Dealing With the Curse of Winter-Hands

When I was younger, I suffered terribly from dry and cracking hands. They were so bad, that I could barely move them. I was given some super greasy cream, and it went away. Ailment gone...or so I thought. To this day, when the weather gets cold - the tips of my fingers peel. If I let it carry on, I'd be a great burglar, because no one would see my finger prints.

It has thus happened again this year. I can tell it's there, because the skin on my hands catches on everything. It's only slight, but it's there, and it annoys me. Last time it happened, my first plan was to moisturise; put on untold amounts of hand cream. But that didn't work, and just made it very difficult for me to do anything, I could really only do that at bedtime.

My very dirty pot of 'Salted Coconut'

I was really stumped, I couldn't just leave it, it would get ten times worse. It wasn't until a chance trip into Lush (who am I kidding - I would spend my whole pay check there if I could), and a talk with one of the lovely people who work there, did I get any help. I was offered a sample of Salted Coconut hand scrub. I was a bit put off at first, I was just worried it would really hurt. Which it did. But obviously salt is an amazing way of getting rid of any infection, it's how I had kept my infected eczema at bay in the past, and is something that I am going to do again some times soon as it's gradually come back. I immediately went back and brought myself a pot.
The scrub is amazing. Within a day or two my hands were as soft as a baby's bottom; there was no catching on fabrics. I didn't need to moisturise them, because the scrub did that for me.

This year, when Winter-Hands came back, I knew exactly what to do. I still had my pot of Salted Coconut around, they last absolutely forever - mine's only just coming to the end, and slathered my hands in it. By slather, I only mean a small amount, as a little goes a long way. After that hand wash, the flakiness was gone and I had lovely and soft hands again.
It's got a weird smell though. Their website says it smells like gorse, and I don't know what gorse is meant to smell like, but it definitely smells like play-dough.

It lasts ages, but I need to get a new pot soon

I'm not the only one who sings Salted Coconut's praises either. My dear friend, Luke, gets much worse cracked and painful hands than I do. His whole hand can be dry and scaly. I took him to Lush and told him to buy a pot of it, don't even bother with a sample - it's so kind to skin, even though it scrubs, that I felt no guilt in not telling him to sample first. Within a few days his hands were much better. I'm not saying it's a miracle cure, but for once his hands weren't red and scaly, and were nice and soft.
But don't take it from me. Luke had this to say about it;

'During the colder months the weather does real damage to my hands. The skin becomes dry, cracked and weak. It's painful and a knock to one's self confidence. No other lotions or creams were working. I was recommended The LUSH Salted Coconut Hand Scrub, by Hannah. At this point I was willing to give anything a go. To my delight it works wonders. Just small amount is enough to exfoliate your hands. It's not the most comfortable product to use, it's very coarse. But, the end result is smooth hands that stay moisturised for a good few hours. The smell is present but not overpowering and it lasts a long time. All I have to do is to keep using it.'

Do you get cracked and painful hands? What's your No.1 go to product for it? Perhaps you've tried Salted Coconut and want to sing it's praises too, or perhaps it wasn't for you. Leave a comment in the box below!