It’s that time of year again and it seems that once my hands become dry they stay that way until the end of March. Now that I’ll be holding my baby girl I figured I should do a better job of protecting and treating my hands.
Does anyone have any advice for this problem??
Thanks in advance, turtleboy
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Replies
Bag balm
Yup, Notchman, I was trying to think of that one. Ggod choice!
One source:
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/prdSell.asp?ProdGroupID=208&DeptID=20439&CatID=20537
They have other good products as well.
"Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
Edited 10/22/2002 10:19:19 AM ET by Theodora
Hey Turtle!
What a sweet motivation to achieve softer skin! Congrats on the baby girl.
First, do you know what you are doing to get your hands so dried out? Is it just everyday work, or do you have your hand in water a lot? Or solvents?
There are lots of really good lotions and creams out there. One I really like is Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream. No perfume. Not frilly.
But you know, honestly, good old vaseline will help a lot at first, then after you get the dry skin initially fixed you can switch to something nicer, if you like. If you start after a shower or washing you hands and just get a glob of vaseline and spend a few minutes really massaging it in. It takes a while. Then paper towel off if there's any excess.
Some people swear by products with lanolin, and some folks are allergic to it.
Whatever, cheap stuff usually works just as well as pricey stuff.
And the key is to keep something around so you moisture your hands LOTs during the day (when the other guys aren't looking,) The Vaseline fix is the serious stuff. Do it once a day or so, like before you go to sleep. Then find another product to keep in the workshop, kitchen, truck--everywhere. And use it especially everytime you wash your hands. I'm serious. If you've got dry skin in the winter, you have to keep at it several times a day.
"Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
Hey Turtle -
Pictures are required around here when anyone has a new baby. (Read the "terms of use" agreement) We'll be expecting to see some PRONTO.
I think Thedora is right - Quantity is more important than quality in moisturizer. Put something on often.
Bag balm looks macho on the jobsite, and should be readily accepted by co-workers. Same for "Corn Husker's Oil".
Avoid anything from Avon, or you'll be laughed off the site. Before leaving the house in the morning, make sure it doesn't have a strong perfume scent for the same reason.
One is very crazy when in love. [Sigmund Freud]
I just had another idea...if you live in a dry climate and your wife has already instituted a moisturizing program for the pint-size turtle, then maybe you can take over after bath-time. You get to grease up the small fry, and that helps your dry skin at the same time, plus you get Dad/kid time in.
Do not use too much corn-huskers oil on babies though--one tight hug, and they can squeeze right outta their clothes and shoot across the room! "Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
Zims Crack Creme
Invented by a concrete worker.
Really works!
Mr TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
Tried bag balm, works ok. Eucerin kind of works too. When the hands got so cracked up they bled every time I flexed my fingers, I took my grandmothers advice and got Vitamin E liquid gel caps. Cut them open with a utility knife and rub it in. That sounds like witchcraft but man did it help.
As the cooler weather approaches, we tend to reduce our liquid intake and spend more time seeking heat. Increase on your liquids and if your hands start drying up and cracking open use bag balm. Some of the guys coat the hands and cover with cotton gloves.
Gabe
A tube of A&D ointment is what I keep in my toolbox. Cheap and effective as anything else I have tried it is compact enough to store easily. Thick enough to stay put and it doesn't smell like a cheap tart. I have also used Vaseline but it doesn't seem to work as well on scratches and small cuts as the A&D does.
I agree, its the water intake, although before I found that out and my fingertips would split open, I used Ozonol ointment under doubled up band-aids with great success. I found hand creams useless.
sometimes board sometimes knot
I tried Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion (no added fragrance) as a result of a thread last year about this subject. It works very well, and has no greasy feel or frufru smell to it either.
Gordsco and Gabe--No kidding...Its just lack of water intake?? I've fought this for 35 years and never put two and two together. If this works, you boy's are going to become my new best friends!!!!! Thank you kindly for the clue.
No it's a combination of things. Reduction in water intake sets the stage but dry winter air coupled with extended exposure of the hands to various conditions is the rest of the equation.
Some are more prone to cracking than others. I've not had that problem but a lot of the carpenters here do.
Gabe
Gabe is right. The real "moisturizing" happens from the inside. "Waterproofing," keeping the moisture in, happens on the outside. You need both."Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
I'll agree with the other two, you need both. Untill I started taking a jug of water to work and making sure I drank it, my fingers used to bleed. I still develop small cracks if I'm working with drywall or concrete, but they don't open up, if you know what I mean. The other plus of drinking a jug of water (mine holds about a quart and a half) is the late boost of energy I get and still feeling like working just a little more at the end of the day.
rust never sleeps
Increasing the fluid intake to what you consume in the summer will help. Gabe is right in that as the weather cools we tend to drink less and thus are a little dehydrated. The heavier fluid intake may make you use the rest room more often but that is ok over the problems of being under hydrated. You have to force yourself to drink in the cooler weather because you don't have the heat as a motivating factor. Also in a large part of the country as it gets cooler it there is less humidity in the air and you don't realize how much fluid you lose to the environment.
Use what ever is best for dry skin. The secret is in the application of said cream. It is best applied to DW's skin first then rubbed into your hands through massage of DW. Not only do you get soft hands, But goes well in brownie points with DW when she is about to curse your name when little Turtle's time comes to arrive.
Go for the three-fer-one special!
Change your daughter's diapers.
After she's cleaned up, a little lotion on her behind, a little on your hands.
Helps you, helps her, and helps your wife.
After all that...bag balm, and if your hands are really shot, use gloves and drink plenty of water as was previously mentioned.
Does the water in beer count?
TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
There are, but most carry pollutants/contaminants.
Beer...the purest form...
To your health!
Thanks to all for the info, I'll be trying the Zims Crack Cream and the A&D. I have to start with DW feet prior to being allowed to work with baby turtlegirl otherwise DW will turn into Gamara.
take care, turtleboy
For maximum effect, ensure DW is thoroughly treated, from toe to (whatever).....
Sure wish I could find my little tin of hand cream that got buried somewhere after a move. Bought it at a lumberyard in New England a while back. Something like $5 a tin the size of a shoe polish tin. Had about 12 different types of oils in the blend. Other hand creams don't even come close. Started using it and my hands healed right up. No more dry cuts and hands stayed moist. If I find it I'll post the namebrand.
Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
That cream in a can like a shoe polish can sounds like "Cloverine Brand White Salve." It used to be advertised in the back of comic books--a kid could "make good money" selling it door to door for perhaps 50 cents a tin. In theory. I tried selling it (this would have been the early 50s). It was a good product, but I was a lousy salesman. My mother ended up buying most of it, and we had it around for years.
EllenVic, who is NOT an entrepreneur of any distinction.
That doesn't ring a bell. I've got to have it stuck in a box somewhere. Really good stuff. Healed my hands up pretty quick. I'll look again. Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
Was it Uncle Burt's Bee Balm? We use that a lot, has lavender and some other oils in it. Is really great for keeping mosquitoes away, and for soothing itch bites. They have a whole line of hand creams, carrot cream, I think a camomile one, but we like the bee balm best.
maybe "glysolid"? glycerin cream for the skin with allantoin.
Badger Balm, invented by a carpenter with cracked hands, makes several kinds of balm including Healing Balm, Sore Muscle Rub and Anti-bug balm, which can take care of two problems at once. The balms are packaged in shoe polish sized metal cans and have a mix of great things as, for example, olive oil, castor oil, beeswax, eucalyptus, etc. I found mine at my small local hardware store. It comes in tiny .75 oz travel tins, too. The web site has a store locator search box. (http://badgerbalm.com/),
Burt's Bees Hand Salve A Farmer's Friend is another made from manly botanical oils such as rosemary, lavandin, and eucalyptus ois and tocopherol (vitamin E) and packaged in two sizes. Doctor Burt's Res-Q Ointment is also available. You guessed it: http://www1.Burtsbees.com.
A month ago, when I showed someone my cracking fingers abused from gardening and sanding, he told me his hands never have a problem since he started--just wait until you hear this--using Absorbine Hooflex Moisturizing Creme, which is made for maintaining healthy horse hooves. It has vitamins A, D and E, aloe, lanolin and neatsfoot oil (whatever that is). You can find this at a farm supply store.
A friend swears by (100 %) Jojoba Oil (pronounced Ho' Ho ba) made by Now. It is found at heath food stores (It has just a subtle fragrance). He has been using it for about a year now after washing and before bed. He puts a few drops on his nails and hands, rubs it in and has not had cracks since.
Eroomgardener
That's it! Badger Balm. When I heard the name and saw the badger icon I remembered. Good stuff. Put me up alongside the testimonials of healing cracked hands. Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
Great! I am glad I could help.Eroomgardener
Anything helps.
Got stuck out in the desert working for 2 weeks.
By the end of the first day my hands hurt so bad and were so dry it was driving me nuts.
The only thing I could find was some sun tan lotion. Used it several times a day, world of differece. Although people started asking why my hands were 10 shades lighter then my arms.
all you curly haired folks got dry skin.
us straight haired folks got oily skin.listening for the secret.......searching for the sound...
What about combination skin?
just say no to frufru
Aveeno lotion, happy user for 2yrs. No more cracked hands. The menthol feels good on the skin or you can get unscented.
Either take 4LORN1's advices and get some A&D, or go to the local farm store (or WalMart) and find yourself some Udder Cream (comes in a cow colored tube) works wonderfully.
-- Joe --
I am laughing so HARD! You guys will wear Bag Balm or Udder stuff BUT heaven forbid you wear something from Avon! Just too funny.Tamara
The Aveeno is vastly superior to stinky greasy slick nasty bag balm. Udder creme is a joke too.
Sometimes if you skin is really bad to start with, you can use the disgusting heavy greasy stuff to start with. After all the idea is to grease yourself up and keep the moisture in until your hands heal some. The you can switch to something lighter and use it for maintenance. I like the Aveeno stuff, too.
Not for guys--Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Body Cream. It makes great hand lotion, and it smells so good I almost become delirious! It has about ten things in it that smell fantastic."Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
After Shania Twain announced that she used bag balm to keep her skin from drying out while traveling, sales of the stuff went through the roof.
Or I use skin-so-soft, which is also the worlds greatest bug repellent. We aren't all neanderthals.
this may sound awful, but it works wonders for me. just before i go to sleep, i put straight vasoline on my hands, rub it in as i would hand lotion. the sheets do not get stained,[i always think that they will] and it really helps. if i have a crack in my skin, i put a gob of vasoline on, and then put a bandaid over it, to keep the vasoline on. in one or dtwo nights, the crack as healed. good luck.
When you get cracks that bleed...
Put on some Mycitracin, (Which I find to be almost as much better than neosporin, as neosporin is better than nothing at all.), and cover with the bandaid.
I have had some really bad bleeding cracked hands, and have never taken more than 24 hours to heal up with this method.
Political discussion on this forum = The blind insulting the blind
Quittin' Time
Congrats on your new baby, turtle!
Wish I could recall why mineral/baby oil and vaseline are so bad, but here's a link http://www.earthtym.net/sensual0.htm that suggests
FWIW, olive oil takes several washings to get out of long hair!
Your list needs updating.
Our little boy has dry skin on his cheeks.....might be allergy related....but at 3 months old...when we went to the allergy/skin doc's.....no one wanted to jump into allergy treatment.
So..the Dr ordered fix.......every day or so.....we have to give him a 10 minute soaking bath....keep all the skin wet...don't let it dry..as that'll dry him out even more.......then....after 10 min.....take him outta the tub.....quickly blot dry......and within 3 minutes........apply cortizone to the red/inflamed areas....and vasoline all the rest...
or...as we call it......grease him up good! Dr said it was to lock in the moisture from the bath....seals it in.......and his body redristributes it to where it's needed.....
which is mainly his cheeks. And....the vasoline's been working great ever since.
No harm, no foul...so I'm guessing if it's same for a tiny baby....it's plenty safe for a carpenter.
The trick might be to coat your hands after a shower. I'm surprised at how fast it's absorbed and he goes from greasy to normal.......not like we have a slippery kid sliding all over the place!
And.....like others had said........lotsa dry skin is from not being hydrated enough.....remember that 8 8oz glasses a day normal people are suposed to drink....add that up...then add some for a worker guy that sweats all day....or is out in the elements.
Jeff..............Al-ways look on......the bright......side of life...........
.......whistle.....whistle.......whistle........
Hi Jeff,
In my book, whatever works is OK :-)
I've been offline for a bit and not able to research where I first heard that vaseline thing. It was something about the pores not being able to release their toxins/whatever.
OTOH, I've also heard that applying any lotion to WET skin is the way to go to help seal in the moisture yet allow the skin to breath.
Kai, I don't remember exactly what it was about vaseline and mineral oil but I think it had something to do with pthalates or something. I do like vaseline, though, for dry hands.
Gardening really tears up my hands and nails in the summer, and then fall comes and I start sewing, and making the really delicate type stuff for Christmas gifts. So I have to whip my hands back into shape and smooth out the skin and nails perfectly. I have taken to using Vitamin E gel caps. I poke one open and use the stuff on my skin and nails, in addition to all the other goop I use. This stuff is sticky and goopy, and doesn't disappear really quickly. The gelcaps I get have glycerin in them, which I know attracts and hold moisture, which is great for dry skin. They also have gelatin, but I don't think that does any good on the "outside." Actually, only the capsule itself might be gelatin and glycerin, I don't know.
I'm confused about vitamin e on our outsides, because I didn't think skin could do much with vitamins, unless you are digesting them and distributing them, but you always hear about vitamin E for scars and skin healing. I wonder if it would help jumpstart cracking skin on hands? Do you know if it's OK to apply it to broken skin?"Mr Robertson, your predecessor, an excellent librarian, savaged three people last week and had to be destroyed."--???
Hi Theodora,
Vitamins baffle me. I once ate WAY too many nuts, and even the docs thought I had appendicitis and, when x-rayed, it showed I had a truckload of undigested vitamins (along w/undigested nuts).
As for putting Vit E oil on open wounds, my dermatologist said NO, emphatically. As for cream, I don't know. Frankly, I don't think doctors know everything.
All said, I don't know why vaseline would be bad if it stops cracking skin.
Now that I'm getting back into gardening, I am going through handlotion like crazy. So far, I don't have a fave that combines the best of effectiveness (absorption, e.g.), convenience (portable, e.g.), and price/scent, but I'm leaning toward RuthAnn's lotion bar (have you visited http://www.mermaidsbath.com ?) Fun stuff!
Don't forget to apply lotion liberally at bedtime and put on your special sleeping gloves. You should not forget to dab a little between the toes for good measure.
See now there is the right answer! Just about any moisterizer and a good set of cotton gloves worn at night (no site embarrasment and only your wife to harass you) and you will not be able to tell the difference between those hands and that babys backside! I won't hurt to constantly drink water either.
Each winter I can't play the guitar due to cracked fingers. I use lanolin with white gloves at night when I'm good. I believe it is mostly an interior body problem. I'll try the drinking more water solution. The best thing that I've found is to use hockey tape with a bit of salve underneath. Unlike bandaids that come off easily, the hockey tape can last days. Keep warm all!
one more thing for folks to ponder: (this is just my theory)
as the temperature drops we burn more calories to keep warm, and fat intake is the easiest/fastest source for heat energy (eskimos eat the fat from a freshly killed animal first, my cousin who spent 5 years in the far, far north said it was like candy when you are living outside, off the land, and the ambient was around 40 below).
so, my thinking goes like this, our bodies will tend to get a little 'fat lean' during the cold months as we adapt to the cold each winter. This drys out our skin too, even though we may not get noticeably thinner.
Drinking more fluids is always a good thing, for sure.
But after spending some time in Alaska this last year, I'm wondering if we should also eat a little more 'fatty' during the winter? Of course, some of us have plenty already stored on us....
Just wonder if anyone ever did a study to compare the benefits (re dry skin) of water intake vs. oil/fat intake?
I guess that applying the fat/oil directly to the dry areas (topically) helps avoid the fat getting applied to our waist by accident!
My wife does harass me....they are her gloves!
As a pediatrician, I have the same problem. Mine is from washing my hands before and after every patient ( about 50 times a day). There are multiple emolients or creams as others have said. I happen to like Vaseline intensive care lotion or Aquaphor. The real trick is to use the cream every time you wash your hands BEFORE drying them off. While your hands are still wet, rub in the lotion and then dry them. There are also several cleansers that are non drying.
Hope this helps,
Doc
I'm trying some of that bag bomb thanks to my mother-in-law. I have tried the corn huskers and didn't really care for it. One thing that I tried in the past and forgot all about it is a product called THERAPLEX. It comes in a white tube and looks and feels like crisco. I would put it on and then cover with socks. It worked well but I can't remember if you need to have a persciption to get it from a drug store.
Thanks for all the help, turtleboy
The real trick is to use the cream every time you wash your hands BEFORE drying them off.
Thanks for reaffirming that. I keep lotion in the shower, by sinks, even outside by the hoses.
My dad used to use a product from the Vermont store (mailorder) these are the same guys that sell those crackers and grandma type nighties. It is addressed as "Crack no more" or something equally as obvious. That store has to be on the web.
Pop said it worked well to help heal the cracks in the fingertips. Also you can try standard Vaseline intensive care lotion. Remember to keep the Tightbond off the fingertips. If you cream the hands before you start to work it helps the removal of the adhesives and other oils.
Bag balm works well too, but my wife isn't fond of the smell when I hit the sack at night.
You are not supposed to put it on your sac at night, it's really just for the hands!
OK...now you`ve gone and done it! A thread on hand cream?! What were you thinking?! If FHB decides to feature this thread in the next issue we`re doomed!!!!!
I`m gonna go start a thread on jackhammers just to try and balance this mess out!
Please people....Think about the overall picture before starting new threads all willy-nilly!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Next we'll be into wash day problems.
How do you get red sweat shirt dye out of carharts washed in the same load? The guys are laughing at me.
Heuck!
So now you're telling us you turned your underwear pink!
Man, wait tell I tell the guys down at the tavern. Sheesh! Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
No, the carharts.
Too big for my wife to use.