Hand care: what to do if your hands are chapped. Saving chapped hands at home What to do if your hands are very chapped

Chapped hands are a nightmare during the cold season. This problem continues to be popular. It concerns not only adults, but also the youngest, because everyone, when they were children, encountered a similar phenomenon. I played snowballs with my friends with my bare hands - they were very chapped, hurt and caused a lot of inconvenience. How to treat chapped hands at home?

Cold and wet weather is taking its toll. We put on warm jackets, hats, boots - we insulate ourselves with diligence. But, unfortunately, we forget about the most important thing - our hands. As soon as you go outside without gloves, cracks immediately appear on your hands, your skin becomes dry and rough.

Your hands may become chapped the moment you took your phone out of your bag in the wind or straightened your hair, no matter what happens, remember that wounds on the skin are an open path for infection and pathogens, and this means only one thing - you should not let the problem go away. gravity However, no one will run to the doctor for such a frivolous reason, so let’s talk about treating chapped hands at home.

How to help those affected by bad weather

Cream, folk remedies, spa treatments or medications? Inflammation and chapping can be treated in various ways. We will talk about the most effective of them.

Since chapped hands are characterized by severe drying of the upper layer of skin and the appearance of bleeding cracks, treatment must be carried out immediately. When providing first aid, a cream will help us; it can be anything, preferably with a greasy consistency. This remedy will soften inflamed skin.

People have given the name “ticks” to hands affected by the cold; it probably comes from the fact that skin scales touch clothing and cling. Since ancient times, effective methods of combating chapping of the skin have been sought. Here are some examples of recipes that are easy to prepare at home:

  • Grind 3 tablespoons of oatmeal into powder in a blender, add half a glass of boiling water, let it brew for 10-15 minutes - anoint your chapped hands with the resulting mixture.
  • Dilute 50 g of soda in 250 ml. warm water. You need to take a bath for 15 minutes, then use a rich hand cream.
  • Brew 3 tablespoons of oak bark, add tea tree oil to the mixture. The warm solution should be used for treatment for a week until the chapped skin is completely cured.
  • Pour boiling water over 100 g of calendula leaves. Prepare a clean bandage or gauze. Make compresses with the resulting decoction, changing the temperature from cold to hot.
  • Apply sea buckthorn oil to the affected areas of the skin. It will quickly heal wounds on your hands because it has anti-inflammatory properties.
  • Apply fresh cucumber skins to cracked areas and leave for 15 minutes.
  • If the skin damage is minimal and the chapped areas are small, then you can anoint your hands with aloe juice at night.
  • Starch baths will help treat chapping. In 100 ml. dissolve 4 dessert spoons of starch in water.
  • It is good to use a mask for chapped hands. It is very simple to prepare: boil 1 potato, mash it, add a teaspoon of oil (olive, vegetable) to the puree, apply the resulting pulp to your hands in the morning and evening.

Women can visit the spa and have a pyrotherapy procedure. It will not only help to cope with the problem of chapped hands, but will also leave behind a pleasant, relaxing effect.

How to help your baby

But it happens that it is not you, but your child who gets chapped hands. Masks and folk remedies are not suitable here, because they require perseverance and patience. That is why treatment at home must be carried out using other methods - using a cream. There are many of them sold in pharmacies, the price range is large, and the effectiveness is almost the same.

You can smear the chapped surface of your hands with the following preparations:

  • Bepanten;
  • Purelan;
  • Morozko;
  • Chicco;
  • Sanosan;
  • Our mother.

You can also use baby oils from Johnson Baby, My Sunshine or Eared Nanny for treatment.

Treatment and prevention

So, to summarize: in order to get rid of “chicks” and the consequences of chapped hands, you need to:

  • Use folk remedies prepared at home.
  • Make masks for chapped hands.
  • Apply cream.

There is no doubt that the best thing to do with this problem is to prevent it from starting. Therefore, it is worth remembering about prevention:

  • Wear warm gloves.
  • Wear weather protection.
  • Take care of your hands every day, a mask and cream will come to the rescue.

It should be remembered that hands can become chapped not only in frosty, but also in hot weather. For example, when working in the garden. In the wind, the skin dries and cracks. In this regard, you should always be careful and careful when caring for your hands so that they do not cause you discomfort in the future. For prevention and treatment at home, you can use any brand of night cream.

Getting rid of pimples and chapping: video

The main thing to remember is that when your hands become chapped, the main thing is to act quickly and correctly. Treatment should not be put off for a long time, it can cost you a lot. Unhealed wounds on chapped hands heal slowly, the skin deteriorates, becomes dry and lifeless. Take care of yourself. Be healthy!

Chapped hands are another sign that a person does not take care of his health. Agree, chicks don’t look so beautiful, so you need to do everything to keep your body in good condition. Everything starts small. First, a person forgets about his hands, and then about food. This neglect of your body will lead to bad consequences.

Symptoms and causes of chapped skin

If your hands are chapped, they will be dry, cracked, and red. When moving, pain and itching occurs, as the skin is very tight. If you run this, bloody cracks will appear.
There is more than one reason why hands become chapped. Changes in weather, the appearance of wind and cold, high humidity, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract negatively affect the skin.

Therefore, we recommend that you remember about hyaluronic acid in tablets or capsules; hyaluronic acid in capsules or tablets allows you to maintain the level of this substance in the human body at the required level. Due to the fact that this substance allows you to retain moisture inside the skin cells and maintains the balance of synovial fluid, which is the main fluid in the joints, the consumption of this drug helps avoid drying out the skin and protects the joints.

According to experts, human skin responds most effectively to hyaluronic acid when it is supplied as nutrients through the bloodstream. Thus, consuming the drug in tablet form is most effective.

Chapping is a sign of the skin's inability to withstand the environment. The wind dries out the top layer of the epithelium, preventing it from renewing itself, which is why the fatty layer decreases. The fat base renews epithelial cells; without it, the functions of skin protection and renewal work worse. Many people have problems nowadays, because people are always in a hurry to get things done, making things even worse for themselves.

The existence of cells depends on the digestive system. Therefore, people who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract are more likely to have problems with the epithelium.
Important! By breaking down foods in the intestines, the body extracts the necessary substances. If the gastrointestinal tract is disrupted, the skin will not receive nutrients in the required quantities. This disrupts the functioning of skin cells, causing your hands to become chapped more often.

Treatment of chapped hands.

The article will describe how to use two methods of treating chapped hands. One of them will affect the inflammation itself, and the other will affect the source of the disease.
In addition to the two main treatments, you can use medicinal cosmetics. It will be useful to apply products with an oil base to your hands so that it saturates them with a fatty composition.

Local therapy.

The use of creams, ointments, moisturizers, baths, and antiseptics leads to the elimination of inflammatory processes.
Important! They should include hyaluronic and lactic acid, glycerin, urea and sorbitol. Only with such components should you apply cream to the skin.

Systemic treatment.

To treat chapped hands, doctors prescribe antihistamines to their patients, which act to relieve symptoms.
To correct the immune system, it is also necessary to take vitamins A, E and multivitamins.
In addition to all this, reflector physiotherapy is used if it is necessary to treat inflammation and other skin diseases.
Folk remedies.
Chapped hands can be treated at home. This can be done using various decoctions, masks and baths.
For example, hand baths with tea tree oil. To prepare, you need to drop a few drops of oil into warm water and hold your hands in it for 10-15 minutes.
Hand mask:
1. Boil rolled oats flakes, wait for the mixture to cool, then add vitamin E to it (or you can check it out) and apply it to your hands. After 15 minutes, wash everything off.
2. Cut the aloe leaves, separate all its pulp and apply it to the surface of your hands and cover with film. After 10 minutes, wash everything off. But it is best to use all methods of treatment so that the recovery process goes faster.

Chapped hands in babies

What should you do if your child’s hands are chapped?

In order to get rid of pimples on children's hands, doctors recommend steaming their hands and treating them. After steaming the hands in warm water and treating them with chlorhexide, you need to wait until they dry completely and apply a moisturizer or lotion. The child develops rashes on his hands due to lack of vitamins in the body and weak immunity. To get rid of this problem, it is necessary to provide the child with a healthy diet enriched with vitamins. Give him more fruits and vegetables, dairy products, proteins, etc. Vitamins such as B, A, and E must be present in the child’s diet. At the pharmacy, after consulting with a pharmacist, you can purchase a vitamin complex for the baby’s age. In this case, all the necessary vitamins will be provided.

Preventive measures

Prevention and treatment of chapping of the skin of the hands.

For these purposes, you must first monitor your diet. Along with food, the body should receive all the vitamins necessary to maintain immunity. With a weak immune system, the risk of chapping becomes much higher. Vitamins, proteins, vegetable oils are what must be present in the body and not be in short supply. In addition to a strong immune system, you need to dress warmly in the winter season. There is no need to be ashamed of anything, you need to think more about your body. You should definitely purchase warm gloves or mittens so that your hands do not become chapped in winter and do not suffer from cold weather. In autumn, when the weather is more capricious, it is also necessary to wear gloves to protect your hands from the cold wind. You can view vitamins and vitamin complexes for supporting the immune system.

How to properly wash your hands in winter.

In winter, hands need to be washed in a certain way, that is, hygiene measures must be increased. After going outside, it is better to wash your hands with warm water and antibacterial soap, which will protect them, then apply moisturizer to your hands.
When your hands become chapped, you must immediately begin to treat them. You can deal with this problem yourself at home. Finding hand care products at home is quite possible.

Hand care products at home

To save your hands from chapping, you can prepare hand masks at home.
For example, you can make a hand mask from potatoes. To do this, you need to peel and boil a couple of potatoes and prepare a liquid puree from them. After the puree reaches a more pleasant temperature for the skin, you need to apply it to the skin and put on cellophane gloves for 15 minutes. After that, you can wash everything off.
It is also possible to prepare aloe cream. To do this, you just need to separate the pulp from its leaves. After applying the nourishing cream, put on gloves and go to bed. You can wash your hands and see the results in the morning.

Most often, chapping occurs as a result of exposure to strong wind, frost and low humidity on the skin. The upper layers of the skin turn red, become rough and covered with cracks, which can be very painful. If a person has chapped hands, it is necessary to begin treatment as soon as possible, since damaged skin becomes open to infection and harmful bacteria.

Causes of chapped hands

The main cause of chapping of the skin of the hands is sudden changes in temperature.

Not only the face, but also the hands become chapped in winter. Strong winds and frost dry out and thin the skin, which causes the appearance of pimples, wounds and cracks. People with a weak immune system and dry skin type are at risk.

Hands may become chapped for the following reasons:

  1. Strong temperature changes.
  2. Low humidity.
  3. Spending a long time outside in severe frost.
  4. Wind and low air temperature.

In addition, provoking factors for chapped hands are:

  • Staying in the cold for a long time without mittens or gloves.
  • Failure to take care of your skin in winter.
  • Frequent hand contact with detergents or cleaning products.
  • Insufficient skin hydration.
  • Chemical or physical hand irritation. This may be caused by poor-quality washing powder or the use of cleaning products without wearing gloves.

In severe frost, hands must be protected with gloves or mittens

Main symptoms

When the upper extremities become chapped, the following symptoms are observed:

  • The skin becomes red and rough, the affected areas begin to cause pain and very unpleasant itching.
  • Pimples and cracks appear on the hands, which can bleed.
  • Damaged cells flake and flake off.
  • There is a feeling of skin tightness.

How to properly wash your hands in winter

During the cold season, it is not recommended to wash your hands more than 5 times a day. The water should be warm, but in no case cold or hot - this contributes to drying and hardness of the skin. In order not to spoil your hands, you need to use exclusively soft types of soap with a pH concentration of 3–6, preferably containing glycerin, healthy oils, aloe, chamomile or calendula. After washing, apply a softening and nourishing hand cream to the skin.

Important! Immediately after water procedures, you need to wipe your hands dry, without waiting for the skin to dry on its own.


In winter, you should use only liquid soap to wash your hands.

Chapped hands in babies

What to do if your baby’s hands are chapped? It must be remembered that in this case, traditional medicine methods will not be suitable, since they require patience and a long stay in one position, so it is better to use pharmaceutical products to treat skin in children:

  1. Bepanthen, the active element is dexpanthenol. The drug has moisturizing, healing and restorative properties.
  2. Purelan in the form of a cream - moisturizes and nourishes the skin of the hands.
  3. Morozko is a children's series of domestic production. The creams include vitamin A, E, F and oils that will help prevent chapping and cracking, while chamomile extract will quickly soothe and soften baby's delicate skin. The range also includes a hygienic lipstick that protects lips from chapping and seizing.
  4. To prevent the newborn's skin from becoming chapped, we recommend Chicco Cream based on cocoa butter, which restores the hydrolipid balance, tones and protects the dermis from negative environmental factors. The Italian product does not contain alcohol, allergens or dyes, so it can be used almost immediately after the birth of the baby.
  5. Sanosan cream against wind and bad weather. Based on almond and avocado oil. The components successfully heal wounds, and also moisturize and soothe the skin. The cream helps eliminate the manifestations of atopic dermatitis and neurodermatitis.
  6. Hypoallergenic cream for walking from the manufacturer “Our Mom”. The product contains calendula extract, peach and sea buckthorn oil.

What to do if your lips are chapped, methods of treatment

To prevent your child from damaging his hands, you need to take care of his delicate skin in advance and use special anti-chapping products before a walk. The cream that has proven itself best in wind and bad weather is Bubchen and Morozko from the manufacturer Avanta.

Important! Cream to protect against wind and bad weather should be applied to the child’s skin an hour before going outside. Parents must always remember this rule, otherwise the baby’s little hands will become chapped.


Children's hands require special care

Treatment of chapped hands in adults

Main directions

What should you do if an adult’s hands become chapped? There are several areas of treatment:

  • The use of medications is most often recommended: Claritin, Loratadine, Cetrin or Telfast. If allergies occur, your doctor may prescribe antihistamines.
  • Taking vitamins to improve the body's immune system.
  • Treatment of chapped hands with paraffin therapy in the salon or at home. To do this, you need to melt the paraffin in a bowl and put your hands in it. Take it out, wait until the product dries and dip it into the bath again. Perform manipulations until a thick layer of paraffin forms on your hands, then put on warm winter mittens and hold your hands in them for half an hour. After this time, remove the paraffin and apply a moisturizer to the skin. This procedure helps eliminate swelling, moisturize and smooth the skin.
  • Using medicinal baths.

The paraffin therapy procedure will help restore the skin of your hands to its previous appearance.

Therapeutic baths

If your hands are very chapped, take medicinal baths to improve the condition of damaged skin. To do this you need:


Alternative medicine

You can cure chapped hands using proven folk recipes, which recommend:


Cucumber pulp will soften the skin of your hands
  1. Grind the oatmeal to a powder, add 0.5 cups of hot water, stir, leave and anoint the affected areas with the resulting product. After 15 minutes, wash your hands with warm water.
  2. Cut off the peel of fresh cucumbers and apply to chapped hands for 10 minutes.
  3. Pick an aloe leaf, remove all the thorns, and cut it in half. Apply to the affected area, secure with a bandage and hold for about an hour. If your hands are not very chapped, it is enough to lubricate them with the plant extract and leave them to dry on their own.
  4. Make a puree from one potato and add 0.5 cups of green tea, mix and anoint the skin with the mixture. After about half an hour, rinse with water and apply a moisturizing cream to your hands. This manipulation should be performed every 3 days.
  5. Before going to bed, squeeze a little rich cream with a nourishing effect into your palm and add 5 drops of olive or rose oil, apply the product to the affected areas and put on cotton gloves. The next morning the condition of your hands should be much better.

How to treat chapped hands if wounds and cracks have formed on the skin? You can lubricate damaged areas with sea buckthorn oil, which has healing and antiseptic properties. It should be completely absorbed into the skin.

Prevention methods

To prevent chapped hands, it is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of the skin and not forget about prevention methods, namely:


To protect the skin of your hands, all household chores should be carried out with rubber gloves.
  • Wash your hands with mild soap. Glycerin and with the addition of cream are especially recommended; the composition may also include components with a moisturizing and soothing effect, for example, calendula or chamomile.
  • After taking water procedures, apply moisturizing cream or lotion to the skin. The skin should remain moist.
  • In the morning and afternoon, it is recommended to lubricate your hands with a moisturizing cream, and in the evening - with a nourishing cream, after applying which you need to wear cotton gloves for half an hour.
  • Before going outside in cold weather, you should wear gloves. It is better that they are made of genuine leather, which retains heat well and absorbs the secretions of the sweat glands. It will be much more difficult to warm your hands in gloves made of synthetic fabric, and such material often causes allergies.
  • In winter, you should apply a frost protectant to your skin. You need to use the cream 30-40 minutes before a walk, otherwise your hands may become chapped.
  • Carry out wet cleaning using rubber gloves with a cotton lining so as not to damage the leather. However, remember that they should not be worn for more than 20 minutes.
  • In case of constant contact with water, it is necessary to lubricate your hands with a cream containing oils and silicone, which creates a film that protects the skin from moisture and chemicals.

Let's sum it up

Frost, low humidity and strong wind are the main causes of chapped hands. To protect your skin from negative factors, you need to wear gloves and apply a special protective cream to your skin before walking. Treatment includes medications, medicinal hand baths, and paraffin therapy, which can be carried out in special salons and at home.

Your hands are chapped and you don’t know what to do? Has their skin turned red, become rough, wrinkled? Every fifth woman faces this problem, especially in the autumn-winter period. And in the summer, you can often hear complaints from the fair half of humanity that their hands are chapped. How to help the skin of your hands become healthier and prevent such manifestations? We will tell you about recipes and care methods that will help avoid chapped hands.

Are your hands chapped? What should care be like?

Basically, such a problem as chapped hands most often overtakes the delicate skin on the hands in winter in windy frosty weather. It also has a direct negative effect on the hands:

  • sudden change in temperature;
  • high humidity;
  • spending a long time outside in bad cold weather.

Chapped hands can rightfully be called a typical winter problem.
Since the skin of the hands is very thin, sensitive and dehydrates very quickly, special care is required for it.

How to properly wash your hands if your skin is chapped?

During the winter, proper hand washing becomes an integral part of hand care. After all, soap and hot water dry out the skin of your hands quite strongly. Therefore, it is correct to wash your hands with mild soap. Requirements for soap should be as follows:

  1. Normal pH content. Our epidermis has a pH level of 5.5, so it is acceptable to use soap with a pH level of 3-6.
  2. Adding glycerin or nutritious oil to the composition.
  3. Supplements in the form of aloe, chamomile or calendula extracts are welcome.

What should hand cream be like in winter?

The easiest way to chapped your hands is when you leave the house after washing dishes or wet cleaning the house. Therefore, carry out household procedures with special gloves. It is best to use rubber ones with a cotton lining. But do not forget that wearing them for more than 20 minutes is not recommended.

As for the cream, it should be moisturizing with high fat content. Creams with glycerin are perfect. When applying, the skin of your hands should be slightly damp, then it will be better moisturized.

In addition to moisturizing, you should take care to protect your hands. Apply sunscreen before every time you go outside. And if you are predisposed to chapped hands, then for prevention purposes, apply cream to your hands every 4-6 hours.

If you constantly wash your hands (work requires it), then it is better to use hand cream containing silicone and oils.

What should be the emergency help when your hands become chapped?

If your hands become chapped, you should act immediately. Since weathering is characterized by:

  • drying the upper layer of the epidermis;
  • severe redness and roughness;
  • the appearance of cracks that may bleed slightly.

In addition to fatty and moisturizing creams, for emergency help you can use simple but quite effective methods of treatment from the people. Your hands are chapped; traditional medicine has its own effective recipes.

Recipes for baths when your hands are chapped?

  1. Starch bath. Dissolve 8 dessert spoons of potato starch in one glass of warm water. Immerse your hands in warm water for 10–20 minutes.
  2. Oatmeal bath. Steam 5-6 tablespoons of oatmeal with hot water. When the porridge has cooled to room temperature, pour a vitamin A capsule into it. It is sold in liquid form in pharmacies. Stir and soak your brushes in the mixture for 25 minutes.
  3. Oak decoction. To do this, you need to boil three tablespoons of pharmaceutical oak bark in half a liter of water. Strain and add a few drops of tea tree oil to the broth. Dip your brushes into it and hold for 25–35 minutes. Use these baths for a week.
  4. Potato bath. Boil the potatoes in water. When it has cooled, immerse the brushes in the resulting vegetable broth and keep until it cools completely. Potatoes can be used for a mask, the recipe for which is given below.

Recipes for masks when your hands are chapped?

  1. Sea buckthorn oil. It is applied to areas of skin that are chapped. It should not be washed off. Wait until the oil is completely absorbed.
  2. Potato mask. From boiled potatoes (1-2 potatoes) you need to make a puree. Add a teaspoon of any vegetable oil to it. It can be flaxseed, olive, mustard or simple sunflower. Apply the mixture to the affected areas for 10–15 minutes. Such masks should be carried out in the morning and evening for 3-5 days. After the procedure, it is advisable to apply a rich cream.
  3. Mask for the night. Take one teaspoon of the thickest cream you can find at home and add 5 drops of rose oil to it. Mix thoroughly and spread on your hands. Put on cotton gloves and go to bed. The next morning you will already notice an improvement.
  4. Aloe juice. A freshly picked aloe leaf is cleared of side needles and cut in half. The halves are applied to the inflamed areas. It should be kept for up to 40–60 minutes. For convenience, you can wrap them with a bandage. If the skin is not very chapped, then simply wipe it with a cut aloe leaf and leave until completely dry.

Are your hands chapped? Paraffin therapy will help

In addition to folk remedies, when your hands are chapped, you can use paraffin therapy. To do this, brushes are immersed in molten cosmetic paraffin (its temperature should be acceptable to the touch). Immediately take it out and allow the paraffin to cool and harden. Dipping is repeated again, and so on until a dense layer of paraffin forms on the brushes. Gloves are put on top or hands are wrapped in a warm towel. After half an hour, wash everything off.

In conclusion about prevention

The very first thing that will help protect your hands in winter is warm gloves, which you need to wear when going outside. Apply moisturizing and protective cream. Do not neglect the rules of hand care in winter, pay attention to your soap and replace it if necessary. Pamper your skin with cosmetic masks and baths. Compliance with these requirements will help you forget about complaints that your hands are chapped.

Weathered hands with cracks, popularly called “chicks,” are a nightmare reality for lovers of winter fun, fishing, and those who carelessly left the house without gloves in wet, windy weather. Most often, rough hands with tiny wounds can be observed in children: as soon as they get carried away playing with the snow and lose a mitten, the baby’s delicate skin immediately begins to roughen and crack in the cold.

The skin of adults is less susceptible to weather conditions, but even at this age, agricultural work in the country or walking in the cold without mittens can give the surface of the hands a resemblance to sandpaper.

How to quickly cure chapped hands if this trouble befalls you or your loved ones?

The treatment agent is selected depending on how chapped the skin is, whether wounds have appeared on it, and what we have at hand for treatment. In the mildest cases, domestic cream produced by factories such as Svoboda or Nevskaya Cosmetics helps well. Any rich cream will do, from baby “Tick-Tock” to “Effect” foot cream.

Specialized products for chapped, dry hands include Bioton and Domix cream-balm. Domix contains skin-moisturizing celandine extract, wound-healing plantain extract and vitality-activating nanosilver.

To treat and prevent future damage to the skin of the hands, pharmacies offer restorative cream Xerand, brand La Roche-Posay. The composition of the cream allows the product to be used even for children, restoring the protective lipid film of their delicate hands.

Veterinary pharmacies, as strange as it may seem, can also help in the treatment of severely chapped skin. They sell ointments designed to treat cracks in the udder of cows.

Traditional medicine gives its secrets on how to quickly heal chapped hands. The most famous recipe for treatment with potato broth: hands are placed in a bath of broth and kept there until the liquid has cooled completely. Hands are carefully blotted with a towel and nourishing cream is generously applied to the skin.

The effect of the bath will be enhanced if you wear cotton gloves after absorbing the cream. This method of getting rid of chicks and peeling has a pleasant side effect: the family will be fed fresh mashed potatoes without additional time investment.

You can make an oatmeal vitamin mask for hands affected by bad weather. To do this, oats or oat flakes are steamed, and vitamin A is added to the finished mass (sold in ampoules at the pharmacy). You need to keep your hands in this mixture for about 15 minutes, like a regular mask. Then the hands are rinsed with water, dried with a towel and lubricated with a rich cream.

To achieve the greatest therapeutic and cosmetic effect, do this procedure before going to bed, put on cotton gloves at night, and the next morning your hands will feel like they did after visiting a SPA salon.



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