Hand Care

Hand Care: The Routine You Use Twenty Times a Day Without Realising

Your hands do more work than any other part of your body and get less skincare attention than almost anything else. They're washed constantly, exposed to detergents and cleaning products, battered by weather, and spend half the year drying out in heated indoor air. Yet most people's hand care routine begins and ends with whatever hand wash is next to the sink. No moisturiser. No treatment. No thought at all, really — until their hands crack, peel, or start looking ten years older than their face.

The skin on the back of your hands is thin, has relatively few oil glands, and loses collagen faster than facial skin. It shows sun damage early (dark spots, crepey texture) and recovers from dryness slowly. A basic hand care routine takes about thirty seconds and makes a visible, tangible difference within days. There's genuinely no excuse for neglecting it, and once you start, you'll wonder why you didn't bother sooner.

Hand Cream: The Non-Negotiable

Hand cream after every wash. That's the single habit that transforms hand health. Every time you wash your hands, you strip away natural oils. Soap is a surfactant — it dissolves oil, which is great for removing germs but terrible for your skin's moisture barrier. Replacing that moisture immediately with a hand cream keeps the barrier intact and prevents the cumulative drying effect that leads to rough, cracked skin by midwinter.

Rich, thick creams containing shea butter, glycerin, or ceramides are the workhorses. They create a protective film over the skin that locks in moisture for hours. For daytime use, look for fast-absorbing formulas that don't leave a greasy film — nobody wants to leave fingerprints on their keyboard or phone. For overnight treatment, thicker balm-style creams (sometimes called hand masks) applied before bed with cotton gloves on top deliver intense repair while you sleep. A week of nightly treatment can rescue even the most devastated winter hands.

SPF on your hands is something almost nobody thinks about, but dermatologists are unanimous: the dark spots and crepiness on ageing hands are almost entirely sun damage. If you apply SPF to your face every morning, swipe whatever's left on the tube across the backs of your hands. It takes two seconds and prevents the pigmentation changes that no amount of hand cream can reverse once they've appeared.

Beyond Moisturising: Treatments That Actually Work

Cuticle care benefits your hands as much as your nails. Dry, ragged cuticles make hands look neglected regardless of how moisturised the skin is. A cuticle oil (jojoba-based is ideal) applied daily softens cuticles, prevents hangnails, and keeps the nail beds healthy. Push cuticles back gently with a wooden stick after a shower when they're soft — never cut them, which risks infection and just makes them grow back thicker and rougher.

Exfoliating hand scrubs remove dead skin and allow moisturisers to penetrate better. Once a week is plenty — a sugar or salt scrub, worked over damp hands and rinsed off, followed by a thick hand cream. The difference in texture is immediate, and it keeps hands looking smooth rather than rough or flaky between more intensive treatments.

For seriously damaged hands — deep cracks, painful dryness, skin that splits at the knuckles in cold weather — look for hand creams containing urea (10% or higher) or liquid paraffin. These are medicinal-grade moisturisers that repair the skin barrier actively rather than just sitting on the surface. Pharmacies carry them, often at lower prices than fancy branded hand creams that contain the same active ingredients in prettier packaging.

Hand Wash Matters Too

Harsh antibacterial hand washes strip moisture aggressively. Unless you're in a clinical environment, a gentle pH-balanced hand wash cleans just as effectively without the drying aftermath. Look for washes with added moisturisers — glycerin, aloe — that deposit hydration while they clean. Your hands get washed ten, fifteen, twenty times a day; the cumulative effect of a gentle wash versus a harsh one is enormous over the course of a week.

Seasonal Hand Care

Winter is when hand care matters most. Cold air, low humidity, central heating, and more frequent hand washing during cold and flu season combine to create a perfect storm of dryness. Switch to a richer hand cream during winter months (look for ceramides or lanolin) and keep a tube at every sink, on your desk, and in your bag. Summer hands need less intensive moisture but more UV protection — apply SPF to the backs of your hands daily, because sun damage to hands is cumulative and almost entirely preventable. The dark spots that appear on hands from your forties onward are overwhelmingly sun-related, and they're far easier to prevent than to treat once they've appeared.

Compare hand care products from top brands — creams, treatments, washes — and check our deals for care sets that bundle hand and foot care essentials. For targeted care on other delicate areas, explore our lip care and eye care ranges too.