MaggieLou

I have the same problem but I found that Gold Bond Foot Cream really works great. Since I started using it no more dry hands.

Edie

My mom always said when you were done sewing to wash your hands and put on hand lotion. She always said "the cotton pulls the lanolin out of your skin" and that is why your hands get dry. So, knowing the real story, when my hands get dry I just say I've been quilting and the cotton pulled the lanolin out of my skin. I know it is probably an old wive's tale, but it works for me!!!!!!!! Edie

kathidahl

O'Keefes is really good...I pair it up with bandaids on my finger tips at night and it works for me. BTW, no fabric or paper for me the last couple months...husband had triple bypass so I am nursing...BUT fingers still split and cracked...I think it is a winter thingy..

silliness

For those that have allergies, since lotion is just oil plus water plus an emulsifier, you can use almost any cooking/seed/nut oil or butter directly on your hands and let them soak it up. You can rinse it off after you have let it soak in. Olive oil works well. Coconut oil works well, but can be drying if used too often. Jojobo is the closest to your skin, but it expensive. Canola or grapeseed also work. You can buy shea butter, avocado butter or mango butter with no added chemicals and they would feel more like lotion. If you don't have soy allergies, you can even use Crisco. But look in your pantry; I'm sure you have some oils in there that will work.

madamekelly

Yes it is the fabric. Humans were not meant to be touching absorbant fabric all the time. It absorbs your skin oil and dries your hands out, that is what the dermotologist said. That said, I have the same problem. Prewashing your fabric does help some, but my best advice is what I have found that if when you are done sewing for the day, you wash your hands in gentle soap, (not dish soap, too drying) then use a really good moisturizer on them. I use Johnson's baby cream. It works to keep my hands from drying, cracking, and peeling.

Snooze2978

I also have dry hands so I keep a bottle of Aveeno hand lotion in a couple locations throughout the sewing room so when I feel my hands are getting dry, I dab a spot of lotion on my hands. Don't want to put too much on as it might transfer to the fabrics.

When I think about it I have a bottle of hand lotion throughout the house so when I feel my hands getting dry I dab a spot on them especially right after I get done with doing the dishes. Yes, I still wash dishes by hand and yes I have a dishwasher but its full of my empty canning jars. I store them in there so I don't have to trek down to the basement for them when I'm in the mist of canning. As its only me here, not too many dishes get dirty and I like to wait till my dish pan is starting to get full and then I do them. Still its about every day or other day for me.

OrangeSherbet

Same here. I always pre-wash but my fingers always get dry and crack open. I apply gobs of thick lotion/gel at night and wrap in gauze.

mrsponcho1

When my hands are very dry, I make a brown sugar rub with olive oil. I put a teaspoon or so in my palm and put some olive oil on top. Rub together and rinse with warm water. I do this before bed since I do not wash all the oil away. My hands are so soft the next morning. I also use Cerave lotion in warmer months and the cream during the colder months.

Sewnoma

Yes, this! I will say Jojoba is the one I would recommend as the best. As you said, it is closest to your own body's natural oils, AND it's actually a liquid wax ester and not an oil so it doesn't go rancid like oils do. So it's a little expensive, but you can buy it fearlessly because it won't go bad on you.

maviskw

I've been using some wonderful stuff from Melaleuca. It's called Renew Intensive Skin Therapy. My hands used to be very cracked and painful all winter. Now, I can't believe how soft my hands feel. I just put it on when I go to bed.