Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: supersprout on May 01, 2006, 09:06:44
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The season is starting to take its toll on my dainty lay-dees paws :-[ :-\
Can anyone recommend a good gardener's hand cream please?
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/handcream.jpg)
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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.
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Are these the ones daisy_jane?
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/weedersgardeninggloves.jpg)
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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
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OOh Roy!!!
Mascara is definitely off topic ;)
Thanks for an early morning belly laugh ;D ;D ;D
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i use cocoa butter :)
but im going to get me an aloe vera plant now ;)
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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. :-*
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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"
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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
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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 :-\
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I make my own hand and foot cream and it works a treat, the recipe and instructions are on my forum. :)
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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! :-\
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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!
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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 :)
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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.
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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. :)
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For a nice treat for dry hands every now and then I like to rub warm olive oil into my hands (and feet) then put gloves or socks on - i usually just use an old pair of cotton ones to stop it getting everywhere else - and leave over night. Wash off the next morning and hey presto! Silky smooth hands! Works a treat. ;)
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For a nice treat for dry hands every now and then I like to rub warm olive oil into my hands (and feet) then put gloves or socks on - i usually just use an old pair of cotton ones to stop it getting everywhere else - and leave over night. Wash off the next morning and hey presto! Silky smooth hands! Works a treat. ;)
SNAP about the cotton gloves/sox in bed overnight. Just wasn't going to admit it, is all :-[ :-[ :-[ Petroleum jelly for me, tho..
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that works well for hard skin on feet too. Smother in vasalene and put socks on and leave overnight, feels very odd but softens feet up a treat.
I use the sugar and oil thing and it works well, and then about once a week i rub olive oil into my hands and put rubber gloves on and do the washing up (i do wash up more than once a week, but i mean the treatment :P) and they go lovely and soft.
O lush is my heaven. since I gave up smoking two years ago a monthly trip to lush is my reward!
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The BEST cream for cracked hands is UDDER CREAM, if you know a farmer and they still use it grab some. I kid you not. We brought a large jar with us from when we kept a cow (in Sussex) and even our friend who owned a pub swore by it. I think son-in-law still has the remains of the cream.
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The stuff from Crabtree and Evelyn is very good.
They did a Gardeners gift set last year and I still have some left of the scrub grains and hand cream, so it does last.
I think they do a scrub in a tube now which has pumice grains in and makes your hands feel soft again.
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Right, from now on it's vaseline and latex gloves for the plot, the larder for scrubs, Flexitol, C&E or Lush for rubbing in and reading in bed with socks on? If that don't get my hands in shape will just have to try the udder one ;D ;D ;D
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:o ;D ;D ;D lol
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I too use the latex gloves, and the ones in the 2nd (?)pic, which are great cos your hands can breathe in them!
BUT I have to say I wouldn't be without my No Crack hand cream,
unfortunately comes from America, but if you know anyone out there, get them to get you some, marvellous stuff! ;D
http://www.nocrack.com/ (http://www.nocrack.com/)
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As a scrub I use salt, any old cooking oil and half a fresh lemon which works great as an exfoliant, EMU oil is I think the best cream for sore hands and great to be used before gardening it catches all the dirt!
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Thank you tilts and DP ;) it's so fascinating to see what everyone does to keep their paws in condition! Doris, can you get those rather nice Weeders gloves in the UK? If so, where please? ::)
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I like to use the E45 cream or vasioline with cotten gloves at night.
but if your hands are grimy after washing them.
I use a clay facial mask rub all over pay attention to nail aeras and leave to dry and wash off. Lovely clean hands and it refreshes them? strange but true.
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Supersprout, mine came from overseas :( But was going to ask for a pair to be sent over, can ask for 2 pairs if you want! ;) DP
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This is very interesting.I have promoted myself to thin latex gloves for fiddly potting type things.
All these tips remind me of when I was a lowly apprentice hairdresser, apart from all the shampooing I had to clean the wigs (in spirits), clean the drains and riddle and stoke the stove, clean the basins and mirrors etc. etc.
Prince Charming never came to rescue me (some bald bloke with a beard did instead).
Maybe it was the vaseline caked greasy gloves I wore at night................what if.............................. ;D ;D ;D
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They're the one's Supersprout - have you found somewhere that sells them? I've got a hole in one of the fingers now and I can't find a replacement anywhere :'( Other gloves just aren't the same.
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Hard to believe for something that you and DP rate so highly, a google showed no agent or retailer in the UK, just overseas suppliers in the US and Canada ???.
They might ship to the UK (or do you have friends/relatives there?) Seems like Weeders have a bit of a cult following over the pond!
http://www.cogersugarhouse.com/tools1.html
http://www.nybgshopinthegarden.org/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3884
http://www.shop-com.co.uk/amos/cc/main/prod/act/8939366/ccsyn/261
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=6030&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=680&iSubCat=989&iProductID=6030
Or like the ones you found first off, at a trade show? Good value if they last a whole year :)
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I've found some gloves on a UK site that look technically very similar to the gloves I've been using but they only come in white (!)
http://garden-gear.co.uk/FORMgallery42.htm
I've ordered a pair, they were only £4.95 (+ £1.45pp) - I'll give you a verdict when they've been put to use!
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Good things come to she who surfs! Yes please do daisy_jane
;D ;D ;D
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I don't use gloves but find the C+E handscrub with pumice useful, OH does wear gloves and swears by the SHOWA 370 NBR Palm Fit Grip gloves, she got some at the NEC gardeners world, but they are on the net, based in Shetland, she swears by them and I buy a few pairs every now and then... got her mum and neighbour hooked, do contain latex but lined... very cut/scratch resistant on the front but breathable on the back.
:)
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I don't believe you wimmin!
If you want soft hands, find a sheep!
Give it a good massage(after catching it).
For the blokes, wear wellies & give it one whilst there!
LANOLIN!!!!!!
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lol telboy, sadly some of us delicate lay-dees are allergic to lanolin, although I do love a nice sheep ;D
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/sheepkiss.gif)
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Ha Ha Ha, and hear hear !!!
another lanolin allergic sheep loving person. x ;D ;D ;D
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I use vasaline at night and if they are really bad i wear cotten gloves at night too...hubby says it's like going to bed with a goalkeeper!
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I use vasaline at night and if they are really bad i wear cotten gloves at night too...hubby says it's like going to bed with a goalkeeper!
Hmm! How many goal keepers has he been to bed with? I ask myself :o ;D...only kidding ;D ;D ;D
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When I started this lottie-lark a few weeks back, I started complaining to others about my newly-acquired sandpaper hands. Someone really nice (Trixiebelle :) ) sent me a bar of soap which has done loads to eliminate this - after I've finished gardening I wash my hands using it, and it makes a huge difference.
It's called Seven Wives Gardeners & Workshop soap. It contains essential oils, olive oil to moisturise, and an exfoliant.
Thoroughly recommended.
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I'd buy it just for the name ;D
Where can I get it?
(shopping early for Christmas)
Lishka
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I just found it online. Took me a while actually, because for some reason I thought it was called "Two Ladies" and not "Seven Wives". ::) My memory's not what it used to be. :D
http://www.airandwater.co.uk/product_details.asp?pid=4507 (http://www.airandwater.co.uk/product_details.asp?pid=4507)
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DenBee, my Christmas Present Problem is well and truly solved!
- many thanks for the link.
Lishka
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Great link denbee, thank you ;D
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Brillant link and some lovely looking stuff there........I feel a spend coming on! ;D
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I successfully use 'hemp' body butter from The Body Shop. Expensive but marvellous ;D
Louisa x
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I've found some gloves on a UK site that look technically very similar to the gloves I've been using but they only come in white (!)
http://garden-gear.co.uk/FORMgallery42.htm
I've ordered a pair, they were only £4.95 (+ £1.45pp) - I'll give you a verdict when they've been put to use!
They've arrived!!! And I am excited to report that they are 'almost' the same as 'Weeders,' in fact I can't see or feel any difference apart from the name. They are a slightly different size too, my Weeders were a Small, these are a size 7 and they are I guess a medium. They are trading under the name 'Floreo 265' made by Showa and have a website www.showa-europe.com (which i have not visited).
I would post a lovely pic for you but my camera is on the blink :-\
Happy gardening again :)
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;D ;D ;D
Good news daisy_jane, well done that glove detective!
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I said the SHOWA gloves were good but hadn't got a link to the Flora ones thanks!
:)
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Wimmin!!!!!