There comes a time when you realize that your hands are really dry. You might have calluses because of all the hard work that you have been doing, and they start chipping until they ache. You want to make it better and you start looking for the best hand cream for dry cracked hands and you come up with a bunch of different websites which all sem to be only promoting their own product – there are absolutely zero real reviews of any products available. That is pretty annoying isn’t it?
Before you think that you can get away by just using the best hand lotion available, you must realize that you need to also pay attention to the reason why your hands are flaky and wrinkly and dry. Basically the skin will feel dry when there aren’t enough natural fats that lubricate the cells and fill the gaps between the skin cells. When the skin gets really dry you will notice that it is sensitive to touch and it can easily sting when you wash the hands or when you do some of your chores like chop onions or wash the dishes. This usually means that the situation is really bad and you should already do something about it – at t his point if you take no action you might have permanent premature aging in the skin of your hands. This means that there will be wrinkles and the wrinkles will be deep.
First things first – lets look at your soap
Well actually the very first thing that you should be looking at is the amount of times that you wash your hands each day. Many of us work at jobs that require us to regularly wash our hands for hygienic reasons, and sometimes we just like to wash them even if there is no reason to do that. Then we think that by using a hand cream we can get rid of the problem, where in fact we are only slowing down the process to some extent. When you wash your hands again, the hand lotion will be washed off and it won’t really have a true effect. Count the times that you wash your hands every day, and then think about it very objectively – how many times do I really need to wash my hands?
Many of us who work with customers are often using hand sanitizers like Purell or other similar products. We tend to wipe our hands every time we deal with a new person and when you add all this up you are talking about quite a lot of washing of the hands! This means that you are actually getting rid of more bacteria than you should. Besides just using the best hand cream ever, you should pay attention to this because bacteria are not always bad! Hand sanitizers tend to dry your hands very badly even if they are supposedly not drying your hands. What is the reason for this?
Well there is bacteria, and there is bacteria. Most of us know the fact that in your gut there are bacteria that keep the gut healthy. There are tons of prebiotic supplements available that can make your immune system more effective by supplying your intestines with enough good bacteria. The same thing goes for your hands. The good bacteria on the skin will take up the living space of the bad bacteria, and this way you will be more immune to diseases. If you sanitize your hands too much, you are getting rid of the good bacteria and leaving more space for the bad ones to take over your hands! Also sanitizers are often the biggest reason for dry hands because they are alcohol based, and alcohol does a pretty damn good at dissolving lipids from your skin. These are the natural lipids that form your cells and fill the gaps between the cells. Can you just imagine having worn down cells as the top layer of your skin, and then having no lipids between the cells to keep the gaps closed? This is exactly what happens when you over-wash your hands. Not even the best dry skin hand cream can make up for that!
Moisturizing the skin starts from within
Like I said, there are a lot of reasons that can cause cracking skin in your palms and hands. It could be that you are simply washing your hands too much or using Purell all the time. This is something that you can easily change, but it isn’t always that. One other reason can be that your diet is poor in minerals and essential fatty acids. Another reason that most don’t know is that your stomach can be deficient in HCL, which leads to a problem of absorbing the fatty acids and minerals which are needed to moisturize your skin. Drinking enough water is one of the most popular tips that are given to achieve better skin, and honestly that can be the case. If you feel like you are not drinking enough water, lets start with that, and not actually use hand creams.
Eating a healthy diet can be a very big reason for dry skin, and that is why I recommend that you start looking at your lifestyle before you think about hand creams. Many of us don’t realize that hand creams often contain parabens, phtalates and other chemical compounds which might be harmful for us. These are compounds which are designed to make your skin feel softer, and not actually work on making it better. When you apply a cream like this, the active ingredients will make your skin feel great, but once the effect wears off, the feeling wears off. This makes you practically addicted to the hand cream, and that is not what you are looking for now are you? Instead try to find the best natural hand cream that contains ingredients which are supposed to support the natural moisturizing of your skin – these will yield a far better result that lasts. Of course you will not feel immediate relief, but that isn’t the thing that you are after now is it? At least I would not want my skin to feel smooth just for five minutes!
How about the best anti aging hand cream
What about it? We often think that by using anti aging products we can turn back time or at least slow it down. Does this really happen? Well usually these kinds of products contain active ingredients which draw water to the area at which you apply them. Wrinkles seem to be the worst for most women, and even for men! So what we are after is a product which will make the skin puffy, and cause water retention under the skin to straighten out the possible wrinkles. Honestly, there are hundreds of hand creams for aging hands that do exactly the same thing – make your skin appear younger for the day. Even some of the best hand creams for men contain these compounds, and I am honestly quite surprised that many seem to find them useful – this is not a real effect that you are getting. It’s merely artificial.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather have my hands look appropriate for my age, and I think that men should have a little rugged hands, don’t you?
Some people get those age spots in their hands, and they want a hand lotion that will take care of those. These are generally considered sun damaged hands, and there are ways that one can bleach these spots which are usually dark brown or even black. They are pigmentations that basically remind you of the fact that you are not as young as you used to be. An effective treatment is to use a hand lotion that contains a bleach in it, and as they might bleach the pigmentation spots on your hands, they will also make your overall skin tone lighter in the area on which you use them. The problem is that these bleaches can cause your hands to dry as they bleach them. Some of the best hand creams for age spots are so full of other active ingredients that they might counter act this drying effect very effectively.
What do I recommend then? What is the best hand cream there is?
Well there are numerous of products out there that contain ingredients such as petroleum jelly. Why does it work? As opposed to what most people think, petrolatum or soft paraffin, doesn’t get absorbed by the skin. It makes your skin feel greasy and it can is not nice at all as most think. Well this is why it works! It protects your skin from outside influence and it lets the natural healing process of your skin work at a full rate! If your hands are cracked and you have small cuts in them, adding a product that contains petroleum jelly will cover the cracks and help your skin take care of itself.
Generally it is a good idea to also have vitamins in the hand cream as well. Usually different b-group vitamins have been shown to be very helpful when it comes to hand creams. Some of the best hand creams that I have ever tried contained only soft paraffin and two different b-vitamins. Panthenol is one of them and it has been shown to be very effective in healing small cracks in your hands. Well the problem with these hand creams is that people won’t get hooked in them. They actually work and they produce the wanted results – all you have to do is use it regularly for a few days, up to a week, and you don’t need it anymore. If you use a non-greasy hand lotion that is one of those white and creamy feeling ones, they simply moisturize your skin for a few hours, and then you need them again. Instead get even just a regular can of Vaseline, or a product that is rich in paraffin and natural oils. Use them during the night – every night – for a few days and you will realize that they are far better than anything else that your have wasted your money on.
Ceramides are a very new compound used usually in products that are intended for very sensitive skin that needs help. They are very effective, and if you can find a product that contains vitamins and ceramides, you most likely have found the best hand cream there is.
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