Caring for hard-working hands can be an absolute nightmare if your day-to-day routine means that you’re putting them through the wringer on a regular basis.

Hands that come into contact with irritants or allergens or even those which are in hard water for prolonged periods of time can be particularly prone to soreness. They benefit from skincare products that are specially formulated to be as gentle but as effective as possible.

There have been many challenges... then came sore, chapped, dry hands with rough, cracking skin. As a Balmonds fan I was really excited to see a hand cream launched when I came to top up my Skin Salvation supplies and have been delighted with the results.

Who Might Be Affected By Sore Hands?

Anyone working with irritant chemicals, in jobs involving cleaning, catering, hairdressing, healthcare and mechanical work, are likely to need a bit of extra care and protection for their hands.

Gardeners, chefs, cleaners, even busy mums keeping on top of a busy household: if your job involves a lot of washing or contact with harsh chemicals, you’re surely going to need to track down the very best hand cream that there is, so that you can keep dryness and cracked skin under control.

Caring For Your Hands

The NEA gives this advice for those whose hands are affected by dermatitis but it applies equally well for those whose hands are put under challenging conditions at work and need to give their skin some extra loving:

• Use heavy-duty vinyl or neoprene gloves in tandem with cotton glove liners when doing wet work. Wash the cotton gloves regularly, as well as the vinyl gloves if they aren’t disposable.
• Wear leather or clean, heavy-duty fabric gloves for dry work.
• Avoid using industrial hand cleansers or waterless or antibacterial cleansers that contain irritating ingredients such as alcohol and solvents.
• Carry your own hand cleanser, moisturiser, and prescription medication (if you use it) to work, and use them to prevent problems.
• Keep your work clothes, protective clothing, tools, and work surfaces clean; irritant residues on them can aggravate your problem.
• Treat all minor wounds on your hands, and bandage them, in order to avoid giving irritants and allergens an easy route into your skin.

But Which Moisturiser Might Work for You?

Finding the right cream for hard-working hands means choosing one that works as a really effective emollient to rehydrate and protect dry skin.

Certainly you should choose one that you can pop in your bag and apply frequently throughout the day when out and about, especially after washing your hands.

But you should also go for something rich, hydrating and, crucially, non-irritating. (We’ve got more advice about daily skincare routines here)

For hands that are especially dry and raw, with broken skin and even bleeding, we’d recommend using our Skin Salvation.

Being a thick beeswax and oil-based salve, this intensive moisturising ointment can be applied to even very sore skin without stinging and is incredibly useful for softening rough hands while providing good protection from further irritation.

It's all natural, formulated without any artificial preservative or fragrances, and very effective for effective daily hand care.

If, however, you’re looking for something softer, maybe more of a lotion or a cream than an ointment, how about trying our Intensive Hand Cream with Sea Buckthorn?

This lush cream is ultra intensive but is easily absorbed into dry skin. It contains rich and naturally antibacterial/antifungal olive oil, soft and creamy shea butter, wonderfully nourishing hemp oil, as well as chamomile, calendula and nettle - herbs long-recognised for their soothing anti-inflammatory properties - to keep skin in good supple condition.

Sea Buckthorn: The Magic Ingredient!

Balmonds’ Intensive Hand Cream also features oil from the wonderful sea buckthorn, heralded by the Independent as the new super food!

The article cites a study - “Published in this month's issue of Food Research International, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi found the berries to be nutrient-rich, packed with vitamins A, K, E, C, B1 and B2, fatty acids, lipids, organic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, folic acid, and flavonoids.”

Such goodness can be absorbed through the skin and help maintain the good condition of the epidermal layer.

The seabuckthorn gives the hand cream a lovely soft golden colour and a light sweet scent, which is all this naturally fragranced cream needs; it contains no artificial perfumes or unnecessary additives.

Tried and tested hand cream

Our hand cream has already won firm fans. One intrepid customer, Nic Goddard, who lives a self-sufficient life with her family out in the wilds of Scotland and has been featured on Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild TV series, gives the hand cream a rousing five stars.

"I was really excited to see a hand cream launched when I came to top up my Skin Salvation supplies and have been delighted with the results."

Balmonds Intensive Hand Cream
with shea butter and sea buckthorn oil