The drier and colder air of the winter months can certainly be merciless to your hands. And with all of the cooking, cleaning, crafting and wrapping that come with the holiday season, your hands will be doing a lot more work than usual. You’ll also be washing them frequently to avoid cold and flu bugs, and you may even be engaging in fun but finger-freezing snowball fights. Chapped, sore and flaky hands need not be your fate, with proper winter hand care.

It’s this time of year that my hands in particular start suffering. My hands are already screaming for gloves. My nails peel then stop growing altogether and my hands dry and get so sore. Winter is cruel on my hands.

Hand Care at Home

Since the skin of your hands is very thin, it gets affected by cold wind, heated air and frost very quickly. You can avoid dry, itchy skin only by taking good care of your hands regularly. Make a big shallow bowl full of lukewarm water and put some body wash in that. Dip down your both the hands in the water and wait for 5 minutes. With a soft body scrubber, scrub your hands and wash them with water. Now apply moisturizer, that contains Shea butter, in both hands. Doing this everyday before going to bed will get changes in the look of your rough, dry hands. Sometimes your palms also become rough and dry. This helps healing this dryness.

Use gloves in winter

Whenever you go out in the winter season, it is important that you wear long gloves that will cover the exposed area of your hand. It will help to retain the moisture in the hand keeping it smooth. In winter, gloves also protect your hands from dryness and cold wind. This winter wearing is considered as one of the best protection of hands from cold and dry weather.

Again, when you are doing your house hold work, the dust and dirt affects your skin and it gets rough and often itchy. It looks awful and most of the time only moisturizer never helps to heal this problem. Always use rubber gloves while sweeping, moping and washing utensils. Dish washing detergent is very harmful for hands as it contains acid and other harmful chemicals. It makes the skin rough and often the skin tends to break when comes in contact with such products. So it is recommended to wear gloves, which will protect your hands from any unwanted harmful chemical.

Shea butter and natural oils

In the market, you will find number of good products that are very gentle over your skin. Try buying products with Shea butter. Shea butter and other natural oils like coconut oil, olive oil and aloe vera oil help recovering the redness and crack of your skin . Make it a rule of implementing Shea butter or coconut oil or olive oil everyday while you are hitting your bed in the night. It works great during the resting period as the moisturizer helps healing the cracked and dry skin by using the power from the nature. After any shower, always try to brush off your dry cuticles and message olive oil for 5 minutes. This helps your cuticles to remain soft and also he skin of your hands feels relaxed and moist.

Moisturise your hand in the night

Since most of you are very busy, it is okay to use the cold cream available in the market. But often those creams are little expensive. It is a best option to make some natural cream at home. It can get you more benefits than the expensive market product. Natural products are always recommended as they do not have any after effect and also the dryness of the skin is healed naturally.

Mix some quantity of unsalted butter with honey and some beneficial herbs like nettle. Apply this home made cream before hitting the bed and see the effect next morning. In winter, never use any store bought hand cream that contains petroleum. Again, in cold milk you can mix some orange peel. Scrub your hands with this mixture. Wash your hands and apply some light moisturizer. Doing it daily helps your hands to have extra glow and also it makes your skin fresh, smooth and soft.

Almond oil message

Every day try to use almond oil. During night, wash your hands with lukewarm water and apply sweet almond oil in both your hands. The next morning you will feel the difference. Do not use almond oil in the morning as it gives a little shiny and sticky effect. Every time try to moisturize the skin of your hands. Before going to bed in the night, make a mixture of hand butter, Vaseline and Neosporin. Apply it to your hands. It helps to retain maximum moisturizer and make your skin smooth.

Home Remedies

• Solution made of salt and lemon also slough off dead skin cells. Brush the solution with an old toothbrush. Do this twice a week. This method will not only give you soft hands but also remove discoloration.
• If your hands become rough after a hard day gardening, pour a small amount of salt in the palm of one hand, then apply olive oil and rub hands together. Rinse off under warm water. Next, cover your hands with cotton gloves. This will work well for feet too.
• For chapped winter hands: Grind 1 cup of uncooked rolled oats in a mixer until you have very fine powder. Place it in a large bowl, and then rub your hands in the powder gently. This will remove dry skin. Rinse with cold water and apply any hand cream. This treatment is cheaper then the expensive hand cream and yes, it does work better.
• To remove cooking smell from your hands. First rinse them with vinegar and then wash thoroughly with soap and water.
• Take 2 tbls. sugar, baby oil and liquid soap. Pour sugar and baby oil, enough to cover hands in the palm of your hand. Rub hands together, as you would rub when you apply a lotion. Do this for a few minutes, then pour on a little liquid soap and wash clean. Your hands will feel very smooth.
• Mix 1/2 cup of warm milk, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp plain yogurt and a few drops of lavender essential oil. Soak your hands in this mix for about 5 minutes. Scrub your hands gently and do a massage.
• The easiest method would be to apply a rich hand cream or petroleum jelly (Vaseline or generic) at night and wear gloves over them while you sleep. This locks the moisture in. Waken with softer hands.
• Hands become rough while you wash your dishes. Do not worry for there is a remedy even for this. Add a little almond oil to dishwater. The water will soften rough skin while the oil seals the moisture. Spraying your hands with a mist of vinegar after the wash will also be of some help.
• A quick massage of 10 minutes with olive oil or dove lotion will also work wonders.
• Rub one spoon of sugar, lemon juice and fresh cream into your hands till the sugar completely dissolves. This will surely be of some help.