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My six-year-old has terrible dry skin; his little hands crack and bleed almost as soon as the heat comes on at our house. And honestly, there is nothing more pitiful than a kindergartener who is having trouble coloring because his hand is bleeding on his picture.
Seriously, you all. It's bad.
We struggled for a long time to find a hand cream that would work for him; most lotions contain some wee bit of alcohol, which makes him itch. He likes my super expensive L'Occitane hand cream, but for that price, I'm not rubbing it on my baby (sorry, son). Last winter, though, we stumbled on a solution: we slather his hands with Aquaphor after his bath, and the dry skin clears right up.
This got me thinking about my own winter dry skin issues. My cuticles are a mess in the winter, which makes my lovely manicure look really horrible and leads to all sorts of painful things (hangnails! that bleed! and get infected! you're welcome!). At night, I will often slather my cuticles in Neosporin and then pop a bandaid on for an overnight treatment, but that only works on a small area. There has to be a better way to keep my hands soft and smooth when the temperatures drop.
How could I make the Aquaphor work for ME? Because really, it's all about me.
I've been doing a couple of things with great success this winter. I keep a tube of Aquaphor next to the kitchen sink; when I'm cleaning up after a meal, I wash my hands, slather the Aquaphor on my still-damp hands (paying careful attention to my cuticles) and then slip on some rubber dish gloves. If I'm washing dishes (which I ALWAYS seem to be) the combination of hot water, hand cream, and rubber gloves has the same effect as the paraffin treatments I get at the nail salon. Plus the gloves protect my hands from water and dishrags, which is more sanitary and less drying.
Recently I've been reading that the best way to protect hands and nails from winter's ravages is to wear gloves EVERY time you leave the house. I live in a warm climate, so gloves aren't always a necessity, but I can see that on cold, dry mornings, being out and about leaves my hands dry and papery. To fight this, I bought an inexpensive pair of fleece gloves that I keep in my bag; before I leave the house, I put on just a little Aquaphor, again mostly on my cuticles, and then pop the gloves on. It's a simple thing to do but it is making a huge difference this winter.
And -- as an extra bonus! -- Aquaphor makes a GREAT lip balm! Toss it in your bag; you won't be sorry.
Looking for more simple beauty tips for the holidays? Holly Burns dishes about the five things you need to look good when you fly; SheFinds has tips for successful party style (click over JUST to see the dress, seriously).
Finally, I'm head over heels in love with BlogHer community member Rachel Sarnoff's site, EcoStiletto. Subtitled "The secret to smart and sexy green," it's a compendium of style and beauty tips that will make the world a better -- and prettier -- place.
Aquaphor is available in drugstores for about $6.00. It comes in everything from wee tubes you can carry in your purse or pocket to gigantic tubs to leave near the sink.
