Cracked hands!!!!!

[two fingers]

The Corn Huskers Lotion is a real great product.
If you get those cold dry weather cracks in your fingers what I do is get a Chap Stick and rub it on there. Viola, clears it up in a few days. Just keep the 'crack' full of it. I'll send you a bill.

You'll not be filling my crack mister!!!

I don't care how much you pay me.... er.... I pay..... uh......

No money and no crack filling!!!!

 

[two fingers]

Cows don't care how their udders smell

Apparently.....

This stuff smells lime burnt leather with a splash of paint thinner.

 

[two fingers]

I have to admit, you weirdos are making me proud. Soaking your hands in TNC is winning the poll.... hands down.

 

[lowplaces]

I had the same issue. A lot of washing of my hands at work and a lot of hand sanitizer.

A friend told me to start taking natural vitamin E gel caps and use hand sanitizer with aloe in it.

It worked.

 

[nutdog]

I went through something similar a few years ago. My hands just started coming apart. I thought it was related to chemicals at my job. Went on for about a two years. Turned out it was a reaction to certain soaps. I discovered it by accident when I ran out and started using my wife's. I started carrying a little travel size bottle to wash hands. No problems since.

 

[Stumbo]

I have to admit, you weirdos are making me proud. Soaking your hands in TNC is winning the poll.... hands down.

LOL TNC FTW! Yummy, too.

 

[two fingers]

I went through something similar a few years ago. My hands just started coming apart. I thought it was related to chemicals at my job. Went on for about a two years. Turned out it was a reaction to certain soaps. I discovered it by accident when I ran out and started using my wife's. I started carrying a little travel size bottle to wash hands. No problems since.

What was your wife's soap?

 

[Joe Nerve]

For my job I have to wash my hands constantly. This causes my skin to get really dry. Around the nails in particular my skin is literally cracking open. It has gone from simply annoying to painful.

Edit to add: Pics have been added a few posts down. And I drink TONS of water daily. Tons! My reusable water bottles are a litre and I go through probably 6 or so in a work day. I am constantly pounding water.

What hasn’t worked?
O’Keeffe’s Working Hands- works fine for about five minutes until it either soaks in or dries up.

Aquaphor - (sp) somehow does fine for the rest of my hands but my fingertips are still cracked all to pieces

Most “regular” lotions my wife keeps around the house

Help me out. Bonus point if it isn’t to “girly”. I would prefer I didn’t smell like lilacs and lavender.

DUDE! I have the same exact frikken problem going on! It's what has led to me crazy gluing my fingers before every gig now, which by the way I believe might be exacerbating the problem.

The thumb on my left hand keeps cracking open, and it gets annoyingly painful. I have to treat the 2 playing fingers on my right hand with great care.

What I'm doing currently is using eucharin, wearing rubber gloves anytime I wash any dishes, and I have 2 creams that dermatologists gave me last year. One is a steroid, the other and antibiotic - I'm not crazy about using either, and they're not really helping anyhow.

I plan to read this thread, but if anyone has come up with any sure first solution I'd appreciate if I was led to the post number . Otherwise I'm here to work this out with anyone else who's suffering from the same crap. It's not fun, and when my right hand cracks open it's downright painful (and I believe dangerous) for playing.

 

[two fingers]

DUDE! I have the same exact frikken problem going on! It's what has led to me crazy gluing my fingers before every gig now, which by the way I believe might be exacerbating the problem.

The thumb on my left hand keeps cracking open, and it gets annoyingly painful. I have to treat the 2 playing fingers on my right hand with great care.

What I'm doing currently is using eucharin, wearing rubber gloves anytime I wash any dishes, and I have 2 creams that dermatologists gave me last year. One is a steroid, the other and antibiotic - I'm not crazy about using either, and they're not really helping anyhow.

I plan to read this thread, but if anyone has come up with any sure first solution I'd appreciate if I was led to the post number . Otherwise I'm here to work this out with anyone else who's suffering from the same crap. It's not fun, and when my right hand cracks open it's downright painful (and I believe dangerous) for playing.

One thing that helped immediately was painting the (suggested earlier) New Skin into the one large crack in my right thumb. Once it dried I went at it gently with an Emory board to smooth it over. That was only a couple of hours ago or so and it is already much less painful.

 

[Joe Nerve]

One thing that helped immediately was painting the (suggested earlier) New Skin into the one large crack in my right thumb. Once it dried I went at it gently with an Emory board to smooth it over. That was only a couple of hours ago or so and it is already much less painful.

Don't wanna be a downer, but that messed me up even more when it started coming off. I think I might have peeled the skin or something or something. It worked great, 3 days later I've got some seriously raw skin just waiting to crack open. I have to put some sort of gunk on it all day long.

 

[two fingers]

Don't wanna be a downer, but that messed me up even more when it started coming off. I think I might have peeled the skin or something or something. It worked great, 3 days later I've got some seriously raw skin just waiting to crack open. I have to put some sort of gunk on it all day long.

Nah. I'm talking about just putting the stuff down in the crack with one drop. Then when the stuff dries I'm pretty much buffing it off and using lotion to solve the tiny cracks.

 

[petrus61]

OK, gang. While picking up some stocking stuffers for Mrs.Fingers today I tallied up the advice and got some stuff. Here's what I'll start with.

Bag Balm, Corn Buskers, New Skin and a cuticle tool.

I'll also wear gloves more for a while so I can scrub my hands less. There was so much chaos I forgot to look for some milder soap with Aloe in it but that'll be next.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll swing back by after a while and update the results View attachment 2850893

Or, you could just...

 

[Stumbo]

...I went at it gently with an Emory board to smooth it over. That was only a couple of hours ago or so and it is already much less painful.

One additional step, I think, seals the deal.

Just right now, after smoothing the edges of the crack (not bleeding) and cleaning with betadine, I put insect sting pain reliever cream on it. Within about 5 minutes, 90% reduction in pain.

Enough to go about my chores. Enough I could put pressure on it where I could not before.

For a second round, a bunch more cream and a band aid.

What I had on hand: SssstingStop homeopathic OTC cream in a tube. Any pain relieving cream would probably work.

I also went ahead and smoothed all the non-cracked skin around each nail, from the base on up and around, reducing the thickness of skin, hoping to prevent more problems.

I also started rubbing my grand daughter's Aquaphor baby butt cream into my cuticles a couple of times a day. I'm going to try the Chappy stick method,too. It would seem to be more convenient and less messy.

Hope this works for you!

 

[Stumbo]

One additional step, I think, seals the deal.

Just right now, after smoothing the edges of the crack (not bleeding) and cleaning with betadine, I put insect sting pain reliever cream on it. Within about 5 minutes, 90% reduction in pain.

Enough to go about my chores. Enough I could put pressure on it where I could not before.

For a second round, a bunch more cream and a band aid.

What I had on hand: SssstingStop homeopathic OTC cream in a tube. Any pain relieving cream would probably work.

I also went ahead and smoothed all the non-cracked skin around each nail, from the base on up and around, reducing the thickness of skin, hoping to prevent more problems.

I also started rubbing my grand daughter's Aquaphor baby butt cream into my cuticles a couple of times a day. I'm going to try the Chappy stick method,too. It would seem to be more convenient and less messy.

Hope this works for you!

Quick update, 30 minutes later, with Band Aid still on, hardly any pain!

 

[D M C]

Or, you could just...
View attachment 2851361

Stay away from the one on the left. She looks like trouble.

 

[nutdog]

What was your wife's soap?

Dove. They have travel size dove body wash at walmart. It was weird. I always used dial or irish spring or whatever was on sale with no issue. Then in late 40's my hands started cracking. I was going through boxes of lotions, balms, bandaids and neosporin. It would heal and then crack again. But now it's fine.

I still use dove at home but am now able to use the commercial/industrial hand soaps in public restrooms and use some Eucerin if they start to feel dry.

 

[buldog5151bass]

The aquaphor is wonderful stuff.

1. As soon as you wash them, while they are still damp, slather it on.
2. Wear gloves when you go out. Winter cold, wind, and dryness is death on fingertips (even where you are, I would bet).
3. Can you wear work or rubber gloves at work? Helps keep moisture in, dirt out, and cuts down on skin wear.

 

[D M C]

I also went ahead and smoothed all the non-cracked skin around each nail, from the base on up and around, reducing the thickness of skin, hoping to prevent more problems.

The thing that makes it worse is the thickening of the skin around the crack. It is basically a callous that drys and shrinks and pulls the crack open wider to allow dirt to enter and cause greater pain. I used to use a grinder to sand away the callous so that the salve wouldn’t have to penetrate the tough skin to soften it.

 

[Stumbo]

I put a bit of anti-pain cream on the crack and then spread Walgreen's Liquid Bandage on it.

Because of the depth of the crack, it stung quite a bit. Still, after about 2 hours, the pain is reduced and I am functional.

 

[mellowinman]

OK, so I pushed back and trimmed my cuticles. They were a wreck. I painted some new skin in the one bad crack. And I applied the first coat of Bag Balm. (Nobody warned me about how amazing it doesn't smell.)

Well you said it can't smell "girly." Bag Balm does not smell "girly." Not even a little. But I swear by it.