Dry Hand Relief

Image by eshm via Flickr

You know I’m out in the elements more than most people, year round. And nothing is harder on your hands than the bitter cold in the northern hemisphere. Then add to that the drying heat indoors. You’re talking hands so dry that they’re white and scaley. At their worst, the skin gets so dry it will crack open and bleed. Every time you put your hands in water, it stings. You’re constantly hitting the spots on your hands that are already cracked open – because those are the spots that get the most abuse.

So as you might imagine, I have tried hundreds of things to help heal my hands. Nivea, Mary Kay, Avon, Jergens, and more. Nothing worked any better than just using my regular body lotion, and making sure to put lotion on every time my hands have been in water. None of the special hand creams or salves have worked. Neosporin overnight did help some, but nothing remarkable.

At Christmas, my sister gave me a little gift bag full of Burts Bees samples. I wasn’t terribly excited. I had already tried most of the line, and haven’t been very impressed. I threw the hand salves in the nightstand drawer, with the others. But I left the purple tube out. I started using it at night. It’s one of my rituals. The last thing I do before turning out the lights is put lotion on my hands.

I just did it without thinking much about it. My neighbor was complaining about her hands cracking and bleeding, and I noticed that my hands had not been as bad this year. In fact, they were pretty good. But I still didn’t make the connection until the tube ran out.

Within a couple of weeks, my hand were cracked, bleeding, and sore. At first I attributed it to the change in hand soap. I’ve been on a mission use up all the tubes and bottles of stuff we had collected. We had Dial Anti-Bacterial soap in the cabinet. That stuff is terribly drying, and I guess I’ll just be pitching it. When I stopped using that, my hands improved soem, but they still weren’t good.

I happened to be at the drug store last night (to buy chocolate – I still don’t need drugs)  and saw the purple tube. I almost choked on the price. $12.99 for a 3 oz. tube. You know how cheap I am.. but I bought it.

One night and my hands are already almost healed. This stuff is amazing.

It’s Burt’s shea butter hand repair creme. Great stuff.