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Joined: May 2003
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My hand s get extremely dry and chapped if i do not use hand cream . But sometimes , in severe weather I will get dry hands and nails in spite of this. Especially cracks around the skin by the nails. playing a guitar is no fun with bandaids.
What do YOU do to help the dry cracking PAINFUL area of the fingers. (literally it hurts so bad that I can't play without bandaids and sometimes that isn't enough).
Some one mentioned rubbing olive oil into the skin area.
I will try anything. But am also wondering if any of this stuff on my hands will affect the strings as well.
Thanks
superkristen
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In Canada we use Zim's Crack Creme.
My wife puts on lots of hand lotion and wears cotton gloves and socks to bed.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Second the Zim's. I've used it before and it WORKS. Appears to be all natural, too. Having trouble finding it around here now. Their website is [url=http://www.crackcreme.com/]here[/url.]
In the spring and fall my cuticles dry out and Zim's is the only thing that kept it from going to the cracking and bleeding state.
R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Joined: Jun 2009
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Journeyman
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I use Gold Bond's Healing Aloe lotion. It does not cause greasy skin. It's a few bucks at the local Wal Mart.
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Bag Balm. I live in cattle country. It's the best. Aloe as well.
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Well if you want to go for a 'human problem' solution then Zim's it is.
If you want to go to the TSC store (read Tractor Store we have 3 of them on the edge of the city you get 'teat balm'. They use that on Udders. Comes under a bunch of trade names, but I don't buy my tetrocycline there either.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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John you've never seen the women in Maine. Tractor store, people store, teat balm, Zim's don't really matter. Same thing.
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Joined: Jul 2000
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 So many good lines here, I don't know where to begin . . . .  Maybe cut back on the "anti-flu" handwash. I've increased the humidity in my apartment - hands still have no grip and are dry but nothing's cracking yet. Ian
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I had/have the same problem.
I went to the doctor and he measured the amount of water in my body. It was too low. Now, I don`t want to scare you, but maybe you drink too little. I used to drink only about 1-1.5 Liters a day. You`re supposed to drink 2l and 3l in hot areas.
So maybe thats part of the problem.
I use the Norwegian formular cream. Very good one, goes fast into the skin and doen`t leave a fatty film, so you are ready to play after about 5 minutes.
Sandra
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 99 |
Vitamin B - I've experienced and seen some great results with cracking skin. A vitamin B multi-complex type tablet. Good luck  Mel
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To immediately repair the cracks in the skin, I use cyanoacrylate - otherwise known as super glue. Also helps to keep the problem from getting worse. The best stuff is Loctite Black-Max, as it is a rubberized cyanoacrylate. Remains flexible, but keeps the two sides of the cracks bonded together. Technique is as follows:
1. put pressure on the crack so that it closes at the surface of the skin.
2. Apply drop of super glue directly over the area with the crack
3. Wipe off excess onto paper towel.
4. Allow to cure for recommended time
If you use the Black Max stuff, your fingertips are going to look like an auto mechanic that doesn't wash too often. You've been warned.
Works a treat. Surgeons use superglue in place of sutures quite often, so I'm told. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV,
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Lots of fodder for sure! I''ve been in Maine, seems like Canadians who are too refined. Most of them either have relatives from Canada, or moved there. Isn't that where in one village when you go to the bathroom in the Library you cross the border to Canada and return to the US to check out your book? Hmm..might be NY or Vermont though. I drove through there and the differences were the people south seemed to have more money and there is a law you gotta put up the US flag on yer house.
Here we know where we live LOL. Of course one neighbour has a Portuguese flag and another has a Scottish 'flag'. My daughter has the Ontario French Flag in her window, not that I mind, but if anyone knows of a gypsy caravan send them around and I'll part ways with her. She's 19 which makes me every kind of moron unlike the other kids who are much older and call me for advice.
I'm going to duck because she's on a bus from Toronto and going to arrive any minute....
John Conley
Musica est vita
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soaking your hands in warm water for about 20 minutes nightly then pat dry before application of lotion will help rehydrate your skin in a few days. also try vitamin e capsules. open them and apply the vitamin e directly to cuticles and cracked areas. works wonders on chapped lips too.
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You can buy vitamin E oil to do the same thing. Neater, safer, and more efficient than puncturing the capsules.
I have directly applied vitamin E to wounds for years. It speeds healing and reduces scarring. Discontinue 10 days before surgery or dental work, because it is a blood thinner. Take internally immediately after, again to speed healing.
R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Yes indeed, it is sometimes the case that the dry and cracked skin is not only a sign of the weather or climate, but can point to a vitamin deficiency, and, as Sandra has pointed out, not keeping yourself hydrated properly.
For guitar players, there is an old trick to use when practicing and wanting to harden up the fingertips quickly. Warm salt brine soak of the fingertips.
You can use table salt and a teacup of warm water. Dissolve enough salt in there to make a brine.
When the fingertips get to hurting, sit down in the easy chair and soak them in the teacup for ten minutes or so.
Now, don't jump right up and grab yer guitar again, unless you like to rust and deaden your strings within minutes after touching them with all that salt on your fingers, go wash your hands first and then let them dry well.
A few weeks of practicing and that salt brine regimen can build fingertips that don't crack, don't hurt for a six hour gig, don't split, and as a side bonus from all that scaling and chording, you can now rip a pay telephone out of the wall with your left hand!
--Mac
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You can make an inexpensive homemade rehydration drink. Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful.
Mix:
1 quart (950 ml) water
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt
3 to 4 tablespoons (45 to 60 g) sugar, not artificial sweetener.
If available, add ¼ teaspoon (1.25 g) salt substitute, such as "Lite Salt".
it can be made up in quantity and kept refrigerated for several weeks. drink 2 to 4 liters daily. it also restores essential electrolytes not found in plain water.
source: webmd
a simple test for dehydration: pinch the skin on the back of your hand. if it doesn't return to normal quickly when released you are probably dehydrated.
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John I'm an American but 100% French Canadian decent.
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Kristen ,
I am thinking the advice above regarding vitamins and protecting your hands at night especially in colder weather, would have to help. But as they say down at the Quick Oil Change, "check your fluids often" as that indeed is a great place to start.
In my neck of the woods just the opposite is the rule as the humity is usuasly off of the charts, especially in the warmer months May - October. Believe it or not I carry a small container of Johnson's Baby Powder with me on every gig, keep it within hands reach on my amp as I powder up the chord hand at least once an hour while playing.
Let us know how it works out for you.
Later,
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