Selecting the Right Hand Cream

As people who live in colder climates know, it's not unusual to experience sometimes dry and flaky skin on the hands. Particularly during cold blustery weather. Shea butter always comes up tops when it comes to moisturizing because it's so rich and thick. You also have people who are die-hard fans of cocoa butter. Others favor vaseline products, as trusty family standbys. Many prefer unscented, while others coordinate their entire scent wardrobe from hand cream to deodorant.

There's two trains of thought when it comes to hand cream (or products in general) ingredients: petroleum based, or natural products. Petroleum product users say it's more moisturizing and they've been obtaining excellent results. Natural product users can become irritating when they bring up reports and data allegedly proving the superiority of natural, non petroleum-based ingredients. Whatever product or ingredients you favor, if it works for you then it just works.

I feel better about having less ingredients in the products I buy, so I've been examining and testing out a variety of hand creams this winter. My all top favorite right now is pricey L'Occitane Creme mains with 20% shea butter. I find that the level of shea is just enough without giving mea too greasy or sticky feeling. I also find the scent very gentle and pleasing, and the cream in general is longer lasting than others I've tried.

I usually favor pump dispenser hand lotions for work because it's always there and I don't need to fidget when I'm working. There's two great lotions that I favor in this format: Olivina hand and body lotion, and Trader Joe's citrus lotion. Neither is too greasy, but smell pleasantly, and as they're lotions they absorb super quickly. Sometimes however, I need something a little thicker or my dry skin just scoffs.