Cracking bleeding hand skin

[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.

[Lauralyn]

I use bag balm on my hands and gloves at night. You can get this at most equestrian tack shops. I have also used the Shea butter and that is good.

[Owlie]

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.

I've also heard of people using it for hand-washing hand-knit wool things. It's a pity I can't find it here.
Edit: How well does it work in hard water? We've got super-hard water here.

[OakLeaf]

I've also heard of people using it for hand-washing hand-knit wool things. It's a pity I can't find it here.
Edit: How well does it work in hard water? We've got super-hard water here.

Your water can't possibly be any harder than mine. I have to filter out the precipitates that form when I boil water, before I can even brew tea. Again - you just have to get over the obsession some people have with suds.

I don't use it on my hair, it's a little harsh for that IMO. Just body and hands.

You can use it to wash Gore-Tex or other moisture barrier fabrics, too. NikWax Tech Wash is expensive, hard to find and smells awful. The only thing those fabrics really need is not to be washed in detergent. Any real soap will do.

[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.

[Melalvai]

My mom & daughter & I all have that same problem. We swear by Eucerin. (Ok not really. We swear around lots of things. Rarely do we swear nearby the hand cream.)

Not the lotion in a tube, the cream in the jar.

[Maye]

My daughter suffers from Eczema and dry skin year round but it gets worse during winter. Every night after I bathed her, I lather her body with Vanicream (local Walgreens) and then I put her onesies. Its like wearing a huge glove all over her body and it works wonders on her skin!! I swear by this cream since I really hate to use steroid prescribed creams on her body. I use it as well for my super dry and cracked hands in addition to the L'Occitane Ultra rich body cream which is rich in Shea butter. The cracked hands is for using dish detergents, heat and sanitizers, sigh...