This post contains affiliate links.
Is there a physical characteristic that people tend to notice about you? For me, weirdly, it’s my hands. First of all, I have short stubby fingers. Thanks grandma! I literally wear kids gloves. And ever since I was very little, people have commented on how soft my hands are. In college, my friend, M, and I had a contest to see who’s hands were softer. I won. And was ultimately deemed to have the “lazier” hands between the pair of us.
Other than genetics, I think one of the main reasons is because I have always hated the feeling of dry skin, especially dry hands, so I moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. M claims that I cheat by moisturizing and that he actually has the softer hands.
I don’t know about you, but quarantine life, with all the excessive hand-washing and extra dish-washing, cooking, and cleaning, has wrecked my hands. After a day of scouring pots and pan and other stainless steel appliances with Bar Keeper’s Friend, my hands felt like sandpaper. I really should buy some rubber gloves, but of course, those are sold out everywhere.
Normally, I would just use regular body moisturizer, but my hands were in dire need of something stronger. Recently I came across the brand O’Keeffe’s and picked up their Working Hands Hand Cream and their Working Hands Night Treatment Hand Cream. They’re both meant to relieve extremely dry, cracked hands. I was skeptical at first, but it works. It totally revived my raw hands.
Another good one moisturizer to have on hand is the Aveeno Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream. It contains colloidal oatmeal and ceramides which help soothe dry skin and restore the skin’s protective barrier.
In addition, I’ve also been applying hyaluronic acid (HA) to my hands. Yes, normally, we use HA on our face, but our hands could obviously use some moisture boosting in these drying times. Not gonna lie, I picked up the Inkey one solely because of the price point. It’s my first Inkey product. And I found their HA to be a little bit tacky, as in sticky, not tasteless. But the stickiness wasn’t too bad. And that has also helped as well.
It might seem vain to worry about moisturized hands when a pandemic is going on. But keeping your skin properly moisturized is vital to your health as dry, cracked skin can lead to infections. And since we can’t ease off on hand-washing as it is imperative to preventing COVID-19, what else can we do to keep our hands healthy?
- Use a mild, fragrance-free soap
- Opt for lukewarm over hot water
- Gently pat hands dry, but not too dry
- Apply an HA serum and hand cream to your hands when they are a bit damp in order to lock in moisture
- Hand sanitizers can also be drying due to their alcohol content. So apply hand cream immediately once the hand sanitizer dries.
Do you guys have any other tips? Stay safe!
