These 10 Dry Hand Treatments Stop My Skin From Feeling Like Sandpaper
Winter is testing me.
It’s a freezing and miserable 17 degrees Fahrenheit in New York City today. The real feel on Saturday? Three (!!!!!!) degrees. Opening my weather app prompts heart palpitations and reminds me precisely why winter is my least favorite season. I have many qualms with this time of year (and I’ll never pass up an opportunity to air my grievances), but my biggest complaint is that it’s destroying my hands. For weeks, I’ve been covered in peeling skin, I've been itching, and I'm damn near bleeding. Thankfully, I have 10 dry hand treatments (and a really, really amazing dermatologist) to save me.
When this whole debacle started, I paid a visit to my board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD, who diagnosed me with eczema and prescribed me a steroid cream called Clobaitisol to apply twice daily. She also gave me some amazing tips on how to make my hands feel and look more hydrated. The most important? Moisturize within three minutes of washing my hands. Given all the germs circulating around NYC, I’m doing the whole wash-hydrate-repeat routine at least 10 times a day. It's rough (literally and figuratively), but these are the products getting my, and my dry hands, through the next few weeks.
Samantha Holender holding Aquaphor, a perscription cream, and Paume's hand treatment.
Start With a Softening Hand Wash
When you’re washing your hands a bajillion times a day, the hand wash matters. There’s an ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate that’s responsible for giving a lot of the Heavy Duty hand washes a bubbly, foaming texture—but it’s incredibly drying. That’s why I try to use options with hydrating, moisturizer, skin-barrier boosting ingredients like hyaluronic acid, squalane, and ceramides.
One thing about me: I love a little luxury. Give me a fancy laundry detergent or a disgustingly expensive diffuser, and my heart flutters. To me, this Diptyque hand wash is exactly that. The bottle lasts forever (which helps me rationalize the price tag), and it leaves my hands feeling soft—not stripped of their last ounce of moisture.
I will never, ever get sick of using this soap. I keep it in my kitchen, along with my matching Tomato Leaves candle and incense, and it gives the whole space such a fresh, bright smell. The best part? It gives my hands a dose of aloe vera and jojoba oil, which leaves them feeling a tad more moisturized than when I started.
Rub in Your Leftover Face Moisturizer Morning and Night
The key to lasting hydration is to lock moisture in before the air can suck the life out of your hands. So, within a minute or two of washing your hands, apply a heavy serving of moisturizer to slightly damp hands. After I wash my face, I actually find myself using the leftover facial moisturizer on my hands for an extra little boost.
I was recently introduced to this brand—and immediately got hooked. The formulas don’t irritate my sensitive, eczema-prone skin; instead, they soothe, deeply hydrate, and calm down redness. I make a point of taking a little extra (a dot goes a very long way) and working it into any particularly dry areas on my hands. It’s made a massive difference.
Ok, hear me out: while this is definitely a cream designed for your face (and I do love it as a regular moisturizer, too!), it’s roughly the same price as a luxury hand cream—and works so much better. It’s deeply hydrating thanks to ceramides and rosehip seed oil, but also contains backuchiol (aka, a plant-derived retinol alternative), so it calms my paranoia about hand aging.
Keep a Hand Treatment in Your Bag for Re-Application
While my facial moisturizer serves as a treat for my hands morning and night, I like to have some portable creams tucked away in my bag so I can apply them after washing my hands at the office or while running errands. There are so many hand treatments to choose from, but these two babies are my favorites.
This French pharmacy staple is a cult-favorite for very good reason. She’s thick and works like a charm. I honestly treat this like an all-over salve, putting it on dry spots on my face, coating my lips in it overnight, and, most importantly, rubbing a pea-sized amount into my hands 90 times a day.
This may be called an overnight mask, but don’t let that scare you. I fully use this like any other hand cream. A small dollop takes the edge off skin tightness, and consistent use has had a major impact on my hands’ overall hydration. It's also a staple in MC Beauty Director Hannah Baxter's hand care routine
Have Some Eczema-Safe Options At the Ready
Hand eczema comes and goes, but when I’m in a flare, I know I need an option that’s fragrance-free, occlusive, and has the National Eczema Association's stamp of approval. I look for key ingredients like colloidal oatmeal, centella asiatica, and ceramides.
When it comes to hands, "dry" is often synonymous with "itchy." Unfortunate as that may be, it’s allowed me to discover the ultimate quick fix. This drugstore staple takes the edge off and helps heal cracks while it’s at it.
This baby is a little more expensive than the drugstore options, but you really do get what you pay for. It contains high-potency colloidal oatmeal to address signs of dermatitis, as well as ceramides and fatty lipids. When I feel a flair coming on, this nips it in the bud.
Break Out the Heavy Hitter for Bed
Nighttime care is easily the most important when treating dry hands. It’s an uninterrupted eight hours to infuse my hands with moisture. Dr. Garshick even told me to order some cotton gloves on Amazon to prevent the product from transferring onto my sheets, and that’s been a game-changer.
I’ll be honest: this isn’t the most elegant formulation. It takes about two minutes of massaging to get the zinc-like texture to actually soak into my skin. But it’s well worth it. When my hands venture into sandpaper territory, this is the only product powerful enough to bring them back.
Once my Amlactin has soaked up, I put on a nice layer of Aquaphor before slipping my hands into cotton gloves. It’s not the sexiest look to sleep in, but by morning, my hands feel like new.
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