Hand Care ?

[JennieAtkinson]

Anyone got a top tip for hand care?

I'm back to work tomorrow and after three days digging, etc. my hands are incredibly rough and black. I wear gloves whenever possible, but you know how it is, working with seeds, so much better when you get your ungloved hands in amongst the muck.

Might have to wear gloves for work instead

[andrewo]

I use coco butter, excellent stuff and sinks into the sink well. I make sure I wash them with a nail brush and then use the coco butter straight afterwards.

[Lesley Jay]

My hands are the same Jennie but I don't wear gloves because I can't feel the plants so after a few hours planting and weeding at the allotment my hands look terrible. The problem I then have is that no amount of scrubbing ever gets them looking clean. They are clean but the soil seems to stain my skin.

[andrewo]

Coco butter, trust me, lifts it right out.

[Peter]

Scrub with soap and scrubbing brush, then re-soap hands and use one of those artificial pumice stone's on the remaining dirty bits (I find its the edge of my index finger nearest my thumb).
Finish off with Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners Hand Therapy, absolute luxury.

C&E also do a Gardeners soap with pumice bits in it.
Swarfega is quite good as well.

[Shortie]

I was going to suggest Swarfega and a pinch of sugar as the sugar helps by exfoliating at the same time too. I know what you mean though, you think you've got it out from under your nails and then an hour later find some more glaring at you, and always find the earth stains down the side of my first fingers (like I've got cracked hands or something....)

I hate wearing gloved to garden unless I'm handling something prickly like my butternut, or digging up blackcurrent shoots.. I find I'm really clumsy if I wear them

[nick the grief]

.........unless I'm handling something prickly like my butternut, .. I find I'm really clumsy if I wear them

What can I say

[pigletwillie]

use a barrier cream at work which stops the crap embedding into my trotters in the first place and makes it really easy to get off oil and the like.

In the garden however, I never bother and soak them in the bath afterwards (mainly to sooth the aching joints) and then use a really hard scrubbing brush to scrub out the stains. Afterwards I apply Neutragena hand cream as its excellent.

[Geordie]

Jennie,

If you are doing only light jobs where you want to protect your hands but still need to feel the seedlings etc use those see through gloves found free in petrol stations, the ones provided for protection against diesel.

Fullers Earth Cream is fantastic for chapped hands or split finger ends after too much digging etc.

Must admit am not really a cocoa butter type of guy!

[JennieAtkinson]

Its probably ok for you chaps to have "chapped" (excuse the pun) hands, but us females are expected to have clean, even manicured nails. I DO NOT pass the test here !

I will try the cocoa butter Andrew. Have tried the plastic gloves Geordie, but unfortunately they make my hands sweat and I end up all pruney (heaven knows how you spell that!)

Thing is at work no-one seems interested in the fact that you have been gardening, let alone planted tatties, garlic, etc. They like eating the produce though .............

[Shortie]

Jennie, me neither. Being not only of female persuasion, but also working within Finance and providing user training / meeting with heads of other desks, it doens't look good to turn up with chapped, cut and dirty hands, and filthy nails

Still... I think they're used to me now, I've worked there long enough

[eskymo]

I was going to post a similar thread this week, but you beat me to it.

I've always suffered from bad eczema especially in my right hand as I'm right handed and so that hand get dunked in more water, more soil, more photgraphic chemicals etc than the left.

When I was at college it would get so bad [due to stress and exposure to photographic chemicals] it seemed I had elephantisis of the hand. Since then the skin on the underside of my right hand looks like an old ladies hand, full of cracks and wrinkles. If I put both my hands side by side, my left looks like the hand of a 35 year old and the right looks like that of a 60 year old!

When I'm out in the garden, even if I'm wearing gloves all the time, the soil sinks into the grooves in the skin and is impossible to get out, no matter how hard I scrub with a nail brush. So my hand looks constantly dirty. I wanted to know if there is anything, that's eco-friendly that I can rub into my hands before I start gardening that might lessen the problem or is there a knack to getting the dirt out?

Can anyone recommend anything?

[SueA]

When I remember I use Scottish Fine Soaps 'Gardeners' Therapy Barrier Cream' before I start gardening as I don't often wear gloves either.It does seem to make getting the dirt off a bit easier & makes your hands feel smooth then after I just slap on any handcream I can find or some E45 cream.

[eskymo]

I'll look into barrier creams - never heard of them before, so thanks for the tips as they may well help.

[wolf320f]

sheer indulgence....

although having gloves i never tend to use them and always have caked hands and a dirty top from wiping them on it.
i use a hand cleaner similar to swarfega with polygrains in it, which acts like an abrasive. you can get various brands of this from pound shops all over, or as earlier mentioned use swarfega mixed with sugar or salt.
soak your hands in hot water beforehand, (as hot as you can stand) and then scrub with the cleaner repeat as necessary.
afterwards i use the vaseline hand cream with cucumber extract which i find to work really well.
if my hands are really bad i cover my hands in cream and seal them in a sandwich bag whilst watching tv (one on each hand, for an hour or as long as needed) which makes the pores open up and the cream absorb better it also feels quite nice, soothing on aching hands.

top tip soak your feet at the same time its quite relaxing and if you bag your feet with the cream as well you dont get hard skin and save on a chiropodist. just be warned dont answer the door with all this on youll get strange looks and likely go ar** over t*t.

the bag trick was given me by a doctor for treating my daughters exzema when she was little hope it helps try it it works