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| Source: breahn | Flickr |
If you're a housekeeper, machinist, or health care worker, you are especially prone to a condition called irritant contact dermatitis. Activities in those fields often expose the hands to water, soap, and harsh chemicals that are irritating to the skin. These factors strip the skin off lipids that act as natural barrier. Once this layer is disrupted, the skin becomes dry, flaky, reddish, and irritated.
It is therefore a good practice to apply hand cream after every hand wash. Water alone can ironically contribute to dry skin, especially hard water. By using hand moisturizers, the moisture is immediately locked in the skin. Hand creams can also soothe an already irritated skin. They act as a protective layer and may even speed up (especially skin care products containing ceramides) skin renewal.
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| Hand Cream (Photo: Amazon) |
Do you really need a cream specifically for the hands? Well, body lotion and hand creams basically have the same formulation, only that body lotion is lighter in weight and is more convenient to use for the whole body. If you have normal skin, a body lotion may already be sufficient for your hand care. If you have dry and sensitive skin type, you may need a hand cream that have heavier formulation. In fact, it is even proven by a scientific study by Günter Kampf and Joachim Ennen that using a hand cream after each wash improves the skin's smoothness.
I've seen an episode of a Japanese show wherein a foreign resident claimed to have never used lotions or creams after washing. Some places in Japan have good quality of water that are gentle to the skin. Well, lucky for them! For us who live outside Japan, we should just stick to using hand creams because our water may not be as soft as in places like Japan.
