How to Deal with Dry Hands During the Winter

If you live in an area particularly hard hit by the cold this winter, you may have dry or chapped hands.

Dry hands can become painful and also look like totally heinous monstrosities: if not treated, your hands could eventually look like Godzillaesque, scaly flippers. I recommend you treat dry hands at the first signs of dryness-dry hands are simply unattractive.

The first key to dealing with dry hands is not to make matters any worse. When you wash your hands at home, make sure you are using a handsoap that has moisturizers, aloe vera, or vitamin E in it. If you are using a really strong, chemical soap you could be drying out your hands further every time you wash them.

So getting a "hand friendly" brand of soap is the first step. Softsoap liquid handwash is pretty good; generics are also fine, so long as they have "with moisturizer" or some similar marketing statement on the label.

Secondly, limit your exposure to the cold. Wear gloves, mittens, or keep your hands in your pockets when outdoors. Dry cold is pretty much the worst possible thing for exposed skin.

If left alone and if you replace your soap you may find that your hands improve all on their own. More often, however, several days to a week of hand moisturizer use is necessary to see full "recovery".

I personally have had great results with Neutrogena hand moisturizer, but CVS and RiteAid both offer generic hand moisturizers that work quite well. Avoid getting a bottle of "straight" aloe vera (in other words, aloe vera gel with no other ingredients). The reason why is that aloe vera on its own is sticky, messy, and uncomfortable to apply. Plus, you want a moisturizer that has some other ingredients-in particular, look for one that has vitamin E and/or Co-Q10.

Apply hand moisturizer when you go to sleep at night so that your hands can absorb all of the vitamins and minerals; if you apply moisturizer before work, it is likely most of it will rub off on the steering wheel or elsewhere during your commute.

If you have the money and leisure time, I also recommend going to a spa and getting a hand rejuvenation treatment. They will use oils and moisturizers to "replenish" the natural oils in your skin.

Don't become overly reliant on moisturizer: use it to heal your dry hands, but once symptoms subside use it only sparingly. You want your hands to be naturally healthy without the constant help of anything else.