Hello ladies,

I suffer so badly with dry, cracked skin from constantly washing my hands (and body! but my hands suffer the most), I offer massage as one of my main services and 99% of my clients choose to have one so my hands are constantly oily, then washed, then dry, and all over again...

As we all take frequent showers and wash our hands a lot, are there any creams anyone swears by?
Are there any ladies who do massage and use a specific oil to combat sore hands?
Some days, the oil I use literally stings my hands because the skin is so sore - I don't use any harsh or fragranced products as I have sensitive skin as it is, I was thinking of trying a massage cream rather than oil, but I haven't found a suitable one yet.

Does anyone have any recommendations or tips?

X

I would go to a larger branch of Boots and look in the specialist skincare section, brands like CeraVe etc. I find their Reparative Hand Cream is lovely, and genuinely last through at least one hand wash. When mine are a little irritated I use Dermalex (Hand Irritation), which isn't as nice to use, but does work.

Also look at buying a specialist handwash, or try just rinsing them in warm water and patting dry.

Try magnesium flakes in your bath it's great for skin

Whatever you use, I've heard heavily coating them in it & sleeping in cotton gloves is also very effective, have you tried that?

That reminds me of the time I had a really dry thumb (only my thumb!!), I covered it in so much moisturiser (Waaaay too much), put a glove on and went to bed.. woke up in the morning and I can only describe it as 'trench thumb'. It was so big and wrinkled! It took DAYS to go back to normal, haha!

It sounds like you have contact dermatitis though wet work.  Are you palms/hands red when wet and starting to crack? 

I do massage HE only.  I have suffered with this too.  E45 creams and the likes are useless, they are just a step above normal hand teams.  Go to a chemist and get an antibiotic cream for contact dermatitis and ask for a barrier protector cream like Dermol.  I use The antibiotic cream first let it soak in, half hour later apply the Dermol cream and this cream will act as a barrier.  I do this morning and night for 5 days when having an outbreak.

Then each time before you massage Dermol your hands, and after each client wash your hands, dry and apply Dermol cream again.  With Massage, you really need to keep your hands moisturised to keep them from drying up. 

It took me ages to work out what was causing my hands to have a cycle of this and I had to stop using a product at a time and then found the culprit, a Elmis Cleanser I use on my VIP clients.

Are you sure you aren't allergic to the oil or soaps you are using?
I get ezcema on my hands using baby oil. It went away when  I switched to a more expensive Coconut oil (£2.50 for Lidl) but it was worth it! I also have large bottles of Aloe Vera gel for when I just don't feel like using oil.

I will try out coconut oil, it may be that I’m allergic to the oil, I never thought of that.

In the body cream section of Boots Superdrug and so on (even savers) go and buy the Vaseline body cream the one in the blue and white bottle (they do several types but this is the best as non perfumed) use it as hand cream, it's brilliant  .

Simple thing that is good to know ...and natural.

JOJOba oil is your friend. Closest natural oil to sebum.

It's good to use as an oil massage but can be pricey compared to a classic massage oil.
Anyway, a little bottle bottle, just for you. Let say 2 or 3 times a day use will last 2 years.
cheaper, more efficace and natural that anything else could make you happy.

It's also very usefull to maintain sound natural nails.

Hope it helps!