Update: I think many of us nowadays have become much more avid hand washers during this Covid-19 pandemic. We’re all much more aware of the germs we touch and wash our hands and use sanitizer much more often. If you’re finding that your hands are drying out because of this, then this article is for you!

Any fellow germaphobes out there? (raises hand) Being one can definitely have its downsides. One of them is extremely dry hands and the wintertime is especially bad. Becoming a mom and changing diapers a baggilion times a day, leads to washing your hands a baggilion times a day. For me, that’s when it all started. I wanted to have the cleanest hands possible when preparing food for my little one and was terrified of possibly having nasties on my hands after changing diapers. 

All of the washing that comes with a new baby led to hands so dry that they would literally crack open and start bleeding before my eyes. It drove me crazy and it HURT!

And, you don’t have to be a parent to have this problem. Anyone in the medical field, teachers, anyone in the food industry and people with sensitive skin could have this issue as well.

Dealing with this painful issue over the years, I’ve come up with some things that greatly helped my hands. I finally have a plan to get through the dreaded dry winter and save my hands from cracking, bleeding, and pain.

Step 1:

Get rid of those highly scented hand soaps. Once I ditched those yummy smelling Bath and Body soaps, my dry hands showed a lot of improvement. Sure, they smell awesome and all, but the chemicals and fragrances in them can dry your skin out so much and are so so bad for your body. If you want to help cure the dryness, start by changing what you’re cleaning your hands with. 

I like foaming soaps myself. They’re easy to use and the kids can use them without making a huge mess. You can make them yourself at home very inexpensively. Here’s how I started out doing it.

You can get a foaming hand soap bottle from the store, the Dollar Store has some good ones. But, don’t use the soap that’s in there, dump that harsh stuff out. You’re buying it for the bottle. Rinse it out good and fill it with water with about an inch left at the top.

Fill the rest with your favorite Castille or Natural soap. For the soap element, I love a great Castille soap. You can get Castille soap like Dr. Bonners at most places now. It often comes in large bottles, but some stores like Target sell small trial bottles of it. This is a good way to start to see how you like it.

Another favorite brand that I mainly use is Branch Basics. Their products are 100% toxic-free and safe and they also sell their own bottles you can add to your order. The other cool thing about this company is that you use the soap refill for all of your cleaning products which makes it so easy to have toxic cleaning at your fingertips. To learn more, click here (www.branchbasics.com)

Tip: When you’re searching for soaps to use, don’t just trust a soap refill at the store that says it’s “Natural” or “Clean”. Double-check the purity of it by using the Dirty App or EWG.org (lhttps://www.ewg.org/skindeep)

Step 2:

Try using a lotion as much as often as possible right afer you wash. This will add some immediate moisture back into your hands.

Again, try to stay away from the highly fragranced stuff. Use a lotion that is fragrance-free and low toxic.

Some brands that I love are:

Dr. Bronners, Burts Bees, Honest Company, EVERYONE brand

Step 3:

If you have any open cuts, use some liquid bandage to protect them from further damage. This one was a game-changer for me. Once I learned to cover those bad cuts as soon as they popped open, I could quickly lessen the pain, which for me, was the worst part of the extremely dry hands.

I personally think that liquid bandage hurts like a Mo-fo, so be prepared for that. It just lasts for a few seconds and then feels better. You can get liquid bandage at most retail stores or on amazon.

Tip: Try to limit the number of times you need to wash your hands by wearing rubber gloves when you can. This can be especially helpful while using harsh cleaning products that might irritate your hands further or handling food that makes you need to wash your hands often like raw meat.

The past few winters have been so much better for my hands since I started using all of these little tricks and switching to less toxic, fragranced products. Now, my hands aren’t baby soft or anything, but they won’t crack, bleed and feel so dry all the time. I consider that a win!

I’d love to know if any of these tips have worked for you! Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!