

Buy it at your local Co-Op. Best stuff on the planet.

G.

[Thomas_1]

I've always got awful hands and have just totally sorted it!

I highly recommend 2 weeks holiday in the Caribbean and staying in the pool for a minimum of 4 hours a day and using copious sun tan lotion and after sun.

Plan B is not nearly as good but it's cheap. Do you have this there?

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Neutrogena_Hand_Cream_Unscented__68800

or cattle udder cream

[mayhew]

Have you had a doctor look at it to rule out dermatitis or other problem? It almost sounds more like a reaction to something, than simple dryness. Are the creams that you use scented?

You could try buying some vitamin E capsules, the kind you're supposed to swallow, and cutting the tip off of them then smearing the liquid inside over the open cracks on your hands. They also make Vitamin E lotion, but it usually is diluted by some sort of carrier--often petroleum jelly.

[broodmare]

first, the caribean trick is the absolute best.
but baring that, take the hand cream of your choice, buy the cheapo white cotton gloves at your pharmacy and practice your Queen Elizbeth wave at night. bag balm, gold bond, neutrogena, burts bees etc.they all help
and of course you already know this but avoid getting your hands wet unnecessarily...no dish washing bucket scrubbing etc etc without some kind of glove on
or just give up dish washing altogether..

[JSwan]

Thomas - yes we have that here and it is excellent.

I also have the cotton gloves - I feel a bit weird wearing them to bed - very Nora Desmondish. But it works so that's that.

Bag balm is excellent (the udder cream you refer to)

I see someone mentioned Mary Kay. They have a pretty inexpensive gift bag setup with Satin Hands. It's a gentle scrub, and then you follow it up with what looks and feels like softened bag balm (udder cream). I swear - you use that stuff once a week (glom it on your hands and then put gloves on) - it really does a great job.

I'm partial to Nivea for my face in the winter - I come back from hunting or chores and look like a mummy. It's purely sentimental - one of my grandmothers used it and the smell reminds me of her. It works well, but there may or may not be better products out there for your face.

[Thomas_1]

My wife would die laughing if I turned up to go to bed in white cotton gloves.

She'd be wondering if (frightened even!) I was about to do an Al Johnson impersonation

[DMK]

Being able to do the Florida winter circuits is another good tip for saving hands, but sadly probably more expensive than the Caribbean approach...

The Mary Kay satin hands is truly awesome, and you can buy just the hand cream. Also carry lots of hand cream around and moisturize after you get your hands wet. Immediately, even before they are fully dry. Supposedly that helps lock in some of the moisture. I can't stand anything that is even mildly greasy, so that rules out procucts with even a hint of vaseline, but a good chunk of Burts Bees products as well. Bath and Body works had a great shea butter hand lotion that was ultra moisturizing - Mango Mandarin hand cream. It was totally wonderful and better than anything I had ever used (inlcuding all the stuuff mentioned here). So of course they stopped making it. :rolleyes:

Clearly that was a ploy to help the economy. Before I was happy and found the one thing that mostly workled. Now I can spend another small fortune trying to find something to replace it. :rolleyes:

Chapped lips. Discuss...

[marta]

has anyone found good insulated gloves for doing water buckets in the cold?
and what do you use to prevent windburn? i went out yesterday for a 2 1/2 hour hack and despite of putting tons of beaver balm on my face i still came back looking like i climbed mt. everest.

[JSwan]

My wife would die laughing if I turned up to go to bed in white cotton gloves.

She'd be wondering if (frightened even!) I was about to do an Al Johnson impersonation


Well - if you're tempted she might be able to deal with it unless you also put curlers in your hair and slather cold cream on your face. If you complete the look with a high necked flannel gown..... that might be a bit over the top. :lol:

I don't know how to prevent the windburn and chapping - I put so much gunk on my face to go hunting OPEC shows up and tries to drill for oil. I still look like a mummy.

[Thomas_1]

Chapped lips. Discuss... got the answer to that one too.

Freezing day.
Find a padlock frozen solid.
Bend down to warm it with your breath so you can get the key in.
Stick your lips to the metal. :yes::eek:

Pull back in pain and leave lips behind exfoliated on the padlock.

Tell wife to go in and change her pants that she just p*d laughing!!! :mad:

[BornToRide]

You may also want to investigate if there's something you could do internally. Perhaps you are missing some fatty acids, such as Omega 3s. People with low thyroid function also tend to have more issues with dry skin!

[kdow]

Stay away from water-based lotions! Oil/wax and/or "butter" based products will protect and moisturize your skin much more effectively. I make my own at home. Try a good quality shea butter or something with a cocoa butter base. if it's got a bit of beeswax in it, so much the better.

I disagree with this slightly- you need some water often to add moisture in the first place. So using a heavier non-water based product, I would apply to lightly damp hands- the product then holds the tiny bit of water in and results in a more moisturizing result than just using the product on dry skin. (In my experience, anyway.)

That said, I do agree that when you're talking about quite dry skin to start with, most of the water-based products have FAR too much water in them relative to the amount of oil/butter/wax, so they aren't that effective. (Unless you layered them, I suppose- put on some normal lotion, and immediately follow it up with some heavier butter-type product.)

Also, don't just treat AFTER the fact. If you know you're going to be going out in the cold or otherwise exposing your skin to stress, put on one of the heavier products mentioned here (like bag balm) BEFORE you go out, to give your skin some protection.

(Speaking of products- Kiehl's supposedly makes some products specifically for people who do things like climb Mt. Everest. I'm pretty sure they have some kind of protective skin cream aimed at skin which will be exposed to the cold and wind, so that might be worth looking in to.)

Last, I'd second whomever it was that said to avoid the latex gloves and go for vinyl. One of the early signs of latex allergy in a lot of people is latex contact making the skin dry and sore, so if you're unlucky enough to be one of those folks who is developing a latex allergy, latex gloves will just make things worse. Plus, oily skin creams will just make the latex break down anyway.

[Mozart]

For the really bad cracks I recommend coating them with Polysporin and covering with band aids before bed. Only thing that works for me...

Also, once you find a lotion that works (I am partial to Body Shop's Hemp Hand Cream) or George's skin cream http://www.georgescream.com/, keep some by your bed, in your car and at your desk.

[KCFoxy]

Two Words: Bag Balm.

Buy it at your local Co-Op. Best stuff on the planet.

G.


I second this!

[KCFoxy]

I've always got awful hands and have just totally sorted it!

I highly recommend 2 weeks holiday in the Caribbean and staying in the pool for a minimum of 4 hours a day and using copious sun tan lotion and after sun.

Plan B is not nearly as good but it's cheap. Do you have this there?

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Neutrogena_Hand_Cream_Unscented__68800

or cattle udder cream


Thomas !...i do like #1!!!!!!!!!!!! But sadly must use the bag balm

[LarkspurCO]

You may also want to investigate if there's something you could do internally. Perhaps you are missing some fatty acids, such as Omega 3s. People with low thyroid function also tend to have more issues with dry skin!

Also people who live in the high desert -- that would be us here in Colorado. It just comes with the territory.

I'll say it once more -- disposable nylon gloves under your work gloves. Problem solved.

[Tom Stovall]

My hands crack and bleed the year 'round and I've tried everything from Bag Balm to some high dollar stuff my dermatologist recommended. What works best? Preperation H! It was the treatment of choice for ripped calluses when my youngest girl was a gym rat and it'll close a hand crack overnight if you either bandage the crack or wear a thin cotton glove.

No, I ain't kidding, the stuff really works.

Of course, it can take a bit of explaining when you shake hands with somebody and they say, "Damn, what was that stuff on your hands?" :)

[horsegirl888]

I use Cocoa Butter (the equate version of the Vaseline brand) to prevent cracks, and it works great. I used to get rather dry skin, but now I start in the fall with the cocoa butter after I shower, and it works great. For chapped lips I love the Bigelow mint lip gloss that they sell at Bath and Body Works. I just use the clear kind, it keeps my lips nice throughout the winter (but I apply it before they get the chance to get very chapped).

[f4leggin]

Thank you guys sooo much for the great suggestions!!! In spite of all the over the counter products I have tried, I don't think I have tried any of the methods listed... As for vacation... The BEST part of vacation is sleeping in and not having to feed in the morning. I really love the lazy slow mornings where I don't have the dreaded chore of feeding in minus tempatures, or the windy cold, snowy evening feedings. Sipping mai tai's on the beach - a much better idea.

Thanks again,

Jill

[DMK]

got the answer to that one too.

Freezing day.
Find a padlock frozen solid.
Bend down to warm it with your breath so you can get the key in.
Stick your lips to the metal. :yes::eek:

Pull back in pain and leave lips behind exfoliated on the padlock.

Tell wife to go in and change her pants that she just p*d laughing!!! :mad:

Tragically I already resemble that remark, except substitute a goal post (american football style), one 9 year old's tongue and an 9 year old's complete disbelief that sticking one's tongue to a cold metal object would lead to a problem. Oh yes, toss in an northern Michigan winter for good measure.

I started out young trying to prove the theory that "If you are going to be dumb, you better be tough..." Scar's still there in case I forget about the price of stupidity (and I do... and just like voting in Chicago, I do it early and often) :rolleyes:

[Blinkers On]

My wife would die laughing if I turned up to go to bed in white cotton gloves.

She'd be wondering if (frightened even!) I was about to do an Al Johnson impersonation


Gloves and socks... to moisturize feet are the forgotten dry and aging body part.
I've found that sometimes for my dry cracking hands, corisone 10 is the only thing that helps. Don't know why. And I am a serious moisurizer.

[Blinkers On]

[QUOTE=Thomas_1;3675196]got the answer to that one too.

QUOTE]

I have some barn help for that! Or it works for me. Nasal ointment, aka Vick's nasal ointment can be used on the lips and with far more success than petroleum jelly. If you forgot your blistex the only thing I use is Vick's.

[Beethoven]

Being able to do the Florida winter circuits is another good tip for saving hands, but sadly probably more expensive than the Caribbean approach...



Acutally living just 2 hours north of WEF, I will kindly disagree. My hands are very dry and cracked. I work at the barn 72 hours a week. Some days they are very painful. I find that watering only excerbates the problem as then the hands dry and crack. This summer I had little problems after dry and cracked this spring and now fall they are back. I may snag some bag balm and give that a try for a few days before I buy some. I use the Aveda Hand cream, which works okay. For the bad days, I have lotion in my truck that I apply as needed!

Any solution to getting the dirt out of the dry cracked parts? I hate my hands always being dirty when clean!

[pines4equines]

I second Neutrogena Hand Cream. THe have a lighter formula but you're looking for the one that says Norwegian Formula.

Also I will second BTR, I take a Omega 3 and 6 supplement in capsule form and it does help with dry skin. I've noticed my elbows are not as dry either.

Also will second BTR about thyroid. http://homecure.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=154&bc=no

I take the above product. You're supposed to take a few drops a day until it doesn't taste good to you anymore. And, believe it or not, it tastes yummy. Interestingly, sometimes it is more yummy than others...And, I noticed on days that I feel freezing down to the core, I'm helped with Thyactive. Also helps with energy.

I'm a big vitamin taker...but I guess this is way off the horsey course...

[fourmares]

Working Hands Lotion. You can find it at many hardware stores and at Tractor Supply. It is unscented, and was created for the makers father who is a potato farmer and is diabetic. It is by far the best stuff I've ever tried.

For chapped lips, find a health food store or gracery store with a homopathic section. Get a tube of Calendula cream. Great for chapped lips, as well as burns, and scrapes. A friend took her tube to Canada a month ago, shared it with friends up there, and barely got out of the country with it. Everyone who was at that clinic now has their own tube.

[kdow]

Acutally living just 2 hours north of WEF, I will kindly disagree. My hands are very dry and cracked. I work at the barn 72 hours a week. Some days they are very painful. I find that watering only excerbates the problem as then the hands dry and crack. This summer I had little problems after dry and cracked this spring and now fall they are back. I may snag some bag balm and give that a try for a few days before I buy some. I use the Aveda Hand cream, which works okay. For the bad days, I have lotion in my truck that I apply as needed!

Any solution to getting the dirt out of the dry cracked parts? I hate my hands always being dirty when clean!

Exfoliate. It'll help with the dryness and cracking, too. (Although OVER exfoliating can lead to dry skin also, so you don't want to be too harsh about it. : )

A cheap and simple method is just to mix about a tablespoon of salt, sugar, or brown sugar (which every you have on hand- though keep in mind if you have raw skin, the salt will hurt) with enough olive oil or vegetable oil to make a sort of smushy paste.

Then soak your hands in warm water briefly (if you add a little bit of salt to the water it'll actually help with the healing, but not too much- the water shouldn't be any saltier than you'd have a broth that you were going to eat/drink) just until the really bad dry skin starts to soften up a bit.

Remove hands from water, pat try lightly, and apply oil/sugar paste stuff. Rub all over. You can give a little extra attention to areas which are particularly bad. Rinse off. Your hands WILL be oily. It's best to just pat them dry again and put on some gloves and let the oil soak in.

You can also get special scrubs and the like, but sugar and oil is pretty cheap. :) (Also, some commercial scrubs can be TOO scrubby.)

Anyway, you could try it maybe every other day or so if your hands are really bad, to get them in better shape. Just be gentle when you're rubbing the scrub in. Then once a week or so should be plenty to keep dry skin from building up too much, if you're also using a good cream of some type regularly.

Oh, and one thing which will also help is switching as many soaps as you can to gentle stuff without sulfates. Sulfates are detergents and basically designed to strip oils from things. So if you're having to wash your hands frequently and you're using a detergent-based soap every time, you're pretty much sure to have dry skin problems. (The first non-detergent based soap that always comes to mind for me is Dr. Bronners, since it's also pretty cheap, but I'm sure there are others.)

[Thomas_1]

What works best? Preperation H! It was the treatment of choice for ripped calluses when my youngest girl was a gym rat and it'll close a hand crack overnight if you either bandage the crack or wear a thin cotton glove.

No, I ain't kidding, the stuff really works.

Of course, it can take a bit of explaining when you shake hands with somebody and they say, "Damn, what was that stuff on your hands?" :)

Puts me in mind of another personal experience. Susan and I went to London and to the opera at Covent Garden. We met a couple of her friends there: a lawyer and her Italian gynaecologist husband. (this is all relevent!) So we're sitting in the box upstairs and at the interval Luca stands up in dramatic Italian fashion to cheer and whips his handkerchief out of his suit pocket to wave and out falls the biggest tube of KY jelly you've ever seen. It bounced on the box rail and fell down into the audience below :eek:

We all just sat down hoping no one would realise where it came from :p:uhoh::rolleyes:

[JSwan]

:lol::lol::lol:

[Lieslot]

OMG Thomas, that is funny :lol:. I can just see this in front of me.......... poor audience, I wonder what they must have been thinking.... :D


Timely thread, at present I have 3 of those razorcut like cracks on my finger tips. The most annoying thing about them is, that they really HURT!! And people (like my husband) who never experience cracked hands, just don't understand who painfull they can be. He goes : "looks no worse then a papercut to me". UHM , :no: no darling, these things really hurt.
When in the wrong spot I can't even type properly....

[7HL]

Bag Balm is great.

But really works is Zim's Crack Creme.

http://www.crackcreme.com/aboutus/index.html

[stuge]

My hands get dried and cracked very easily particularly in the winter because I am a germaphobe and i wash my hands constantly not to mention all the barn stuff.

No matte what anyone tells you, your skin does not "absorb" moisture, ask your dermatologist or google it if you don't believe me (but don't listen to ordinary people - for some reason they have a hard time understanding that and buy into the marketing). Your skin might absorb certain vitamins so you can look into that but skin has been proven to not absorb most substances. So the next best thing is to protect it. The lighter the lotion the less protection you have. Find whatever lotion works best for you and put it on constantly.

The absolute best thing IS petroleum jelly. Really all lotions aim to do is work like petroleum jelly (keep moisture IN; protect) but without the heaviness. Put some on your hands everynight before you go to bed. I don't bother with gloves but if you can deal with them, all the better. Put it on really, as much as you can tolerate. If I am just watching TV at night I will put some on then. I try to put some on before I go to the barn to. I've been doing this the last few years and the only time my hands get bad is when I forget for a few days.

Look into aquafor made by eucerin. it apparently has some healing properties in it with a petroleum jelly base. I like it but I honestly am not convinced it is any better than plain old vasoline!

There is a Nivea hand cream that was rated by consumer reports as the best hand cream a year or so ago. It is hard to find because I've never been able to find it around here.

Also if you want to get rid of calluses (but make sure they are healed), I just saw a blip of Oprah last week and Dr. Oz was on there. He was talking about feet but I am sure you could do the same thing with hands. He basically said find some salycilic acid (used for acne but is an exfoilator), put that on the calluses everyday, then slather with a heavy duty lotion like Eucerin or petroleum jelly and those calluses will be gone in a week!

[DMK]

Acutally living just 2 hours north of WEF, I will kindly disagree. My hands are very dry and cracked. I work at the barn 72 hours a week. Some days they are very painful. I find that watering only excerbates the problem as then the hands dry and crack.

Some people just live cursed lives, I guess... ;)

I lived in SFL for 20 years and never had hands one half as bad as when I moved to a cold(ish) climate. Even when I worked full time with layups and pretty much had my hands in all sorts of decidedly unpleasant leg concoctions that could dry up a lake on a daily basis, they were bad, but not nearly as bad as now. And to be fair, "now" isn't nearly as bad as I recall Chicago, Cleveland and Saginaw!

So think of it this way... No matter how bad your hands are now, imagine how much worse they would be if you were doing the same job 700 to 2700 miles north? :eek:

[KnKShowmom]

Corn Husker's Lotion at night with gloves works great.

For really bad cracks (like the one I have right now on my thumb) I use some stuff I got at Walmart - you paint it on the crack and it seals it so it can heal from the inside. Can't remember the name, has some herbs in it, but it works great.

[ponygirl]

Well, I had this problem a lot. I am also 2 hrs north of WEF and have lived in hot climates my whole life. What I found was that although my hands were the worst, even the rest of my body was dry regardless of climate. So I looked at the soaps and lotions I used. I changed the shower bar soaps and liquid body washes (as they too can be very drying) to french soap that is oil based that I get from Trader Joes. It's made a HUGE change in my skin as it's not drying at all.
I've also purchased one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Drscholls-DR5515-Thermal-Therapy-Paraffin/dp/B001B8MN0A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1227626121&sr=8-2

I did so after I had hand surgery and had to go to physical therapy. It was part of my therapy. The difference in my skin on the hand that received this versus the other was impressive.

Just these few things have made a huge difference in the dryness of my skin. Hope this helps.

[Windsor1]

Bath and Body works had a great shea butter hand lotion that was ultra moisturizing - Mango Mandarin hand cream. It was totally wonderful and better than anything I had ever used (inlcuding all the stuuff mentioned here). So of course they stopped making it. :rolleyes:

DMK, if you're interested, a BUNCH of different sellers are offering this very item on eBay. One seller's even auctioning a lot of TEN 4 oz. tubes. Even if Bath & Body Works has discontinued it, you can still stock up!

[BornToRide]

Also people who live in the high desert -- that would be us here in Colorado. It just comes with the territory.

I'll say it once more -- disposable nylon gloves under your work gloves. Problem solved.All people living there have similar issues with dry cracked hands?

[stuge]

It doesn't have anything to do with the outside temperature but has everything to do with the moisture in the air. In very dry climates, like the dessert, dry skin is more of an issue than in super humid climates like the caribbean. That is why less people have issues in Florida or less issues for most of the year, the air dries up some even in florida. Here in SC, I don't start getting issues until Nov, when the humidity goes down.

And yes, many of the problems we have with our skin are related to the products we use.

[horsegirl520]

I have eczema... if you want to see some DRY hands, take a look at mine! My dermatologist gives me an Rx for my eczema, but I can only use it 2x per day. The rest of the day, I keep them slathered with Eucerine Cream. Use only moisturizing hand soap and put lotion/cream on after every single time your hands get wet. The drier you keep your hands, the better off they are (it's the wet/dry/wet/dry that really dries them out... water buckets and bathing horses is the worst!). You don't want to wear rubber gloves because your hands will sweat more and that will cause them to dry out. Be careful not to get any harsh chemicals (like bleach) on your hands. At night, wear moisturizing gloves and a petrolium based lotion (not practical during the day b/c then you can't touch anything... but the more you can saturate them in moisture, the better off you are!)

Good luck... cracked/chapped/dry hands is the worst curse!

[Melyni]

This may belong in Off Course - if so, I apologize in advance. My thought was that this problem is worst for those of us who have farms and work outside all winter..

Anyway - it's only November, and the snow hasn't hadly started here in Colorado, but my hands are such a mess already. I don't have excema - it's just from working outside in cold dry weather. I wear gloves as much as I can - but I have painful cracks all over my fingers and knuckles. I have tried every cream out there that I see for sale, but nothing does the trick. Does anyone have a hand cream or something else that protects hands really well? Recently I've been thinking of wearing latex gloves under my work gloves or sleeping with vasoline all over my hands and then gloves over that.. Any help would be appreciated...

Thx - Jill

Have you tried eating flax seed on a daily basis, 1 tablespoonful. It's best of you grind it in a coffee grinder and then add it to a glass of milk or some yoghurt.
The essential fatty acids do wonders for skin.
Yours
MW

[mkevent]

For dry cracked skin or itchy skin, Gold Bond makes a product called Ultimate Healing-it's in a white bottle with blue and gold writing-it is fantastic!!

[showjumper85]

I have a similar problem except mine get so bad that even the most reccomended hand creams burn my hands terribly to the point that they turn bright red. I have found that Hooflex Moisturizing Cream works very well (good for your horses hooves too!;)) Its the kind that comes in the squirt bottle. It is not greasy and sinks right in even if you go overboard with it! Good luck!

[goeslikestink]

Puts me in mind of another personal experience. Susan and I went to London and to the opera at Covent Garden. We met a couple of her friends there: a lawyer and her Italian gynaecologist husband. (this is all relevent!) So we're sitting in the box upstairs and at the interval Luca stands up in dramatic Italian fashion to cheer and whips his handkerchief out of his suit pocket to wave and out falls the biggest tube of KY jelly you've ever seen. It bounced on the box rail and fell down into the audience below :eek:

We all just sat down hoping no one would realise where it came from :p:uhoh::rolleyes:

whoops thomas i know that place inside out as you know i do, boy ohh boy
not ideal place to lose an object suuch as ky jelly bet you all ducked behind the barrier of the box and shunned away from view or did you pick up the programme and hide behind it haha

[DMK]

DMK, if you're interested, a BUNCH of different sellers are offering this very item on eBay. One seller's even auctioning a lot of TEN 4 oz. tubes. Even if Bath & Body Works has discontinued it, you can still stock up!

Windsor, you are my new best friend!

To the poster that pointed out about the lack of humidity - that is too true. It's just from an east coast perspective, when winter hits, the further north and the colder the season, the less humidity. FL is a lot less humid in winter as compared to their August, but it's still a lot more humid than points north or California!

I remember when I moved to Atlanta in December, the first couple of winters I thought I was going to become a desicated remnent of dried flesh, it was so dry. I started out with a humidifier, in the bathroom, then it moved into the bedroom, and finally it ended up at the side of my bed and I had to sleep with my head hung over the side, gasping and wheezing. It was, to put it mildly, pretty damn pathetic. :yes: I took this as a warning sign I am not meant to move further north. OK that and the fact I think I am near death when it gets below 50...

[Beethoven]

Some people just live cursed lives, I guess... ;)

I lived in SFL for 20 years and never had hands one half as bad as when I moved to a cold(ish) climate. Even when I worked full time with layups and pretty much had my hands in all sorts of decidedly unpleasant leg concoctions that could dry up a lake on a daily basis, they were bad, but not nearly as bad as now. And to be fair, "now" isn't nearly as bad as I recall Chicago, Cleveland and Saginaw!

So think of it this way... No matter how bad your hands are now, imagine how much worse they would be if you were doing the same job 700 to 2700 miles north? :eek:

Weird thing is that I moved to FL from CO and never had hand dryness issues in CO. Chapped lips yes, but my hands no.:confused:

[billie]

Badger's Healing Balm is my favorite for hands. I tend not to like wearing gloves, and the usual barn chores do a number on my hands in the winter. If I put on the Badger's before going out, and again after I come in and shower, I don't get the dryness.

[Cold Spring Farm]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Camille Beckman glycerin hand therapy. And I've used pretty much everything out there.

I have a large tub of it, and a small tube that I take everywhere with me. I've also gifted this stuff to friends with the same dry,cracked skin problems, and they are crazy about it.

The oriental spice smells FABULOUS!

http://www.camillebeckmanonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=720

[Nancy!]

Bag Balm. Slather it on at night and cover with gloves or socks. Your hands will feel so much better in the morning. A few years back my dad was helping at our farm and his hands got really bad. I made him do the bag balm thing and he couldn't believe how good his hands felt in the morning.

[Altamont Sport Horses]

Hydrate and moisturize from the inside out. WATER WATER WATEr Most people do not drink enough water when it is cold and the entire body becomes dehydrated. The skin will become dry as well. Also be sure you get your Omegas which help with dry skin.

I'm not sure that lotions really soak in well but they do make the outside layer of skin LOOK moist. And the lotions with petrolatum or mineral oil will actually lock whatever is inside in and lock what is outside out. So if your skin is dry and you apply a petrolatum based product it is locking in nothing but dryness and keeping out moisture. That said I think they are great for protecting your skin from drying out when you will get your skin repeatedly wet and exposed to the elements. Prevention is key.

I treat skin cracks and abrasions with Goldenseal ointment before putting on thick lotions.

Do not wear latex on a regular basis. Constant exposure like that, especially with moisture/sweat, could set you up for a latex sensitivity and that sucks (I know). I recommend vinyl/nitrile gloves if you want to try that route. Be sure to get the gloves that do not have powder. The powder will dry your hands and many people have reactions to the powders.

If you have a bad allergy to bee stings you should be careful using products that contain bees wax. Some people have reactions to them. I am allergic to bee stings but not to the point of anaphylaxis. I tried to use Burts Bees lip balm and it made my lips feel wierd and then they cracked and peeled...very uncomfortable. I use lip balm all the time and my lips were actually fine when I used the Burts Bees. I only had to use it once to have this happen but didn't recognize the correlation until I tried that tube of Burts Bees again and had the same thing happen all over again.

[Doberpei]

I have terrible skin and really bad psoriasis, so I am always trying new things, and friends are always giving me new products, but I always have a few favorites and old stand-bys.

I love Aveeno lotion for everyday use. When my skin really hurts (imagine a bad sunburn), I like a product called "No-Crack" unscented. I buy it at Restoration Hardware, but they have a website - nocrack.com. I know it's corny - but an Aveeno oatmeal bath is also really nice when skin gets really bad. Just be careful, because the tub gets really slippery!

Because infections can get in via cracks in your skin, the earlier-suggested polysporin idea is good.

My dermatologist recommends avoiding any product with alcohol - it's drying to the skin. The reason that it is in most lotions is so that it appears like the lotion is absorbing, when it's really evaporating. Completely work the product into your skin, it does no good just sitting on top of the skin. For this reason, greasy products that don't absorb, don't work, and you just leave grease spots everywhere.

Avoid really hot showers and baths. Tough to do in the winter when all I want to do is cook in a really hot shower and warm my feet and hands, but hot water is drying.

I also avoid anything with dyes and heavy scents. They don't add anything, and they can be irritating.

A little luxury a friend gave me is a heated lotion dispenser. Just turn it on before your shower, and then apply the warmed lotion after you dry off. It's not hot, but you're not slapping cold fluid on your body!

The best thing I've found for dealing with water buckets is to find someone else to deal with them - will that work?

[Jingo-ace]

Have you tried Aquaphor? it is a healing ointment made by Eucerin for dry,
cracked skin. I use it on my lips, hands, elbows, face... and have used it a
couple times on my horses skin issues & it works there too! But Aquaphor
is for people.

:) J

[stuge]

Altamont made a good point that hadn't been mentioned before. Keeping yourself hydrated can make a huge difference in your skin. Also, fish oil tablets are supposed to help tremendously. I take at least one almost daily but ideally you are supposed to take three a day and I've never been able to accomplish that :D.

But sometimes, if you are outside in the elements and also genetics come into play, you can be super healthy but still have the dry skin issues.
Prevention is the key though for cracked hands.