What's the best hand cream for day care workers, nurses or other people who frequently wash their hands?

I work at a daycare and change diapers, feed, and clean all day, so I'm constantly washing my hands. I would say I wash them between 40-60 times a day. My skin is so dry and thick, you can pinch the back of my knuckels and the skin doesn't go back. I get paper cuts easily and I have tiny painful bumps on my palms and sometimes back of my hands (the doctor says it's ezcema from dry skin). I've recently thought about the paraffin wax baths, but not sure if it's worth the investment. Is there anything that you can recommend from experience or someone who you know. It seems that I've tried 5-6 different creams and it's just not enough. Thank you!What's the best hand cream for day care workers, nurses or other people who frequently wash their hands?
Probably your best move is to get some alcohol based hand gel and use that to wash your hands unless they are visibly soiled. Most of the hand gels have some sort of glycerin or lanolin in them and dont dry your hands out as bad as soap and water. Also, DO NOT use antibacterial soap.


If you are washing your hands with soap and water, the friction and the running water wash off the bacteria. If you are using the hand gel, the alcohol kills any bacteria on your skin.


Antibacterial soaps do both wash off and kill. However, the pH of antibacterial soap is very high so it strips your skin of its natural oils and protective layer called the acid mantle. Dove is the best, commonly found soap to use to keep your acid mantle intact.


I am a nurse and use hand gel (which is recommended by the CDC) about 20 or more times a day. I use no lotions or creams and have no issues with dry hands.


As long as the gel has 60% alcohol, it is effective!~


Another thing you can do is when you get home from work and ready for bed, slather some plain Vaseline on your hands and go to bed. If you can wear some type of breathable glove while you are sleeping it will make the Vaseline soften your hands up faster. Like those brown work gloves! You wont have to do it every day, just a few times a week until you get them in the shape you want them.What's the best hand cream for day care workers, nurses or other people who frequently wash their hands?
I found the BEST HANDCREME in the WORLD while I lived in NEW ZEALAND !!! It is made with a pecial honey only found in NZ !!! The company is: API-CARE , the product is: REPAIR ME, it 's sub-name is: CALENDULA %26amp; MANUKA HONEY HANDCREME !!!!!!


Honey is a NATURAL Humadicant (meaning it pulls moisture from the air and into itself thus extra-moisturizing your skin !!! aLSO THE uNIVERSITY OF nz DID A STUDY ON THE hONEY AND FOUND IT HAS VAST HEALING POWERS + IT kills GERMS ON YOUR SKIN FOR HOURS !!!


I am diabetic %26amp; therefore have very dry skin! I havent found any handcreme that stays on my skin longer (even after washing hands once) or that makes my skin feel so good!!! I've checked everywhere in USA for anything comparable %26amp; have found nothing (and I havent even found a USA handcream that has any honey in it) !!!


Here's a store in NZ where you can buy it (remember the price she quotes you will be in NZ dollars %26amp; thus about 1/3 cheaper in American money -- she may be able to tell you the convertion cost or go to an on-line conversion site). It was $11.06 per tube USD when I bought it last week (I order 5 to 6 tubes at once to save on shipping). Their price in NZD was about $14.75 or so b4 shpg %26amp; shpg for 5 tube was $22.65USD. so, it cost me $55.30 for 5 tubes + 22.65 for shpg = $77.95 or $15.59 per tube and it's WELL WORTH FIFTEEN-BUCKS a Tube !!!


Here's a place to order directly from NZ: New Zealand World (04) 499-2227 or fax (04) 499 2227 (ask your operator how to place international call from your area %26amp; check your rates (my rates are 7-cents a minute thru Comcast Cablevision %26amp; I had 6-cents a minute thru Sprint Telephone.


I prefer buying direct as most on-line sites go to a new frachize (an american couple who charge $19.95 a tube which ends up costing you about $22USD more than ordering direct. (They use the name: VASHON ORGANICS. They'll try to tell you that you can only buy it through them if you live in USA, but that's not true -- you can order DIRCT to the company aka HONEY %26amp; HERBS -- why should you pay them an extra $21.80 for something you can order direct for $11.06 per tube + $22.65 shipping = $77.95 and they're trying to get $99.75 out of you !!! They advertise the TRUE NZ cost, but if you but from them they'll add a profit of $22.65 to YOUR CC, so buy DIRECT !!! ). Their main name is: API-CARE tho. Nz's country code for direct dial is 64.


I lived in NZ for several months in 2002 and this handcreme is TOP QUALITY in the WORLD !!!


Anyway go direct! You'll love the way this creme makes your skin feel!!! I am a nurse too and I have to apply it many times a day, but one tube lasts me 3+ months !!! AND it IS WONDERFUL STUFF !!!! aND YOU ONLY HAVE TO REAPPLY EVERY OTHER HANDWASHING !!! pLUS IT KILLS GERMS WHILE ON YOUR SKIN -- reader's digest HAD A STORY ON mANUKA hONEY in it's last issue (March?)


I really hope you'll try it -- I never recommend anything that isnt TOP QUALITY !!!!


Aunt Barbie
Get a tube of cocoa butter from walgreens the real stuff or target . It usually comes in a little tube and is only a couple of dollars. It looks like this..


http://shopping.yahoo.com/s:Body%20Care:鈥?/a>


If not that brand another is fine sometimes I find it in a yellow tube too.


A health food store should carry cocoa butter . The real stuff is firm . I take a bit off the stick and melt it against my skin in my hand or in the microwave for two seconds.


Then apply it and put on some soft gloves and wear them to bed . It softens your hands.


Now if the bumps on your hands are wet no gloves . Apply honey (manuka if you can get it at your health food store) to the wet part. Look for active manuka honey .


Rub cocoa butter in the real dry parts . I also use emu oil . A little goes a long way


http://www.gentleridge.com/emuoil.html.


Some health food stores carry it but the best price I've found is online.


It can be mixed with whatever lotion you are using or used by itself . It goes deep into the layers of the skin.


Flax seed oil suppliments help . They heal from the inside . Only 20% of skin nutrtion comes from the outside so drink lots of water.


Good luck
Sorry but Vaseline aka Petroleum is the worst choice for anyone. Especially if you wash your hands all the time.


This is mineral oil or (distilled petroeleum) aka baby oil which is a cheap substance and hardens skin not softens it. The best trick to prove this is take a saltine cracker and place it in 1/4 cup of distilled petroleum (baby oil) and another cracker in 1/4 cup of water, the oil cracker is hard. - Don't use any creams with vaseline or mineral oils.. especially dry skin.





Try pure and natural products - my husband swears by corn huskers lotion as it's not greasy. Found at the store yellow cap.. (he has the worst hands)


Have you ever heard of Arbonne? They make all botanical based products which are excellent for eczema - they make a sea salt scrub that may help, and their products are very pure (the soaps may really help you).


In addition to the lotions.
If you can, find ';Bag Balm'; where you live (or you can order it online). It's a strange name, I know. It was first designed by farmers to put on the ';bags'; of their milk cows, but is now produced for people. While you can use it anytime, try using it in the evening. Ideally, get some nice cotton gloves, slather on the bag balm, and put on the gloves and wear through the night. If you do that once and awhile, I bet you'll see your hands improve dramatically.
This is an excellent question. I am a doctor who washes her hands countless times a day as well. The resultant thick, dry skin is called ';dyshydrosis.'; Over the counter products are difficult because it really is the prescription products that work better (with a very low dose of steroid to help the worst areas - used sparingly). I use over the counter cetaphil and eucerin daily - multiple times a day. Keep them moist. Oh...and there is a doctor at my hospital that SWEARS by smearing his hands with vaseline, placing rubber gloves over them, and leaving them that way at night - he says it works like a charm, but I have never tried it... Good luck!
I am in the same situation...I teach and use gloves (powdered) and then a million hand washes. I had a spot that took 1/2 the year to heal! Aquaphor seems to be the best.....use a light lotion during the day after hand washes, but put a heavy coating of Aquaphor on in the morning and evening (the one in the white tub with the blue lid). It's a little pricey, but they actually recommend it for radiation patient's burns! It has GREATLY helped my baby with her eczema too. If you are like me, your cuticles are probably a dry mess too...I LOVE, LOVE the Burt's Bees lime cuticle cream. It smells great and really helps those dry cuticles. Good Luck!!
I like Oil of Olay quench or Jergens Ultra Healing lotion. Both make my hands soft without feeling oily.
I had kinda the same thing. What i did to get over this nightmare is that I bought baby oil. I put baby-oil all over the sink. Then I filled the sink with water and placed my two hands in the sink for about 5 minutes. When I was done, My skin felt brand as new!