Winter Hand Care Tips: How to Keep Your Hands Soft

We all know how important it is to look after our skin, particularly as the colder weather approaches, so why do so many of us neglect our hands? Hands are our main connection to the world, and have to deal with more stress than any other part of the body, yet they are too often overlooked in our skincare regimes.

Why Is It Important to Look After Our Hands in The Winter?

Dropping temperatures and frequent use of hand soaps or sanitisers can leave our hands feeling dry and prone to cracks. When it comes to solving chronic skin dryness and cracked hands, we've got the answers!

The skin on the back of the hands is different to the skin covering other parts of the body, as it is considerably thinner, and has far less sebaceous glands, which means that it becomes dry very quickly.

In contrast, the skin on the palms and fingers is much thicker, and absorbs moisture quickly. For this reason it is important to choose a hand cream that is rich in moisture, and ingredients that will allow your skin to absorb it.

The back of the hands is often one of the first places to show signs of ageing if not properly looked after. Choosing a good hand cream that suits your skin type will keep your hands looking youthful, and ensure that they not only look good, but that they feel softer too.

Water - especially hot water - has a naturally drying effect on our skin, and even something as simple as doing the washing up without rubber gloves and washing your hands or using hand sanitiser frequently can do more harm than you might realise by stripping the skin of its natural oils, leading to dry, cracked and painful skin.

Top Tips to Care for Your Hands this Winter

Here are our top tips to keep your hands in tip top shape:

• Wear gloves to protect your hands when gardening and washing up and also of course to protect them from the drying effects of the cold and wind

• Use gardening tools (e.g. hand spade, shovel, trowel) instead of your bare hands to plant seeds or dig up soil to minimise contact with dry soil

• Keep your nails strong and prevent splitting by massaging in oil to keep nails and cuticles healthy

• Control excess dead skin and calluses with a gentle file to prevent cracks

• Apply hand cream morning and evening to hydrate, nourish and protect your hands – try to apply hand cream after washing too to prevent them from dying out.

Our Winter Hand Care Picks

We've got some great hand care products to help you maintain healthy hand skin because we believe you should care for your hands the same way you care for your face. Damage prevention is always easier than damage treatment!

So take care of your hands, and make sure you are using a good hand cream that both suits your daily skincare regime and caters to your natural skin type. And if you aren’t using a cream already, there’s never been a better time to start and start seeing results.

Day time

To keep hands in tip-top shape and strengthen your natural skin barrier, we recommend the use of a cream-based product during the day.

Lemon & Black Pepper Hand Cream: A nourishing hand cream with zesty lemon, Shea butter, soothing ho leaf and invigorating black pepper to protect, soften and moisturise your hands without leaving a greasy residue.

 

Lemon & Black Pepper Antibacterial Hand Wash: Proven to kill 99.9% of bacteria, our liquid hand wash with natural antibacterial Zesty lemon and Ho leaf essential oils gently and effectively cleanses leaving skin feeling squeaky clean whilst retaining essential moisture.

 

Lemon & Black Pepper Hand Cream Spray: Keep your hands safely sanitised against bugs and bacteria, smelling fresh and fragrant with this proven effective blend of antibacterial essential oils of lemon, ho leaf and invigorating black pepper.

Kale Anti-Ageing Hand Cream: This multi-award-winner is specially formulated with anti-ageing kale, Rose of Jericho, argan oil and hyaluronic acid to Intensely nourish, hydrate, refine and smooth skin texture. Helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, uneven pigmentation and age spots for youthful-looking hands.

 

Night time

When we sleep it is our skin’s chance to repair itself and recover from the day’s stresses and strains.

At night, a lipid-rich oil-based product supplemented with vitamin C is best, such as our Argan Skin Rescue or Antioxidant Multi-Tasking Beauty Balm. The use of the oil-based Vitamin C enriched at night can help prevent further water loss and long-term dryness and stimulate the production of healthy collagen.

Antioxidant Multi-Tasking Beauty Balm: This super charged, anti-ageing wonder balm deeply nourishes and moisturises while boosting skin's natural protection from harmful free radical damage.  Great as an intensive moisturiser for dry/cracked hands and cuticles, particularly overnight.

Argan Skin Rescue: Powered by organic Argan oil to boost suppleness and Abyssinian and Bitter Orange Oil to improve elasticity and hydrate the skin this is the perfect cuticle treatment oil overnight.

This is a great chance to use Kale Anti-Ageing Hand Cream. For a really intense burst of moisturisation overnight you can try wearing a pair of gloves after the hand cream. While this might look a little strange, it will prevent any cream rubbing off, and allow it to really sink in. Try this for fifteen minutes, and you will really feel the difference!

Summary

Winter can be harsh on our hands. The cold, windy weather can cause our hands to become dry and cracked. However, as discussed above, there are steps you can take to minimise damage and keep your hands feeling supple and smooth.

A combination of wearing gloves to protect your hands, particularly when washing dishes, and using the right hand care products should ensure your natural skin barrier stays strong and your hands stay soft this winter.