How do you keep your hands "nice"?

By "nice" I mean not gross.

My hands are often dry and cracked. From a combination of workouts & working on cars. I get really bad calluses on my palms. I often shave them with a razor blade to keep them from tearing off or causing blisters when working out (gross, I know). I also have a pumice stone in the shower that I scrub them with to try and keep them from getting too bad in the first place.

Anyway, my wife hates this. And I do too, when they tear off. Seems like about once every 2 weeks I end up with a bloody hole in my hand.

Any tips and tricks would be appreciated.

I'm with you. My hands are all callouses and can be used as sandpaper. If I rub my hands together quickly it's really loud.

I work with my hands for a living, and never had these issues. Yes, I get callouses that peel off on occasion, but nothing to that extent.

Have you tried soaking them until soft and gently rubbing the dead skin off?

You might also need to be proactive and start wearing protective handgear (gloves) when doing some jobs that might induce callous growth

Bag balm. No joke, it helps keep the skin from cracking open in the winter as well. Pick up a really coarse nail file and sand them down before getting in the shower, apply balm after.

while i dont personally use it because the dry/callused skin doesnt bother me, the other 2 guys at work use cornhuskers lotion and swear by it.

I wear nitrile gloves when wrenching. Keeps them relatively clean and somewhat protected. And they are thin enough that you can still feel things through them. Downside is that in hot weather, they turn into sweat bags.

O'Keefe's Working Hands is the best I've used. I also really like Utter Cream, but that might be a local thing here in Ohio.

Dry/cracked/greasy from wrenching and washing: Heavy duty Blue Nitrile gloves from Napa. They keep the grease off and take it off if its already there. The heavy duty ones have the bonus of lasting long enough that you can use them over and over. Callouses-don't know.

Regular soakings in ATF, waste oil, brake fluid, gear oil, varsol and carb cleaner seem to keep them nice.

As far as wrenching goes wear gloves whenever you can. Nitrile or vinyl as first layer plus coated knit gloves if the tactility is adequate for the situation.

My hands are often dry and cracked.

O'Keefe's Working Hands is the best I've used.

I work with my hands & live in the desert. O'Keefe's is the only product that keeps my hands from being an absolute painful mess, especially in the winter.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Bag balm. No joke, it helps keep the skin from cracking open in the winter as well. Pick up a really coarse nail file and sand them down before getting in the shower, apply balm after.

I use that stuff on my feet. My heels crack in the summer from wearing sandals.

speaking of gross, i usually use wire cutters like this:

And cut the callouses off. The cutting action is offset so you can cut the callous right against your hand, and the blades meet. If they overlap like scissors, you can't control cut depth like the wire cutters. Nice wire cutters work better than dull HF ones. You do have to take multiple cuts on all but the smallest callouses, however.

Treat callouses with a soak. 1part listerine, 1 part viniger, 2 parts HOT water for 15 minutes. Then sand with a nail file or ped egg.

Follow up with working hands. That stuff is the best.

I go through hell in the winter with dry cracked hands. The dermatologist told me I have a form of eczema that causes my skin to never hold moisture.

I literally have tried everything to no avail. I usually have bloody knuckles and sore hands all winter. It sucks.

My cousins suffered from this, they would put copious amounts of corn huskers on their hands at night then sleep with gloves on to hold the moisture in.

I like the HF black nitrile gloves, I haven't bought a set of the light blue (or heavy-duty darker blue) since I went with the black ones. I can do a set of brakes and still use them for the next job.

Ever try the stuff made for this, like hand lotion??

Razor blade seems a little extreme.

It is especially bad for me in the winter when I'm outside all the time - cracking, bleeding, etc.

I put vaseline on them and then wear nitrile gloves for a while to let them soak it in without smearing everything in the house with it. I usually do it at night before bed after a shower to scrub all the grease/paint/goo/whatever from around by nails.

BTW, who else has used their own hair as a scrub brush for under fingernails?

In reply to Huckleberry:

I have, and do, when I actually have nails. Of course, I'm a fur ball so it's hard not to.

The okeefes does a good job on my hands, when I remember to use it. I get calluses, but they aren't nearly as bad as some of you are describing.

Feet on the other hand, the ped egg (why is it not call a ped-a-file?) Does wonders after a shower. I can't keep socks or bed sheets between my cracked heels and calluses on my toes, but with regular use of the ped egg, they're almost smooth.

I guess I fall in the same category as Trans Maro. Grease, dirt, chemicals and harsh hand cleaner are my go-to. ATF is a wonderful skin conditioner.

stop removing the calluses and just let your body adapt to the stuff you do..

aint nothing wrong with having manly hands.

I just use Eucerin at home and work. (I need hand lotion without perfumes.) I've got O'Keeffe's for if things get really bad.

I'm not dealing with calluses though. Just skin and nails getting dry and brittle from sticking my hands in like chemical sanitizer solution.

I use gloves when working on the car, but the nitrile ones always break on me and I'm left working with bare hands again. I'll try the heavy duty ones. Mechanix gloves or similar just soak up oil and grease and become a nasty mess. Only useful when I'm doing something not at all greasy like swapping wheels/tires or tinkering with suspension parts.

SVreX wrote: Ever try the stuff made for this, like hand lotion??

Yeah. All the time. It seems to have little to no effect.

novaderrik wrote: stop removing the calluses and just let your body adapt to the stuff you do..

Calluses get worse until they tear off and leave a huge hole in my hand. Then it takes about a week or two to heal. Then another one forms. Rinse & repeat.

I have to wear gloves a lot also, the coated knit ones (breath on the top side) are my current favorite for warm weather. Putting lotion on before you get your hands dirty can help a lot, but is not a great idea if you are doing anything paint or body work related.

I find vasoline to be the best general "cure" for skin issues also. Cheap and effective.

Be aware that cleaning your hands after work (with Dawn etc) not only removes the grease, it removes the natural oil from your hands and this is where I think the primary issue is. Make sure to lotion up after you cleanup!

I used to be able to work with bare hands in the most grimy situations, I just can't do it anymore. It even freaks me out a bit when I see others do it (on TV etc.)

I suggest a multi pronged approach

Protect the hands consistently with gloves

Reduce the amount of dry, hyperkeratotic tissue often, pumice stone is better than pedi egg, which is like a cheese grater. There is this stuff called "Pretty Feet and Hands" that works well to exfoliate also, sort of takes the top layer of skin off. When the calluses get thick, they crack, tearing the underlying skin.

Emollient/hand lotion is important. Use after washing your hands or showering, use it often. Something with urea, lactic acid or salicylic acid. Cera Ve is very good. Flexitol heel balm is the cats ass for this sort of thing.

Consider dietary supplements. Vit A, Vit C, Vit E and Zinc are important.