suggestions on how to help this problem?  It's from doing the dishes and washing my hands too much.  But it happens in the winter.  Not so much in the summer.  I guess because it's less humid out.  

I don't really want to put garbage on my hands, but I've admittedly put triple antibiotic on them twice now in the last month.  The first time it helped.  I did it last night and slept with rubber gloves on to keep the moisture in.  They felt better in the morning, but they're already hurting and dry and cracking again.  

Help??  Any healthy ways to combat this?

wear gloves when doing the dishes

..and use soap free liquids - you can add some oil to the dishwashing liquid bottle if you really want to. I add castor oil to soap-and-detergent-free bodywash - very gentle. Hemp oil is amazing for cracked skin too.

ps. not suggesting you use bodywash to clean your dishes, just saying how effective oil is added to many types of liquid cleansing agents

omega 3-6-9 B-complex, Mg, Silicea, amino acid complexes....
wish you all the best ..... greetings from Switzerland

Lola, yeah, I need to start doing that.  I feel like I'll be wearing gloves all day.  The dishes are in constant motion.  

Amazone, I'm taking all of those right now.  hehehehe.

Honeybee, thanks.  Hemp oil.  Hmmmmm....  I've never seen any anywhere.

I use virgin coconut oil on my hands at night, it's great

If I am using oil in the kitchen & accidentally get some on my fingers, I always always rub it into my hands...
I also eat plenty of butter & don't suffer at all from dry skin anymore...despite rarely using even face cream & never using handcream...
Do you have enough oil/ghee/butter in your diet? Hope they feel/are better soon!!

not much prevention, but where they are split use crazy glue.. instant pain relieve.

I like the idea of using gloves, but never do it!  

Try to find a natural cream with lanolin in it.  Lanolin works extremely well for this sort of thing.   You can even use 100% lanolin - it's natural and not expensive, but it's very messy.  Beware - a little goes a LONG way!

Do a little test first...I've heard of some people being allergic.  It is made from wool, btw and is a great skin protectant as well as moisturizer.  You could even put a little on your hands before you get them wet and it will help.

I have a problem with the skin on my feet and I was prescribed a 40% urea cream.  You can now buy this over the counter, but it's hard to find.  This works very well for my feet - amazing really - it keeps them from getting hard, thick skin that cracks, but I'm not sure about hands.  You might look into it.  What I do is put some on my feet, while I'm still wet, after a shower.  Once I started to do this regularly (it took about 2-3 weeks of regular use), my feet no longer needed to be pedi-egg'd every week and the skin stopped cracking and peeling.  Here's what I use (it's sort of expensive, but you use VERY little of it - read the customer review) - this is a good price, btw:

http://www.lovelyskin.com/details.asp?PID=118584

Good luck!

I'm one of those who can't use lanolin on my hands on a daily basis.  The coconut oil sounds really good and the hemp oil, too.  After years of trying out various other methods I always return to Eucerin original as it does the best job for me.

Bath and Body works has a line called CO Bigelow. they have some great chapped hand creams. they are thick, so i usually only use it at night, but it does work.

Unrefined shea butter , but make sure it is 100% shea butter with nothing added. It's a miracle treatment, I use it for everything  

Quoted from JJR

I don't really want to put garbage on my hands, but I've admittedly put triple antibiotic on them twice now in the last month.  

perhaps you should include your antibiotic stuff in your garbage column lol

gloves, or rinse hands and apply an oil like olive and or grape seed.

a quick question re omega oils  - as they attract wtaer  (go rancid quickly) is that not counter intuitive?

I used to use linseed oil on my cricket bat so perhaps your right.

Quoted from JJR

suggestions on how to help this problem?  It's from doing the dishes and washing my hands too much.  But it happens in the winter.  Not so much in the summer.  I guess because it's less humid out.  

I don't really want to put garbage on my hands, but I've admittedly put triple antibiotic on them twice now in the last month.  The first time it helped.  I did it last night and slept with rubber gloves on to keep the moisture in.  They felt better in the morning, but they're already hurting and dry and cracking again.  

Help??  Any healthy ways to combat this?

The absolute best product for this that I have ever used is "Bag Balm".  We used it on the milk animal udders to keep them from cracking and chapping during the winter, and when finished applying to the animals, rubbed the remainder (or a little more) into our hands.  Kept them very healthy.
http://bagbalm.com/

I don't like bag balm, myself.  It's really just lanolin mixed with petroleum jelly (which I try to avoid) and some other stuff:

"The active ingredients of Bag Balm are 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% (antiseptic) in a petroleum jelly USP and lanolin base"

I'd rather use the plain lanolin....

I have recommended this lotion to many people who have found it to be the one that works after they've tried many others.  Renew Lotion from Melaluca.  http://www.melaleuca.com/ProductStore/Product.aspx?sku=6600    I have found a link on ebay for you too that has many different sizes so you can try a little container to see if it works. Hope it helps - for myself I turned to it one winter in an attempt to avert the extreme itchy dry skin that would always come in the winter and I've used it 6 years running with no itching my skin until it's raw anymore! hope it helps.  here's the ebay link: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=renew+lotion

Not too thrilled with the ingredients in Renew - in fact, it's hard to find the correct ingredient list (which makes me suspicious).  I found two:

1:  Deionized Water, glycerine USP, petrolatum USP, distearyldimonium chloride, isopropyl palmitate, cetyl alcohol, dimethicone, allantoin, Benzyl alcohol, fragrance, meleleuca oil.

2:  Water, glycerine, petrolatum, distearyldimonium chloride, isopropyl palmitate, cetyl alcohol, dimethicone, allantion, methylparaben, fragrance, propylparaben, meleleuca altemifolia oil.

Basically, the main ingredients are water, glycerine (which I, personally, HATE in my lotions), a petroleum product (baby oil or vaseline), a silicone product and a tiny amount of tea tree oil.

Make your own decisions....!

My hands were horrible for years (due to Lyme disease). I'm pretty sure the things that helped were

Hemp Oil capsules http://www.iherb.com/Manitoba-Harvest-Hemp-Seed-Oil-Capsules-60-Capsules/11171?at=0
Pregnenolone http://www.iherb.com/Life-Extension-Pregnenolone-50-mg-100-Capsules/4380?at=0
DHEA http://www.iherb.com/Country-Life-Gluten-Free-DHEA-10-mg-50-Veggie-Caps/1676?at=0

Lymies adrenal glands and endocrine systems are completely trashed so we need all the help we can get. I also take Progesterone and Estrogen, but I get them from my ND.

Before I knew I had Lyme I found shea butter (100% unrefined) to work well and GLOVES!!!

I changed the way I do dishes - no more dishpan with my hands immersed in the water.  I bought a long-handled brush with soft bristles.  One of those little 'mops' with a long handle (like a bottle brush) is also good for dishes.  I rinse everything immediately under hot running water, as I cook, and as soon as plates and bowls are emptied.  Then when it's time to wash them, a few drops of liquid soap on the brush, swish all over the dishes and rinse.  My hands hardly get wet.  Even the pots and pans get washed that way.  There are little scrubbies on the end of sticks which clean pots well.

I haven't bought dish soap in a decade.  My favorite is Dr. Bronner's, diluted 1/2 and 1/2 with water in a pump bottle on the sink.  

As soon as dishes are done, or everytime hands are washed, something goes on the hands immediately to moisturize and seal in the moisture.  Lots of good suggestions here on the thread.  My latest favorite is Awakening Hands.

policychecker, I know.  It worked once, but it's not really something I want to use on a continual basis.  That's why I'm asking.  

We have eucerin, and it worked really well on my son's eczema.  And it was the LEAST full of junk we could find that actually helped.  None of the normal oils helped, plus he's allergic to so many things.  He does really well on goat things, milk, etc, I wish they would've had goat fat or lard for him.  That probably would've been a miracle thing for him.  

I wonder if oat oil would work.  But yeah, rancid.  I'm kind of anti coconut oil right now.  But it works on my daughters chapped spots real good.  She's got a few on her legs.

Try slathering your hands down with olive oil or an olive oil based product called Egyptian Magic:
http://www.egyptianmagic.com/

I know we have spoken about skin problems before sounds to me that the washing up is the last thing is a long list of things and therefore you need to go back to basics, you and your children.


I'm more experienced with BT O's of course but low sugar foods, zero coffee, no sunflower oil, change salt to sea salt, food combine, fruit only on an empty stoach and limit (limit means one, tow or three bits of fruit separated by at least 4 hours and always on empty stomach or a long time after other food. minimal; grain, flour, cakes or what ever. no sweets (sugar effects on skin can take 72 hours in my expericnec. and can take a further week to correct.

I realise tha AB's are different and that perhaps tehre are pther issue, however the basics are the same i think.

also chlorine and perhaps taking a break from soaps etcs every other day exce for the pits, grain, and bum of course also no working with any grain, (bakers hands) we just use castill soap, chlorine shower filter etc.

I don't have a problems with Emily needing any oils on her skin as she now has no spots, pimples or anything. so low fodmap does help. her skin is beautifully smooth now - who would have thought. if you want dry skin and sugar basically.

I would like to disclaim any hormonal issues as Emily is only 5 so this may interfere later, maybe not.

food dairy, food dairy, food dairy lol

immune system immune system immune system . tk counts etc

Policy checker, I don't eat sweets, I don't eat refined flours, I don't eat any of that stuff you're talking about.  The only problem I have is on my hands.  My skin is nice and oily other places.  So is my hair.  When I shower, it's olive oil soap.  That's it.  I don't need to go back to the basics.  I have to admit, your posts have this aire of "you're doing this wrong" kind of a thing.  And I think because you've dealt with some issues with your daughter, and have overcome, you think you have it all figured out for everyone else.  You have obviously not taken the time to check out the posts I had on facebook about my son, how he's overcome his awful eczema, and what not.  And it wasn't the same way you have.  Everyone has their own road.  

My HANDS are cracking.  From washing the dishes too much.  Too much hot water and too many times.  Plus, I'm probably not completely assimilating my oils, and to further that, I was for a long time barely eating any oils, but I'm now learning to up that.  

The only thing I do that you and I don't agree with is the fruit thing.  I eat protein with every meal.  Including fruits.  And I don't really give a rip if you think that's wrong or not.  It's not what's causing my hands to mess up because my hands are fine in the summer.  

And no, I'm not going to quit eating rice or oatmeal.  It helps fuel my body and keep weight on.  

I'm sorry if I seem irritated, but to be quite frank.  I am.  This is not the first time I've felt this way about your posts and I'm taking the opportunity to tell you this now.  I think it's fair, because I'm calling you out with your attitude.  I do like the help and even value your opinion.  I'm just not very good at accepting opinions when they have a "know it all ish" feel to them.  In which case, I think yours do.  Regardless of all that, I hope you don't hate me for saying so, I'm just being honest, just like I'm sure you feel like you're being honest by telling me I need to "Go back to the basics".  

Quoted from 14442

Try slathering your hands down with olive oil or an olive oil based product called Egyptian Magic:
http://www.egyptianmagic.com/

Well dang, if all the stars are using it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!       I was thinking about using just olive oil on them and seeing.

Quoted from chrissyA

Unrefined shea butter , but make sure it is 100% shea butter with nothing added. It's a miracle treatment, I use it for everything  

As lola pointed out you need to work from the inside.  While your doing that I second the 100% shea butter.  My feet where really bad this summer, up to the point of bleeding.  This butter is great. Yes it is a miracle treatment.