Cracking bleeding hand skin

[Sky King]

as I type this without using my right thumb because the crack it deep and it hurts I use liquid bandage and have a friend who uses super glue (but I think that stings too much) Muireen thanks for the tips, I will on "non soap" and other lotions

[goride]

I normally get painful/bleeding cracks on the tips of my fingers and thumbs from October through April (roughly the winter heating season). I also react badly to hand sanitizers as others here have mentioned. This season, I have been massaging a small amount of vitamin E oil into the tips of my fingers at night. During the day, I use CeraVe moisturizing lotion. It is light and soaks in so doesn't leave a greasy or oily residue. I have developed very few skin cracks this season, and they remained small, not too painful, and healed quickly. Murienn - outstanding list. Looks like you speak with the voice of much experience.

[zoom-zoom]

If you're not using a humidifier, start. Without a humidifier I will constantly have cracked and bleeding knuckles. Our house is old and poorly insulated, so the heat runs a lot and dries the air terribly. I also lotion up my hands before bed, every night.

[NbyNW]

+1 on a humidifier.

And if my skin were cracking, like what you describe, I would use a bit of antibiotic ointment on the worst areas while they heal.

[OakLeaf]

Depends on the cause, though - humidity triggers my dyshidrosis, and especially sudden increases in humidity like the beginning of summer. It could also spur growth of airborne molds and dust mites, which would stress the immune system and could make it worse. If you get a humidifier, either get one with a humidistat or just install a hygrometer and monitor the humidifier to keep indoor humidity between 50% and 60%. That's normally high enough to hydrate skin and mucous membranes but low enough that molds and dust mites won't go nuts.

[Owlie]

I have eczema, but it's stress-related rather than allergy related.

Liberal application of hand cream (foot cream is even better) after I wash my hands. And in between. I've put mini bottles of lotion in my purse, next to the bathroom and kitchen sinks, backpack, etc for any time they feel a bit dry, especially after using the evil institutional soap. What are your gloves made out of? Fleece and even Thinsulate linings suck moisture right out of my skin.

Hydration is also important. I've got electric baseboard heating (hate it!) and it dries the place out. It's like living in poorly-insulated toaster.

[Biciclista]

You need to move to the tropics!
You are a dry person (check out ayurvedic stuff) and need way way way more moisture in your diet. Lots of rice porridge, lots of drinks...

[Selkie]

Cetaphil Restoraderm Body Lotion. That stuff cleared up some eczema that I had on my neck in the summer. Since I swim 6 days a week, my skin is drier than usual. It really is wonderful---absorbs quickly and never ever feels greasy.

[soprano]

+1 on the shea butter.

It might be helpful to learn a bit about surfactants so you can pick a gentler hand soap. A lot of what is being called "soap" on this thread are really detergent cleansers, such as sodium laurel/eth sulfate. This stuff will strip the heck out of your skin if you use too much (very common with liquid hand soaps) or it's not mixed in with a good conditioner/moisturizer. SLS and a few of its related cousins are the surfactants found in most shampoos, hand and bar soaps, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, etc. It's what we all started using when we gave up lye soap. Incidentally, we didn't make that mass change because detergent cleansers are any easier on our skin, because they aren't. What detergents do better is rinse away in hard water conditions, which are very common in the US; they're easier on our clothing, plumbing and appliances.

"Real" soap, which is saponified with sodium or potassium hydroxide, had an underserved reputation for being caustic. A hundred+ years ago, this was true for most homemade soap because it was difficult to control the strength of their homemade lye. Today almost all handmade, high-end soap is made with commercially produced powdered sodium hydroxide (lye) or potassium hydroxide, which allows us to tightly control the amount of fat/conditioners in the finished soap. You really might consider trying a superfatted handmade soap, which you can pick up at just about any natural food store. It's more expensive, but if you just use it on your hands and not in the shower it'll last forever.

[OakLeaf]

It's more expensive, but if you just use it on your hands and not in the shower it'll last forever.

It'll last forever if you use it in the shower, too, as long as you get over the obsession with suds. Real soap doesn't foam very much, but you still don't need to use very much of it. I think a gallon of Dr. Bronner's lasts us five years, and that's shower and sinkside both.

[VeloVT]

Best hand cream ever... L'Occitane Shea Hand Cream. Very moisturizing, and not greasy. My boyfriend gets dry skin on his thumbs so badly in the winter that, without this hand cream, he ends up putting A&D ointment on them and covering them with band aids for weeks at a time - this hand cream, but not others, prevents that. He can also use it during the day without feeling that it make his hands too greasy to use the computer.

It also smells lovely - he is comfortable wearing it because the scent is not excessively feminine, but I love using it too (and smelling it on him). I think it smells like expensive French baby powder, in the best possible way.