Do your hands magically turn to velcro the second the temperature outside drops below 65°?
Are you dreading the long winter of excess pandemic hand washing ahead?
Worse, do your hands ever crack and bleed because they're so dry?
Don't worry, you're not alone! I'm right there with you.
Ever since moving back home to Oklahoma from Los Angeles, my hands can easily pass for the crypt creepers by mid-November, and I always say I'm going to stay on top of it and be better at moisturizing, but I never do. (If only my discipline in sticking with my skincare routine would cross over to my hands!)
Well, this year I have a better plan, and I'm determined to stick to it.
Want to hear what it is?
Ok, I'll tell you!
I'm using a layered approach. Just as I do with my face, where I apply a hydrosol to add hydration, a lightweight facial oil to deeply moisturize, then lock it in with something more rich. The same concept works with your hands, only the water based lotion works in place of the hydrosol/facial oil step. Then I "lock it in" with the healing lotion stick, beauty butter, or both.
Is it more work and more expensive than just using one product? Sure.
But is it worth it to have hands that don't snag every piece of fabric I touch. Yes.
Just like with skincare - the work is worth the reward.
And just like with skincare - you're welcome to use and adapt any or all of these techniques to meet your needs.
Read on for more details and a video where I ramble about it a bit more.
First - I'm going to use my light lotion after every hand wash (at home and at work.)
Listen - this one thing has already made an ENORMOUS difference in my hands over the past few weeks. Actually, I got the idea for this back in the Spring (before we knew about face masks and thought that hand washing alone could save us from COVID.) I realized that one of the reasons I wasn't very good about moisturizing my hands after washing was because I felt like I was wasting my moisturizers! I put so much work (and so many precious ingredients) into my healing lotion sticks and beauty butters that I hated using them only to wash them right off again the next time I went to the bathroom or touched a surface. Also, they smell great, but I can't really have scents on my hands when I'm making perfume, another deterrent for me. I was standing in my twinkle kitchen drying off my hands and wondering what I could use to make a lighter weight, less strongly scented hand moisturizer, and I realized that I was standing next to a 5 gallon bucket of the perfect thing - hair conditioner!
That's right. It's hair conditioner. Hair conditioner is basically a lotion that is specifically made to be rinsed off, right? (Yes, the answer is yes. Hair conditioner recipes and lotion recipes both follow the same basic structure when you look at them.) And one of the things I love about this hair conditioner is that it is so lightweight! ALSO I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF. I buy it pre-made from a fantastic small family owned business and simply use a pastry bag to fill my bottles and can add whatever twinkle apothecary fragrance or essential oil blend that I want to it! It's completely natural, light weight, lightly scented... and it is absolutely perfect for moisturizing your hands after washing. I keep one at my desk, and one by my sink at home, and I use it every time my hands get wet. It soaks in super fast and feels great.
But what about when you're on the go? That's where the healing lotion stick comes into play!
Obviously, we're not always at home or at our desks when we need to wash our hands. This is where the portability of the healing lotion stick becomes clutch. Keep it in your purse, in your pocket, in your car (as long as it's not too hot outside) and dab a little on after you wash your hands. A little goes a long way with this!
It's also a good practice to apply this anytime you go outside in the winter because it protects your skin with an extra layer of butter and wax.
If you have extra dry spots or cracks, you might also want to dab this right on them after applying the light lotion from step one. The chamomile really helps soothe hands that are painfully sore and cracked. (My dad, a mechanic, swears by this!)
And finally, bedtime.
Bedtime is your chance to repair any damage you did to your hands by not moisturizing after washing throughout the day, so keep a jar of beauty butter by your nightstand and apply it right before you go to sleep.
Beauty butter is my preferred nighttime hand cream because it's extra rich and deeply moisturizing but soaks in quickly. It also has lots of soothing and skin repairing ingredients like frankincense, helichrysum, and chamomile. Technically you could use any butter, or the healing lotion stick, but I find that beauty butter makes the biggest difference in my hands at night.
Sometimes I even apply beauty butter then follow with the lotion stick anywhere my hands are super dry and calloused. (From bottling all of those perfume minis!)
I know it might sound like a lot to have 3 different moisturizers on hand (lol) throughout the day, but also how great is it going to not be completely helpless over your sad winter hands this year?
WE CAN DO THIS! HIGH FIVES FOR EVERYONE!
- Stefanie -
