I said in my last post that I would keep calm and carry on blogging. And I intend to do so. But if I’m to be honest, my heart isn’t quite in it right now, purely because it appears so frivolous.
Yet, I have received a few kind messages from you that that bit of frivolity is what we need right now. A little bit of escapism from the mad mad world out there!
As much as I want to maintain a sense of normalcy in our life, the fact is nothing is normal, and if I’m to be honest, I do not want this to be the new normal. What is normal is for us to be able to move around freely, without that constant dread of meeting an infected person, and to shy away from people like they’re bearing the plague. That isn’t normal.
What is normal is meeting family and friends, holding them, hugging and kissing them, sitting down for a meal or a drink, being able to enjoy each other’s company. That’s normal.
But we keep our distance, and we stay home, and we try to ‘Flatten the Curve’, and one thing we’ve been cautioned over and over during this period, is to WASH OUR HANDS. And I don’t know about you, but my hands are washed raw. So, here’s some things that helped me.
The truth is, hand cream has never been high on my body care list. I’ve never found the need to use it, because my hands don’t dry out very much on normal days. But that was before we all started intensively washing our hands after every little outing.
When my hands started drying out, I rooted through my stash to see what I could find in the way of hand cream. My criteria is quite simple.
Hand creams I use must be:
- Not greasy
- Absorb quickly
- Keeps hands moisturised
And these are the few that worked for me.
L’Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream
This is a body cream, but I use it purely for my hands, at night before bed. The texture is lush, it really moisturises skin and keeps it soft. It may come across as a little bit greasy, but it absorbs fairly quickly for me.
I find it particularly helpful when my skin is very dry, and during this period, when I found my hands drying out and peeling, it was exceptionally helpful.
That said, the bad condition of my hands was also due to my using a handwash that wasn’t suitable (*coughAesopcough*). The perils of having sensitive hands is very real at this time!
But the L’Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream helped reduce the tightness and the discomfort. I just finished the whole tub, and I’m torn between wanting to repurchase a new tub, or finding an alternative.
RELATED READING: I reviewed this cream in the past by telling you a story about Lizard-gal READ HERE
PRICE: RM190 for 200ml
WHERE TO BUY: L’Occitane online and in store
L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream
This one’s a L’Occitane classic, and about the only L’Occitane hand cream I’ll use LOL! I do find their other hand creams a little too oily and slick for my liking, and the scent, while pleasant to most, do not appeal to me.
I however, enjoy the scent of shea butter, and the more natural feel of this hand cream. It is a little heavy, but not as heavy as that of the Ultra Rich Body Cream. Yet, it absorbs quickly and moisturises skin well. That’s the most important at this time.
There is a reason this is a classic – it works.
PRICE: RM115 for 150ml
WHERE TO BUY: L’Occitane online and in store
Antipodes Joyful and Delight Hand & Body Cream
Being a big fan of Antipodes skincare, I have made it a point to try almost one of everything that they put out. I try, but of course, I don’t always succeed HAHA! 😛
I received the Antipodes Joyful and Delight Hand & Body Creams as gifts with purchase in one of my previous orders. I was a little nonplussed then, as I don’t use hand cream. So I kept them away.
Now, they’ve seen the light of day, and I’m wondering why I never used them before!
They are both lush, though I find that the primary difference is that of scent and a slight difference in texture.
The Antipodes Joyful Hand & Body Cream has a sweet, fruity scent of berries. It isn’t a scent I’m particularly drawn towards, but it is light enough to not tickle my nose more than it should. It isn’t oppressive nor heavy.
The texture of the Joyful Hand & Body Cream is fairly light, which suits the fruity fragrance. It absorbs quickly, does not leave a residue, and feels very comfortable.
The Antipodes Delight Hand & Body Cream has a more floral scent of gardenia and has a slightly more creamy, heavier texture. It takes a little longer to absorb, but feels comfortable and my skin feels lovely and soft when using it.
For day time use, after washing hands, I’d go with Joyful. It absorbs more quickly, and allows you to go and handle and do things after that without leaving oily hand prints everywhere. For night time use, before bed, I’d go with Delight.
PRICE: RM156 |£28.99 | US$36 |NZD47 for 120ml
WHERE TO BUY: TNS Skinlabs, Antipodes Website, Naturisimo
Grown Alchemist Vanilla & Orange Peel Hand Cream
The scent is a wee bit sweet for me, but I like this because it absorbs so quickly into the skin without feeling greasy. If anything, it feels so comfortable, especially after washing your hands.
Like the Antipodes Joyful Hand Cream, I’d keep this for use in the day, just after washing your hands. Squeeze a little out, and rub your hands together to spread.
Apparently, because of the light texture and pleasant scent, the Grown Alchemist Vanilla & Orange Peel Hand Cream really appeal to men, so if the men in your life are complaining now about how raw their hands feel, this would be a good gift to get them. Maybe it’ll be a good introduction to basic skincare too haha! 😉
PRICE: RM80 for 65ml
WHERE TO BUY: Ken’s Apothecary
What hand creams are you using at the moment?
Do your hands feel raw from sanitizers and washing? Do your emotions feel raw? Share, we’re in this together 🙂
Paris B
I keep getting eczema on my hands even at the best of times so I have hand creams placed all over the house. My favorite is the classic Caudalie one – it really helps nourishing my skin plus it smells heavenly. But once the eczema makes its move I switch to Avene (no scent).
We share this similarities Paris — we don’t use eye cream and hand cream much 🙂
I used hand cream more often when I used to work in office settings and when I was living in Boston. Back to hot and humid here, I washed my hands so often from handling kids the hand cream haven’t fully absorbed and I am off to washing hands again.
The only difference was, I never used that much hand wash before vs now. The hand wash is indeed super drying, perhaps your next blog would be which hand wash to recommend …? I only have a list of no go ones ha!
Back to hand cream — the well tucked away Innisfree hand cream with cute packaging work well. Light scent, fast absorbing, not too thick texture and moist.
I also received Chanel La Creme Main hand cream as sample with purchase. Nice texture and light scent.
In this economic environment when job loss is more imminent than ever, clear winner will be innisfree as I wish not to give hubby a heart attack to see a Chanel hand cream lying around the house :p
L‘ Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream is the ONLY cream that helps me. I tried others but always came back to this basic cream- love the scent, too. These days my hands are crocodile skin. Its awful. But I keep up the spirit and my little tubes of hand cream and wish we will all be okay soon.
All the best to all of you at MWS!
I’ve eczema on my hands so I can’t keep washing (don’t jump yet! Read on) with soap in public toilets and try to replenish with hsnd cream. Can’t use hand sanitizer either. What i do is use baby wash for my hands instead of regular soap. Only downside is I’ve to carry a small tube of it (muji travel squeeze tubes are good) whene I’m out but I’m used to it now.
Heh, same, ladies! Never knew I will reach for hand cream ever back in Malaysia– currently using The Body Shop moringa hand cream, this formula sinks in instantly, not greasy at all 🙂 hope you’re all well.
Like Adrienne said, please do a post on hand soaps! The only hand soap I didn’t find drying is discontinued (Shea Moisture) plus I didn’t like the scent anyway.
I find the yuskin hana deep moist hand creams really nice and emollient, while not being too greasy. The yuzu scent was lovely so I’m looking forward to trying the lavender one. When my skin gets really dry I use regular Yuskin/Yu-be but it’s greasy.
The silver lining to all the hand-washing is that I am making a dent in all the hand creams I tend to collect. I look forward to trying Grown Alchemist and Antipodes when I get through my stash!
Great recommendations, thank you! These days I enjoy Neutrogena Hydro Boost® Hand Creme Gel. And at night I use Eucerin Aquaphor on top of that. So far so good!
Thank you for blogging in these times, much appreciated. Stay healthy! 🙂