Do you have problems with your hands cracking in the cold weather?   I don’t remember it ever happening as a kid, but as an adult, my hands are in terrible shape during the winter.  But I have been following some tips and over the last couple of years it has been much better!

In case you are in need of some tips yourself, here are some of the things I do to keep my hands smooth in the Winter:

Use gloves when cleaning.  This goes for typical housework as well as when you are hand washing dishes.  Household  chemicals are full of chemicals, tough on skin and very drying.  Also, dish soap is “tough on grease” therefore also tough on our natural skin oils.  In addition to this, the acids from the leftover foods on our dirty dishes are extremely drying.  Using gloves prevents this from happening.  Alternatively, when you are doing dishes, add several tablespoons of baking soda to your dish water, as it holds in the moisture (just be sure to rinse the dishes well).

Use cooking oil in the bathroom.  Well that sounds funny doesn’t it?  Seriously though, keep a jar of coconut oil or a bottle of olive oil in your bathroom to use for moisturizing purposes.  I have been doing this with coconut oil for a while and I absolutely love it.  Plus side, you smell amazing afterwards!  You can actually use this on your hands, face and more!  (I actually use coconut oil for removing wax after doing my eyebrows too.)

Skip the hand washing once in awhile.  We have all gotten just a little bit obsessive about washing our hands.   While it is for good reason (no one likes to be sick), we really don’t need to wash our hands quite as often as we are.  If no one in your house is sick, refrain from those “just because” hand washing sessions.  Of course, you still need to wash your hands when you use the restroom and before and after handling food, but even then you can look for less harsh soaps.  Be on the lookout and avoid soaps that have sulfates.  Those are typically more harsh on your hands.

Do you have any other tricks to keeping your hands silky smooth?  We would love to hear your ideas!