Are Your Hands Too Hard for A Handshake??? Soften It Up, Really!

Hello beauties,

Welcome to a new week. Hope it has been going on greatly.

If you’re always physically active like I am, constantly having to wash, rewash and rewash your hands. Then you will know what it feels like to have soggy, wrinkly hands (at one end of the wetness) or flaky white, rough hands and nails (at the other end of dryness).

To even make matters worse, the constant use of severely drying hand sanitizers especially during this Ebola period is not helping matters.

We all know that hand sanitizers are largely alcohol-based and alcohol is naturally drying to hair, skin and nails. Even internally. Little wonder, people who consume high quantities of alcohol need to replenish their body water levels to avoid severe dehydration.

Back to the subject at hand, imagine constantly using hand sanitizers almost every few minute or so, coupled with frequent hand washing using anti-bacterial hand washes. And then failing to moisturize the hands because you know it’s going to get dirty again? Pheeew!

Really, my own version of beauty does not include pain. So I had to find a way around it.

I was using FM’s Active Hand and Nail Cream, one which I had owned for a long time. 

It has an okay smell nothing too terrible. Neither was it flowery, fruity or girly. It moisturizes my hands well or would I say it left my hands coated with grease. 

It feels good at first but seconds later, all you see is
oiliness on your hand and everything you touch.

It was that greasy after feel that put me off. What that meant to me was even more frequent trips to the bathroom wash my hands again because it usually got dirty quicker.

I have to say I am not a fan of hand creams but this problem of overly greasy or flaky white hands had me hunting for a new one. Well, I wasn’t exactly hunting per se when I stumbled across this one while going round the store.

Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Therapeutic Hand Cream Fragrance Free with SPF 8 kind of caught my eye with its packaging. [What's it with me and products with long names?] 

Left is the pack. Right is the actual product.

I wasn’t immediately drawn to it and the SPF 8 meant nothing to me, really. I went through the ingredient list and saw Dimethicone, a silicone, as one of its active ingredients. I was like this one will just make my hands slippery. Don’t I have enough hand problems already?

And the price: N2,630 for a hand cream??? Are you kidding me??? That even spoilt everything. I walked away.

So, why this article? 

It took a customer to come in rave about it. She had the driest and hardest of hands according to her. She described her palms as one of those that were so hard and tough that could “restore your brain to factory settings” if she slapped you. ROTFL!!! I couldn’t stop laughing. She said this was the only hand cream that softened her palms. And continuous use made her hands softer. She bought 2 and left contented. Apparently, she had been looking for them for a while.

Palmer's CBF Therapeutic Hand Cream

As soon as she walked out of the store, trust me, I went back to pick the hand cream and re-viewed, literally. I searched for reviews online for it but found very little. Just some online stores selling the product. And in my curiosity, I bought one for myself.

I washed my hands properly and then squeezed out a little from the tube and applied to damp hands. Oh my God! My hands felt super velvety. More like satiny.

Note the difference in my nails.
Left [immediately after washing].
Right [immediately after using Palmer's]

The product absorbed in well. I didn’t need to over massage it. Even though it’s fragrance free it has this light pharmaceutical smell. Nothing overwhelming. It fades with time.

Fast-forward to an hour later without washing, yes I was counting. And my hands didn’t feel white, tight or dry. I also noticed that my fingernails and cuticles looked healthy.

Now I see what the woman was raving about.

2 minutes immediately after washing.
Notice dryness beginning to start.
My camera did no justice to the real situation.

My verdict:

- It was very moisturizing.

- It didn’t leave any greasy after feel.

- I had velvety hands during and after use.

- It absorbs well and fast too.

- My hands felt softer after use. So soft it was noticeable.

- My nails were smoother.

Without flash

Indeed my hands look and feel softer. 

Now, I even used it on my knees, elbow and entire feet. Trust me, they remain soft and moisturized all through the day.

Thanks to its active ingredients: 3.5% Dimethicone and 26.5% Glycerin. The sunscreen in it is an added advantage for me.

So, if you’re still experiencing hard hands/palms, it wouldn’t hurt now to give Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Therapeutic Hand Cream a try, would it?

Xoxo

With love from,

Ifeoma.