it’s been awhile since my hands got so dusty from all the damn boxes at work that the skin on my fingertips dried out and started cracking along the fingerprint lines. there’s a millimeter wide gap on my right thumb-tip, about a centimeter long, and it hurts everytime i move my thumb significantly, and especially when i touch anything. a smaller one by the corner of my left and right thumbnails, and a minor one on my left middle finger.
the trick is to wash your hands constantly, keep them clean and moisturized, but you forget on slow weeks, and by the time you remember, it’s too late. alternatively, you could wear gloves, but then your hands would be sweaty all day.
I got that in New York, too, from the dry, windy wintry air.
Cocoa butter works wonders. You slather it on, let it sit for a few minutes (or just slather it on as you go to bed, when your hands can be greasy for a while ’cause you’re not doing anything), and after a couple of hours, they feel new and non crack-ey.
Keep it up for a few days and wash your hands with lava soap, and you’re back to normal. Then just remember to wear gloves outside.
November 18th, 2005 at 2:13 am
Constant hand-washing has perils of its own–I used to be a dental assistant. Lotion at night is the trick. I used vaseline, then put either gloves, or if you don’t have gloves, socks, on my hands to keep from getting the vaseline all over my pillows and sheets.
My skin is quite susceptible to the drying/cracking/splitting thing, so I feel for you.
November 18th, 2005 at 7:35 am