Nourish your dry, rough skin with the multipurpose Weleda Skin Food for hands, feet and face!

I cried a little inside when I scraped out the last bits of my favourite hand cream. While I’d normally just buy it, regardless of cost, I wanted to find something a little more affordable, seeing as to how I now use hand cream much more frequently.

I decided to try something that comes highly raved for very dry skin – Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream.

Weleda is a pharmacy brand from Switzerland, with their products made in Germany, Switzerland and France, and is generally well regarded for their affordable, natural based skincare products. They are a very old and established brand, since 1921.

I’ve tried some of them in the past, notably their body oil, which I enjoyed using very much, and I’ve also tried some body washes, and the odd face product. They are fairly basic products, but generally effective for their purpose.

What I had not tried in all these years is the legendary Weleda Skin Food.

Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream

The Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream is the original version of this popular product. It now comes in a Light version as well, for those who want the similar benefits, but in a light texture.

The product is unmissable, coming in the signature bright green tube, with very little more on it than the name. The packaging, like many pharmacy-brand products from Europe, is basic, and fairly clinical.

Weleda Skin Food, from what I can gather, is made to be a very rich, nourishing cream for very dry, rough skin. It is almost like a treatment product, nourishing and softening rough skin on hands, feet and elbows in particular. The key ingredients are soothing chamomile, calendula wild pansy and a blend of enriching oils and waxes to protect and nourish the skin.

But there are other uses for Weleda Skin Food – some people even swear by it as a face cream!

Thick, Creamy, Rich texture

The texture of the cream is very thick and rich. So, a little goes quite a long way. The trick to use it is to warm it up in your hands first, before applying.

What I do is squeeze out a little product, warm it up first, and then massage it all over my hands, or elbows or heels.

It reminds me of the texture of the La Mer Cream – it’s that thick. You would also use it like the La Mer cream – soften, then apply to skin.

Softens and repairs rough skin and cracked heels!

I bought this for use on my cracked heels. Spending so much time at home without wearing shoes, I found that the skin on my heels were thickening and even peeling.

The skin was incredibly rough and it bothered me. The usual hand creams I was using were not rich enough, so it was getting worse.

So, I got my hands on the Weleda Skin Food, and every night, I’d apply it to my heels, just before bed. If you want a more intensive treatment, apply it to your feet, then pull on a pair of socks.

After a few days, I noticed that the skin on my heels had softened, the roughness was gone, and my heels were no longer cracking. If you pull on a pair of socks, you wake up with lovely soft feet! 😀

Lovely rich hand treatment cream

For my hands, I’d just squeeze a little product, warm it up in my palms, then massage it through my hands and fingers. I also do this at night, just before bed, so I don’t leave oily handprints everywhere.

I will warn you that it can feel rather tacky. When compared with the L’Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream, which I use as my hand cream, the L’Occitane cream actually feels light.

However, I do like how my hands feel after using the Weleda Skin Food cream. It somehow feels more nourished. Despite the constant handwashing, and use of hand sanitizers, the skin on my hands do not feel dry.

More important, the skin looks nourished and healthy and feels soft. Ultimately, that’s what we’d want in a hand cream. The tube also makes it a little more portable than the L’Occitane cream that comes in a large tub.

Weleda Skin Food can be used on the face too!

I read that the Weleda Skin Food cream can also be used on the face, so naturally, I tried that too 😀

As I have said above, the texture is very rich and thick, so it isn’t something I’d recommend for our hot and humid climate, UNLESS you have chronically dry and flaky skin.

If used on the face, I’d use it as you would the La Mer cream. A tiny amount warmed up between your palms, and then gently pressed onto the skin to seal everything in. I’ve also tried using it for an overnight treatment, and I have to say that it does soften skin quite nicely.

I wake up with skin that feels soft and comfortable. But this, only when my skin is feeling very dry and uncomfortable, which it hasn’t in a while.

I won’t recommend this for use for anyone with anything less than chronically dry skin (in our climate), because it will be too heavy. But if you live where it is cold and dry, or if your skin is incredibly irritated by over-exfoliation, I can understand why it makes for a soothing facial treatment. I’ve read that people also use it to protect their skin from the elements e.g. cold, biting wind. It makes for a lovely barrier cream, and I see it used in the same way that the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream is used.

The difference is that the Weleda Skin Food is a natural product.

For now, I’m happiest using it for my hands, rough patches of skin on my knee and my heels. I like the way my skin feels after I use it, and I like how it seems to envelop my skin in lovely oils, without it feeling uncomfortable.

I won’t use this in the day, simply because you’d leave foot and hand prints everywhere you go. But as an overnight treatment, it is excellent! 🙂

IN A NUTSHELL

The Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream is a thick, rich cream that provides intensive nourishment to very dry, rough skin. I like it to soften thick, rough skin on hands and feet. It even helped heal my cracked heels after just a few nights’ use, and it keeps the skin of my hands feeling soft, moisturised and comfortable all day. While you can also use it on your face, I won’t recommend it for use in our hot and humid tropical weather, unless your skin is chronically dry and flaky. It is a little too rich. In a cold, dry climate, it might work wonders as a night cream or overnight skin treatment.

PROS:
Thick, rich cream nourishes dry rough skin and softens it
Rejuvenates dry rough skin and makes it healthier
Rich and thick cream that takes a while to absorb, but once it does, feels comfortable
Can be used all over the body wherever you have dry or flaky skin
Protects skin from extreme dry and cold weather
Keeps skin on hands soft and healthy despite regular washing

CONS:
A little pricey
Very thick texture may not appeal to everyone
Citrus scent that dissipates

WHO WILL LIKE THIS: Anyone who wants a rich, nourishing cream for very dry and rough skin, Anyone who wants a very nourishing hand cream

PRICE: RM75 | US$18.99 | £12.95 for 75ml

WHERE TO BUY: iHerb (where I bought mine), Weleda MY website (I’ve not bought from them), LookFantastic, Naturisimo

For those interested, here is the ingredients list for the Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream.

Ingredients: Water,  Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil,  Glycerin,  Alcohol,  Glyceryl Stearate Citrate,  Cera Alba,  Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter,  Cetearyl Alcohol,  Butyrospermum Parkii Butter,  Limonene*,  Viola Tricolor Extract,  Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract,  Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract,  Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract,  Lanolin,  Carrageenan,  Xanthan Gum,  Lactic Acid,  Glyceryl Caprylate,  Fragrance*,  Linalool*,  Geraniol*,  Citral*  * from natural essential oils

I will note this: The Weleda Skin Food cream isn’t much cheaper than the L’Occitane Shea Butter Ultra-Rich Body Cream that I was benchmarking it against. In fact, it appears to be even pricier, were you to measure it ml for ml.

However, it is more portable and it does not come in such a huge tub, the outlay is lower. I also use less because it is so thick.

I also noticed that there is a product known as the Weleda Skin Food Body Butter, which comes in a 150ml tub, and is priced lower than this Skin Food Original cream. I haven’t tried it, so I cannot say if it’s the same thing.

Will I swap the Weleda Skin Food for L’Occitane?

At the moment, I have. I may continue using it for the forseeable future as well, seeing that it does such a good job on my heels and feet.

Have you tried the Weleda Skin Food cream?

I’ve also heard good things about their face creams (I love their body oils!) so I might want to try their facial skincare some day. Let me know if there’s something I should try right NOW! 😀

Paris B