For many people one of the first signs of winter weather is dry hands. Some people even experience hands so dry that their skin cracks and bleeds. Once this happens any activity, even the most basic ones, becomes painful and frustrating. Though this problem is troublesome there are lots of easy solutions for healing your hands so that you can make it through the winter without discomfort.Why Our Hands Get So Dry
Our hands get very dry in the winter because of the cold weather outside, the dry air inside, and frequent hand washing.
These factors combine together in order to cause dry, irritated, cracked, and even bleeding skin on the hands. When your hands are extremely dry you can get fissures or very deep cracks in your skin. Fissures can make even everyday activities like washing the dishes or picking things up painful and annoying.
Why do certain people suffer from dry hands more than others? It turns out that our genes are to blame. According to WebMD how strong your skin barrier is, that is the outermost layer of our skin that protects the other layers of your skin, is genetically determined. If your skin barrier is weak you are more likely to suffer from skin conditions such as eczema and dry skin. Unfortunately if you had chapped hands before you are more likely to suffer from them again.
Prevention and Healing
In order to prevent dry hands and to help heal dry skin on your hands you need to wear gloves when washing dishes and cleaning the house. According to Dr. Cynthia Bailey you need to wear gloves if you are handling any material that would be too harsh to apply to the skin on your face.
This isn’t the most convenient advice but it will certainly help your hands.
Wash your hands with gentle soaps; foam soaps can be too harsh on the skin. You can try a soap with glycerin in it for effective yet mild cleaning. Apply moisturizer immediately after washing your hands. You should be applying hand moisturizer consistently throughout the day in order to keep the skin on your hands feeling good.
Keep a moisturizer in your car, in your purse, and in your desk at work so that you always have one handy. Don’t just moisturize your hands -be sure to moisturize your nails and cuticles as well. At night you can apply a thick layer of moisturizer and wear cotton gloves while sleeping in order to really help the moisturizer penetrate and work. Lastly, consider getting a humidifier for your home in order to add moisture to the dry winter air in your house.
You can also prep your hands before applying moisturizer by gently exfoliating them. You don’t even need to buy a scrub since you can easily make one yourself with coconut oil and regular sugar. Coconut oil is very moisturizing while the sugar gently removes dead skin cells so that the moisturizer you apply immediately afterwards sinks in better.
Hand Cream Tips
There are numerous hand creams to choose from. Finding the right one for you in really a matter of trial and error.
Be sure to look for certain ingredients when buying a hand cream:
- lanolin
- glycerin
- hyaluronic acid
- urea
- lactic acid
- isopropyl palmitate
- squalene
This is not an exhaustive list of moisturizing ingredients, and obviously your hand cream won’t contain all of the above ingredients. You’ll know you have found a good cream if it contains one or more of the ingredients listed above.
One last thing – from personal experience I have found that fissures heal when you apply hydrocortisone cream to them such as Cortaid. You will probably need more than just a regular moisturizer in order to heal those deep cracks in your hands.
Recommended Products
There are plenty of effective hand creams on the market at all price ranges. Here are some recommendations:
