Seriously.
I always have dry skin and in the winters I have a painful and annoying problem - my fingertips will get so dry and chapped that they will crack. Owie. I work in a lab where you wear gloves a lot and then have to wash your hands with special strong soaps about 5 zillion times a day...(don't even talk about all the isogel crap we have to use) and with even more hours than normal with my MSc now that the worst of winter has hit my hands look like shrivelled old prunes. My main beef is not appearance - it just bloody well hurts. It's been happening a lot this year and just when one heals another cracks up. Currently I have two cracked fingers and a thumb on my right hand. Yes. Typing kinda hurts. And it's a contamination issue in the lab as it's technically an open wound.
*sigh*
The main cure for it is supposedly to crazy glue the cracks together (I'm not kidding - it's the only way to heal the bad ones -my doctor said to) and put lotion on all the time (which I do) and use super moisturizing stuff on your hands at night so they can heal. I try to do this but I can't seem to find something that doesn't feel slimy and super gross that will actually work. Stuff like glycosomed makes me feel like my hands are dirty...and I know I could rub petroleum jelly on my hands before going to bed but ew ew ew you can feel it and it's sticky and yucky and yes...I have tactile issues. It's tricky.
The other issue is the scent of some of these things. In the past my emergency remedy has been this hippy hand cream I found at the health food store - all natural stuff with extracts and cocoa butter and beeswax and it works sometimes, but smells strongly due to all the stuff in it. Nothing says sexy like going to bed smelling like a pinecone. Other pepperminty stuff I had that worked OK was vetoed by J as it made me smell "like a rancid candycane" (it really did smell horrid). Nevertheless, I think I will need to go hunting for something else because this hand cracking thing has got to stop. I have a lot of typing to do for my class. And it hurts.
whine
I'm willing to try anything at this point. I may even get in touch with my granny side and hunt down some Gold Bond medicated lotion. (despite the fact that the thought of it makes me feel like I need dentures and bifocals...)
Anyone have any suggestions for cracked dry hands? I'm willing to try it. Especially if it's come cool make-it-yourself stuff...image
