Hand Care ?

[eskymo]

That sounds like just what I need - I'm going to try the 'bag' therapy tonight whilst watching Grand Designs. Thanks for the tip - I'm sure it is going to help!

[nick the grief]

Well I'm stunned, The great Geordie admiting to using hand cream I would have thought you'd be more like me & use Carbolic soap & a wire brush. (I find that Dove hand cream is good after that but don't tell anyone I told you)

[sewer rat]

I use hand cleaners similar to swarfega with the polygrains in them same as wolf320 does - ideal for removing oil and grease as well as engrained dirt. More often than not, I do not wear gloves, and suffer greatly from earache from OH when I waltz in with mud / compost / grass wipes all over my tops.

[Alice]

I'm A wimp and use gloves. I hate working in them and never use for light jobs but when I have to get deep down and dirty the gloves go on. Can't bear to have my hands and nails all roughed up. If hands a bit dry I apply hand cream and old coton gloves - go to bed in them - works a treat. My father in law, a great gardener, swore DAZ soap powder cleaned hands, and everything else. Yes, he washed his hair with it. Well it was the good old days.

[rosheen]

hand Care

hi Jennie, I use a product called fast orange which i got in a hardware shop after which I rub in some warm olive oil put on some cotton gloves and go to bed. If you scrape your nails on a bar of soap before going out to the garden it helps to keep them clean. Hope this is useful

[eskymo]

I tried the bag trick tonight and it really worked, but I think I need to do it again tomorrow to keep my skin nice and soft. It definitely makes the skin absorb the hand cream better. Thanks a million!

[Sal]

I swear by Swarfega and a scrubbing brush and then Hemp Hand Protector from the Body Shop - yes I said hemp. You can't miss it, it's in a metal tube with a big canabis leaf on the front of the label. Its very very good. 2nd best to that is Nutrogena but this is tested on animals and someone once told me that whale blubber was one of the ingredients!!!!

[fruit&vegvirgin]

I also swear by C&E Gardners hand therapy stuff, but its expensive. I also find that if you rake your nails across a cake of soap BEFORE venturing out, it is much easier to loosen the black!
having said that, my hands still look like a navvy's most of the time, and the onset of arthritis is not helping... I'm only 44 and I can already see my hands will end up like my mother's, who is 75!!

[Sal]

Ooh ooh ooh, tried the 'scraping your nails in a piece of soap' trick today and it worked. Thanks F&VV If you put some hand cream on before the soap, then the soap, then scub them hard after, then put more hand cream on they come up sparkley clean.

Other tip may be to start wearing black nail polish to work to hide the dirt, you could white your face, wear lots of eyeliner and say you were becoming a Goth!

Not sure who made the word 'hemp' red in my previous post by the way? Any ideas?

[rauni]

Fast orange is brilliant as a natural alternative to Swarfega. It has grains of orange peel, which seem to dissolve dirt (including oil) and smells lovely! I got it from a hardware shop too, and haven't found it again since. I have disastrous hands too, as I'm a Silversmith. Most of the time they're covered in wee cuts and abrasions, and they split along the lines of my fingerprints. The grains from emery paper and all the metal dust get right in there. I've given up on trying to have clean hands, which have inspired outbursts on their manliness in the pub before (not really a compliment for a woman, although it was from a pen-pushing man, so tinged with envy). The ONLY handcream, as far as I'm concerned, is Neutrogena. Definitely recommend barrier cream before gardening, and long soak in bath after. Will try the bag trick tho.

[Shortie]

Sal, I don't see it red? Maybe it's changed back..?

A tip I got from Steve Brookes's DVD yesterday was, to stop getting dirty under your nails in the first place, scratch your nails over a bar of soap to get the soap stuck under them., When your finished your mucky work, wash your hands, and the soap from you nails and apparently not only will your nails not be dirty, they'll be cleaner than when you started.

Not sure how comfy the soap will be though while you're working?

[Jaxom]

If a person uses the "search" at the top of the page, whatever word they used will show red on all posts in the thread that they view.
I have just tried it and it works exactly as I thought. Where you wrote 'hemp' did not go red because of the apostrophes surrounding the word. Have a go and see what I mean.
Jax

[JennieAtkinson]

I'm hooked on

soap scratch before gardening (easy enough to keep the soap in the polytunnel and
cocoa butter - works a treat

Thank you all for your wonderful solutions - my hands don't look like my grannies tonight!

Now what about the knees ............. ? I always seem to miss the kneeler even when I take it out with me (ie I put it down and land on the earth). Glass of wine at lunch didn't help. I seem to have quite spotty and red knees tonight. Now I'm not really into mini skirts, but think I ought to do something about it now. (When you get to my age you have to act fast!) Cocoa butter ?

[Nicos]

If you wash your hair in the shower or bath after a gardening session,really scrub your scalp with your nails and hands, and the hair will help lift out some of the embeded soil from your hands and nails. (Might work with knees too if you're double jointed Jennie!!!) goodness knows what a hairdresser would say to you using your hair in lieu of a nailbrush though!

[Shortie]

Oh ntg, I just read you post back on the 18th... Cheeky!