Tips from the Team | Keeping your hands healthy throughout COVID.

With handwashing at an all-time high, keeping your hands feeling fresh and moisturized has become increasingly difficult, not to mention some of the other issues that come as a result of constant cleaning. We got our skincare specialist Annabelle to go over some of the possible side effects and how to address them...  

We all know that keeping our hands clean during this time not only helps us avoid nasty germs but also can help protect others. Cleaning the hands often is the best way to ensure the germs have completely left the skin. It is important to remember that a good, thorough hand washing routine will work best. Provided you have a sink and some soap at your disposal, you don’t need antibacterial hand washes or non-eco-friendly products, it’s all in the technique and being thorough. 

The two main factors causing problems for our hands are: 

1. Washing hands more frequently.
2. Using alcohol-based sanitizer.

Essentially, washing your hands more often, breaks down the natural barriers of oil, leading to dry chapped skin, a good little tip is to make sure you aren’t washing your hands with water that is too hot as this exacerbates the effects, therefore slightly warm water is the best option. 

Speaking of hand sanitizers, whilst they play a vital role in protecting us, they are also pretty strong in the essential alcohol needed to kill the germs. This can, in turn hugely dry the hands, causing sore split skin and even damage the strength and health of the nails.

Help with reversing/preventing damage

Treat the hands at night when you are not scrubbing as often with a rich Shea butter hand cream. The butter melts into the skin and can repair dried-out skin as well as prevent further damage the following day. Use frequently! Every night is best. 

For really damaged skin you can try a richer skin balm. I personally find products with softening and healing beeswax to help repair well. 

As always, it’s really important to avoid any products with strong synthetic fragrances, also I’d highly recommend against the use of creams containing silicones or parabens, as these just sit on top of the skin and don’t nourish!

I hope you found these tips useful, there has never been a more important time to ensure our hands are an integral part of our daily self-care routine!