Use warm water. Hot water damages the skins natural oils, especially near the surface. If your hands are already very dry, try just scrubbing the palms. Use moisturizing soaps or soap-less cleansers. Avoid soaps with fragrances.
Monitor what kind of moisturizers you are using. Avoid water based products, and look to oil-based moisturizers. Ointments and creams tend to be better for this while lotions are the most water-based. These oil-based products will help soften your hands faster–within the week time period–as they will help trap-in moisture better than lotions and water-based products. Expensive does not necessarily equate to good in this case. Look for products like petroleum jelly (petrolatum), mineral oil, and lanolin. Moisturizers with glycerin, dimethicone, and hyaluronic acid also can help skin retain moisture. Products with lactic acid and urea also may work. Petroleum jelly is one inexpensive moisturizer you can use. Cocoa butter and honey is a home-made moisturizer you can create. [4] X Research source
If you do this overnight, you can take advantage of the inactivity to eliminate inconvenience while the product does its work. Overnight treatments will help soften your hands within the week, and should be maintained as a general treatment going forward.
If you’re looking for home based items, there are several that combine readily available items into solutions that will soften the skin of your hands. These include, but are not limited to: sea salt and olive oil; lemon and glycerin; baby oil and sugar; oats and lemon; milk, honey, and lemon juice; honey, curd, and tomato juice; turmeric and lemon. Do this several times during the week, two or three times, but not necessarily during every hand-wash. [7] X Research source You can get this done during spa treatments as well. Do not over-exfoliate. Exfoliating too often can damage the surface and/or blood vessels in the skin. Look for signs of dryness, patchiness, dehydration, and/or increased sensitvity–they may indicate you are exfoliating too often. [8] X Research source
If cost is an issue, consider the home-made version of both the moisturizer and exfoliate product. Remember you do not need to exfoliate for every single hand-wash. It is best to take advantage of bedtime to use long-term products, ones that need to stay on your hands for several hours, and wear cotton gloves over your hands while you sleep. Wear gloves over your hands while these long-term products are applied even if you are not asleep.
Wear gloves (rubber, latex) when using products with irritants. This is a good idea for daily tasks such as dish-washing, house cleaning, and any physical labor. [10] X Expert Source Indy Chabra, MD, PhDBoard Certified Dermatologist Expert Interview. 10 March 2022. Select gloves that have cotton linings inside to improve the gentleness on your hands. Be particularly mindful of wearing gloves to protect your hands from exposure during the winter months when the air is typically drier.
Avoid mixing the sunscreen with other products on your hands for the duration of your excursion. Make sure the SPF (sun protection factor) number on the sunscreen you are using is adequate for conditions you are experiencing. Use the cleaning methods, especially the soaps, above to thoroughly clean off the sunscreen after use before you switch back to your regular cleansing routine.
Ask your dermatologist for suggestions on creams and ointments that you can use on a daily basis. If you are using products at night, see if your dermatologist has any ideas about what else you might use, or change about your application technique if you are not seeing results. Consider bringing any home-made products by your dermatologist for confirmation on their correctness.
Use a humidifier. These machines will pump moisture directly from a water source into the air. A bowl of water near your heaters will also draw moisture into the air.
Find a “luke-warm” setting to adjust your bath/shower to instead. Consider applying bathing oils to your hands before you enter the bath/shower, and then moisturizer afterwards.
If you wash up at multiple locations, try to have multiple bottles/pumps of soap, moisturizer, and exfoliate at each sink. You can keep a large bottle of product at your primary wash location, and smaller bottles at others.
Mix 1 teaspoon of sugar with a few drops of olive oil. Use as many drops as it takes to form a mixture you can rub into your palm until the sugar blends with your skin.
Mix a couple teaspoons of oatmeal and few drops of olive oil. Rub the mixture on your palms until it blends in with your hand. Let the rub set on your hands for fifteen minutes before washing it off. [16] X Research source
Combine two teaspoons of butter with one teaspoon of almond oil for the mixture to rub on your hands. Let the rub sit for 20 minutes before washing.
For this rub you will need to mix one teaspoon of honey, half a teaspoon of almond powder, and a few drops of rose water to form the product. However, it is essential that you make sure this rub is evenly distributed on your palms with several minutes of rubbing and then leave it on your hands for an additional ten minutes before washing it off.
For this rub, you should make a fresh batch every time you use it and not store it for later use. Mix equal parts of the glycerin, rose water, and lemon (one teaspoon each) for this rub and leave it on long enough to dry.
Take a half-slice of lemon, pour sugar onto the juicy part, and rub the juicy/sugar part onto your palms until the sugar has dissolved. Repeat for the other hand.
To produce this rub, combine a tablespoon of honey with a tablespoon of sugar and then rub the result into your palms until the sugar component dissolves for each hand. Start the twenty minute wait at that point.
Extract the tomato juice, glycerin, and lime juice in equal proportions and combine them into a paste you apply to your hands every evening. You may want your gloves for this.
Dust the baby powder on your palms and then pour over natural bath salts. Add several drops of mild hand soap. Rinse your hands gently with warm water.
Grind ten fresh green almonds with several drops of sandalwood oil, and apply the mixture in a rub to your hands. Wash after it’s been allowed to soak to a dry. Usually these rubs should be applied twice a day during regular hand washing times.
Wash gently. You don’t want to damage the skin you are trying to heal and soften. Make sure you are washing after the time the remedy’s instructions recommended you leave the rub on your hands. Check your soaps to make sure they fragrant-free and don’t contain any other harsh ingredients that may irritate your skin.
If you are doing this during the day, pick gloves more appropriate to your tasks than the nightly cotton-only gloves. But whatever gloves you do pick should still be cotton-lined inside.
