Topic: Paw protection cream for HUMANS

[supersprout]

The season is starting to take its toll on my dainty lay-dees paws :-[ :-\
Can anyone recommend a good gardener's hand cream please?

[Daisy_Jane]

In the shed I've got Nivea hand cream in a little tin and also some sun tan lotion after coming home with a very red nose last week. Soil leaches any moisture from my hands though no matter what I use and they end up looking awful  :-[

Last year I bought some thin 'Weeders' gloves which are waterproof and thornproof but thin enough  to let you do fiddly jobs. After a year of hard labour  ;D they have holes in and I can't find any replacements in garden centres near here. They were from the Gardeners World show in B'ham .... might need to go again to stock up.

[supersprout]

Are these the ones daisy_jane?

[Roy Bham UK]

An Aloe Vera plant kept nearby would be more in keeping, just rip off a leaf and rub the juices over you rough bits ;D

I always keep my mascara close by just incase I get any unexpected guest's on the lottie :-[ :P ;D Ooh! shut that door. ;D

Edited to say... you've guessed it, I've changed it

[supersprout]

OOh Roy!!!
Mascara is definitely off topic ;)
Thanks for an early morning belly laugh ;D ;D ;D

[cowellen]

i use cocoa butter   :)

but im going to get me an aloe vera plant now ;)

[jennym]

Depends how bad your hands get!
Must admit, with combination of gardening and housework, mine can get pretty rough. Found a cream that is dear (about £6 I think) but works particularly for those nasty areas on pads of thumbs and sides of fingers that get almost callussed. Called Flexitol Heel Balm. Its meant for putting on dry, cracked heels, and works on them too. Got it from a Lloyds chemist, and once you start using it, and get your hands back to how they should be, you don't have to use very much after that. Found a link here: http://www.flexitol.com/products-uk.htm#availability

[caroline7758]

Thanks for that, Jenny- my heels get terrible in the summer & I've seen that stuff advertised & wondered if it works. Now I know it does, I'll get some.
I find Bodyshop's hemp handcream pretty good. I've also got 2 huge aloe vera plants, which I use for burns but have never tried as a handcream. If anyone wants a baby one, send me a message & I'll see if I can detach a bit.

[Hyacinth]

I've got 20 gardens to look after :o and then in my other Job ;) I can't afford to have gardeners hands.....so...last year I started to use latex gloves (20 from the Pound Shop), with trad. gardeners gloves over for heavier work. Never thought I'd get used to doing fiddly jobs with the latex gloves on, but 100% successful now. Have even learned to keep checking the tips of the latex ones - got caught out too many times last year not realizing that the latex had split. When you take the latex ones off, it helps to have some talc. to put into them to get them on again(get yourself an emergency lotties make-up box - lippie, 'scara & talc basics :D)).....the latex don't half make your hands sweat.

So...prevention sorted.

Any cheapo handcream for the dryness and once in a while an application of an industrial quantity of petroleum jelly..

So....no probs. with the paws. Big probs with getting things to grow, tho ;D ;D ;D

[weedbusta]

i've been using neutragena norwegian hand formula for years.you can pick it up in chemists. it's used by fisherman so stands up to the rough and tumble hand work. it's around six quid a tube but it lasts for ever.

[ann hunter]

Being a bod that simply cant cope with gloves, as you can imagine my hands suffer. However this old trick as a rescue is pretty good.  Wash surface grime off hands, put teaspoon of sugar in palm of hand, add tablespoon of oil (I am posh and use  olive but any kind will work) and work over hands to soften and smooth rough skin. Wash off et voila! soft hands. :-*

[cardinalflower]

LUSH LUSH LUSH ....

 :D

They have the best handcreams 2 but the one for gardeners is ...

Helping Hands Cream
"Hands that do dishes will be all dried out unless you use rubber gloves. Hands that do gardens will get rough and scratched, Hands that work with tools, paint and all manner of interesting hobbies will get into a right old state. Help is at hand! Helping Hands is made with chamomile, lavender, and honey to deal with the damage you do in the garden or the workshop. It has softening linseed mucilage, almond oil, shea butter and cocoa butter which your rough skin will absorb like blotting paper to make it smoother at once"

[timnsal]

I use vaseline dermacare lotion - started using it years ago when I had bad eczema and found that anything heavier, or more than a thin smear, made the eczema worse.
 It's cleared up since we moved to Staffordshire - obviously I was allergic to Runcorn ::) - as long as I remember to take the lotion with me, I'm even surviving the gardening.

Sally

[Hyacinth]

The sugar and oil's a good tip. It cuts like glasspaper, so best to use caster sugar or make your own by whizzing it in a blender for a mo.

But I found that the main prob was the dirt that gets under and round the nail beds, impossible to get out without going in with a fine probe and ending up with bleeding cuticles.  Thought that I too was a bod who couldn't cope with gloves.....took a while, but...I learned :-\

[Jesse]

I make my own hand and foot cream and it works a treat, the recipe and instructions are on my forum. :)

[ann hunter]

Imovable dirt under the nails reminds me of another trick. Digging (groan  ::)) your nails into a bar of soap BEFORE you start helps to stop dirt getting in! Feels a bit odd tho! :-\

[caroline7758]

I tried the sugar & oil method after reading it elsewhere on A4A, and it worked well for getting the dirt off, & my hands felt really soft afterwards- for about 10 minutes! Then I had to go & find the handcream anyway!

[anneski]

Depends how bad your hands get!
Must admit, with combination of gardening and housework, mine can get pretty rough. Found a cream that is dear (about £6 I think) but works particularly for those nasty areas on pads of thumbs and sides of fingers that get almost callussed. Called Flexitol Heel Balm. Its meant for putting on dry, cracked heels, and works on them too. Got it from a Lloyds chemist, and once you start using it, and get your hands back to how they should be, you don't have to use very much after that. Found a link here: http://www.flexitol.com/products-uk.htm#availability

Flexitol are now doing a hand cream, VERY rich, but extremely effective  :)

[lorna]

I cannot stand wearing gloves . I have used the sugar and olive oil method for years. I always scrub the dirt off first. I also found that using castor sugar is better, not quite so gritty..I use this method just for getting hands smooth but I still use a little hand cream.

[Anne Robertson]

I rub quite a lot of hand cream on my hands (any make) though sudecrem is good and then wear latex gloves for a couple of hours, usually while I'm reading in bed. It seems to work for me. :)