Hand Cream

Contact me off-line and we can discuss the herbal skin cream I make. That should help her.

It's not for me to say that this is the "best", as you requested, but for me (I do much gardening without gloves not to mention dishwashing) I like:

O'Keeffe's "Working Hands" skin therapy. For cracked hands and feet, too.

paladinfes,

what are you using for your dish/pot/ pan soap in the pit? your dishwasher's hands might be reacting to the soap used for that...also, if you use a flatware presoak, that could be a factor as well. are they red and rashy?  when your hands are constantly in water, it's hard whatever you use, but i highly recommend and use CeraVe lotion or cream...great product, easily found and not expensive.....

joey

I have had a problem with some of the drying agents I use in the lab and have found that for over the counter Aveeno's Medicated Hand Cream and Gold Bond Ultimate with Shea Butter  are the best for dry cracking skin.  The Gold Bond is heavy and leaves a non greasy feel to your hands.  Also Lansinoe is EXCELLENT for clearing up dry skin but is much more expensive then the other two listed.

I have a tendency to cracking around the nails, and of course red and flaking and lightly cracking skin on the top of the hand, but the cracking is extremely paniful,. 

I've looked far and wide for a solution.  It makes no difference what detergent i use, even those for sensitive skin, and i'm in my own kitchen.  I mostly use a dishwasher, but if i visit my kids and wash dishes there or our washer breaks, i have to wash by hand.  Inevitably i get terrible skin on my hands, and they're already always pretty bad anyway. 

the ONLY thing that has worked is lanolin.  I don;t mean some concoction containing lanolin.  I mean PURE LANOLIN.  It's thick and sticky and sticks to the hands.  It reduces even teh cracking, which I usually have to treat with cortisone otherwise.  The dermatologists have given me various things but nothing has ever worked like lanolin. 

Alternatively there is a "cracked skin" cream, the name of which escapes me. 

I used to cut a lot of meat both up North and down here. People used to comment on my hands although nicks were there from the knife they were always soft and never cracked under the harshest conditions, I belive it was the meat fat that was constantly on my hands. It worked for me  ,Try it..

Well, in a sense,  chefedb, lanolin is meat fat - that is, animal fat, since it's the fat on the wool of sheep.  I  read once that they discovered the value of it because the hands of women who spun wool were very soft.  The advantage over all other hand creams is that it actually sticks to the skin and even if your hands get wet it stays stuck if you don;t wash it off with hot water and soap.  Maybe being animal fat, intended for animal skin, which is not much different from our own, makes it particularly suited. 

the crack cream is made by Flexitol.  They also make a foot cream that has horrible pictures of cracked heels on the package - really gross - but it really works.  But you can't touch your eyes if you put it on your hands.  The active ingredient is urea, and i don;t even want to ask what it is, but apparently it can hurt your eyes. 

Both of them will improve the deep cracks that i get on my fingers, at the corners of the nails, which are extremely painful. 

 A while back someone turned me on to this stuff called "No Crack." You can find it at the Vermont Country Store website. It comes in scented and non scented day use forms. I swear by it. Every winter my hands are so chapped and dry they literally hurt. I also might add that I use it on my poor feet and glob it on after a shower, then put on a pair of socks before bed. In the morning all the dry rough and calloused skin feels smooth and great again. I highly recommend this product.