When the weather turns dry down here, my hands protest. I get hangnails and rough skin and it's just not very attractive! It also makes stitching a bit more difficult as the floss will snag on my rough skin, especially silks. To help combat this problem, I use a homemade skin exfoliator followed by a homemade hand cream. To keep my cuticles nice and soft, I use Sweet Oil after bathing and after exfoliating. Both of these would make nice homemade gifts if you packaged them in fancy little jars. I store my exfoliator in on old glass jelly jar and the hand cream in old lotion jars.
Winter Skin Exfoliator
2 Cups coarse Epsom Salt
1 C olive, grapeseed, or almond oil
Mix together and store in a container with a tight fitting lid. Stir before using because it will separate.
To use, place a heaping teaspoonfull (I use a regular tall glass spoon) onto just dried hands. Rub on back of hands, around fingernails, and on calloused or rough areas. Rinse with a mild hand soap and warm water. Pat hands dry and apply sweet oil to cuticles. Apply a nice, rich, thick lotion.
Homemade Hand Cream
1 (16 ounce) jar Clear Basics Vitamin E Skin Cream
1 (13 ounce) jar Petroleum Jelly
1 (15 ounce) bottle Baby Lotion
Mix by hand or with electric beater on medium until creamy.
*I used a hand mixer. I like it more creamy rather than "fluffy" so don't whip it too long.
I found all the ingredients at my local dollar store. If you can find Delon Vitamin E Skin Cream, use that. I also added a bit of glycerin to the mix. Because it has Vaseline in it, I use it only at night so that my skin can absorb it and so that the greasiness doesn't get all over everything.
If you don't want to make your own hand cream, you can use a lotion with shea butter as a main ingredient or AmlactinXL works great. It stinks, but it really helps with dry skin.
Not sure I'll have a Wordless Wednesday post tomorrow since I have to work, but I'll be here on Thursday for sure with a special Thanksgiving post.
:o)
3 comments:
Thanks for the recipes! My mom actually made some hand cream this year and it has really been helping My hands get so dry and red they crack and even bleed this time of year! Not attractive at all. I may have to try yours out, thanks again for sharing!
Interesting tidbits and home remedies, Stef! So, do you use the olive oil or when of the other oils you listed?
R
Robin, I've used all of them at some point or another. Right now, I'm using the grapeseed oil. Of the three, I think I like the almond best, but the plain olive oil works well, too.
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