With a new baby in the house, in the middle of a cold midwest winter, you can bet that my hands are taking a real beating. I'm washing them like crazy, using hand sanitizer frequently and that's on top of my usual dried out winter hands from cold and lack of humidity. Yes, my hands are dry. My hands hurt.
To combat this I've been using hand lotion like crazy. My current pick is from Pai, an organic skin care company out of the UK. Pai's founder started the company after dealing with years of skin allergies. Their products are certified organic and have left out irritating ingredients like Alcohol, Propylene Glycol and Phenoxyethanol. I think this is great considering how often I'm using the stuff! The cream also features Fragonia & Sea Buckthorn, which help with inflammation and increase cell turnover.
The cream is really more of a heavy lotion that comes in an air tight pump (love this packaging!). It's a light tan color and has a light herbal scent that I love. It sinks right into my skin and I swear I can almost hear the skin sighing in relief! My skin is well hydrated after I use it, there's no greasy residue left behind and it lasts through a few hand washings.
Pai Fragonia & Seabuckthorn Instant Hand Therapy Cream
Hand creams work best applied immediately after water contact (eg. washing). Washing in a gentle way is also important. I tell patients to use a really mild glycerin cleanser and rinse it all off. If the backs or your hands didn't get into germs/dirty then only lather/wash the thicker skin on the palms, but rinse and lotion up the entire hands. Use warm, not hot water, never use dish soap to wash hands, and only use hand sanitizers in a pinch because they are sooo drying. Best to keep lotions by every sink so you use the often. Wear gloves when doing dishes and other housework to protect hands from irritants.
ReplyDeletePhew, it's hard to keep hand skin healthy when you have to wash them every few minutes. Congrats on why you have to wash them so often!