For dry hands, choose your hand cream by texture and by the moment you will use it. A light, fast-absorbing cream suits the day, when you wash your hands often and need to get straight back to what you were doing. A rich cream or balm suits the evening, when it can stay on the skin for hours. Very dry hands, and hands in winter, do best with a formula made for very dry skin, applied after every wash. The habit matters as much as the tube.
Why Do Hands Get So Dry?
The skin on the backs of your hands is thin and has fewer oil glands than the face, so it has less of its own protection to begin with. Then it is washed many times a day. Soap and hot water lift away oils, and cold air and central heating draw moisture out. The result is the tight, rough feel most of us know through the winter months, often worst across the knuckles and around the nails.
What Is in a Good Hand Cream?
Most hand creams combine three kinds of ingredient, and the balance between them decides the texture.
- Humectants, such as glycerin, urea and sodium hyaluronate, draw water to the skin's surface and help it feel supple.
- Emollients, such as shea butter and plant oils, soften and smooth the feel of rough skin.
- Occlusives, such as petrolatum, beeswax, mineral oil and dimethicone, form a fine film that helps slow the loss of moisture.
A light lotion leans on humectants and absorbs quickly. A balm leans on butters, oils and waxes, and stays on the surface for longer. Neither is better; they do different work at different times of day.
Light Hand Creams for the Day
During the day you want a cream that sinks in quickly, leaves no film on a keyboard or a page, and is easy to reapply. A pump bottle by the sink or a slim tube in your bag makes the habit effortless.
Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Fast Absorbing Hand Cream has a quick-absorbing, non-greasy texture with glycerin and panthenol, in a pump bottle made for use after washing. Isdin Ureadin Manos Hand Cream pairs urea with avocado oil in a lightweight formula, also in a pump, and is made with frequent hand washing in mind. Elizabeth Arden White Tea Pure Indulgence Hand Cream is a lightweight cream that absorbs quickly and leaves a delicate white tea scent, in a small tube. Roger & Gallet Bois d'Orange Hand Cream brings shea butter and sweet almond oil to a fast-absorbing texture with a bright bitter orange fragrance, in a 30 ml tube.
- Norwegian Formula Fast Absorbing Hand Cream
- Ureadin Manos Hand Cream
- White Tea Pure Indulgence Hand Cream
- Bois d'Orange Hand Cream
Rich Hand Creams and Balms for the Night
Evening is when a richer texture earns its place. Nothing needs to be touched for a while, so the cream can stay on the skin rather than be wiped away on the next door handle. Apply a generous layer before bed, massage it into the backs of the hands, the knuckles and around the nails, and let it settle. On very dry nights, a pair of soft cotton gloves over the top keeps the cream where it belongs.
Guerlain Abeille Royale Repairing & Youth Hand Balm is a rich hand treatment with honey concentrate, shea butter and meadowfoam seed oil, in a silky balm texture. Chanel La Crème Main Texture Riche is the house's rich hand cream, with shea butter, jojoba esters, rose flower wax and iris root extract for a smooth, cushioned feel. The Body Shop Hand Balm is made for dry, sensitive skin, with almond milk, shea butter and cocoa butter. Matarrania Shea & Olive Hand and Nail Balm is built on shea butter with extra virgin olive, sunflower, almond and jojoba oils and sage extract, scented with bergamot and eucalyptus; warm a pea-sized amount between your fingertips before you apply it.
- Abeille Royale Repairing & Youth Hand Balm
- La Crème Main Texture Riche Hand Cream
- Hand Balm
- Shea & Olive Hand and Nail Balm
Very Dry Hands, Winter and Frequent Washing
If your hands feel rough by mid-morning, or tighten every time you step outside, choose a cream made for very dry skin and use it after every wash. Wash in lukewarm rather than hot water, pat your hands dry rather than rubbing them, and apply your cream straight away. In cold weather, gloves outdoors do as much as any formula.
Eucerin UreaRepair Plus Hand Cream combines 5% urea with ceramides and natural moisturising factors, the compounds skin uses to hold on to water, and is made for very dry, rough hands. Avène Cold Hand Cream is a cold-cream formula for dry, exposed hands, with Avène Thermal Spring Water, glycerin and beeswax. Svr Laboratoire Dermatologique Topialyse Mains Hand Cream pairs omega 3, 6 and 9 with shea butter for ultra-dry hands. Ducray Ictyane Hand Cream is a lightweight cream for dry, chapped hands that face the weather and frequent washing, with shea butter, glycerin and panthenol.
Urea can tingle on skin that is very dry. If your skin is cracked, sore or bleeding, ask a pharmacist before choosing a cream. We look at dry skin more widely, for face and body, in Sensitive and Dry Skin in an Irish Climate: Eucerin and Avène.
Nails and Cuticles
Nails and the skin around them dry out with the rest of the hand, and dry cuticles are more likely to look ragged. The simplest care is to massage your hand cream into the nails and cuticles every time you apply it, rather than stopping at the knuckles. A hand and nail cream is made to do both at once.
Teaology Black Rose Tea Hand and Nail Cream is a light cream with black tea infusion, shea butter and rose extract, to massage into hands and nails. Opi Pro Spa Protective Hand, Nail & Cuticle Cream is made for hands, nails and cuticles, with cupuaçu, white tea and shea butter. Instituto Español Perfect Hands Hands & Nails Deep Care Hand Cream brings shea butter and panthenol to a comforting cream for hands and nails.
- Black Rose Tea Hand and Nail Cream
- Pro Spa Protective Hand, Nail & Cuticle Cream
- Perfect Hands Hands & Nails Deep Care Hand Cream
When Should You Apply Hand Cream?
- After every wash, once your hands are patted dry.
- Before you go out in the cold, and again when you come in.
- Before bed, with a richer cream or balm.
- Whenever your hands feel tight: a small amount, often, works better than a large amount once.
A pea-sized amount is enough for each application. Warm it between your palms, then work it into the backs of the hands, between the fingers and around the nails. The backs of your hands see as much daylight as your face, so on bright days your usual sunscreen belongs there too.
How to Choose
- For the day and after washing: a light, fast-absorbing cream, ideally in a pump or a small tube.
- For the night: a rich cream or balm.
- For very dry hands or winter: a formula made for very dry skin, used after every wash.
- For dry nails and cuticles: a hand and nail cream, massaged into the nail as well as the skin.
If you choose only one, choose it for the moment you are most likely to forget: a light cream in a pump, kept beside the sink you use most.
