Dry and cracked hands discussion...

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My first trip to Powell where we actually caught fish, I didn’t know any better. My hands were in serious pain on the drive home and I had to stop and get some lotion. After applying it my hands were in more pain and stung! 3 minutes after the stinging went away, my hands were dry again. It was nearly a continuous vicious cycle or applying lotion my entire drive home and the next 3 days.

With that said…I haven’t learned much. I still battle it but I do bring lotion on the trips. Torn up hands from the weather and fish makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something 😂😂
 
I've tried everything mentioned and would say that O'Keefe is the best for softening the dry skin. But once the deep cracks start splitting at every knuckle than neosporin and good band aids covered with gloves will ease the pain and speed the healing process.
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I stocked salty snacks for 30 yrs throwing up 500 to 1k cases of cardboard every day and my hands were trashed long before I would ever pick up a pole. I would buy the band iads buy the hundreds because half my fingers were covered every day. I used to buy batting gloves by the dozen especially when they went on sale. Finally about 10yrs before retirement we were supplied with the gloves pictured and they really helped with avoiding the deep cracks and paper cuts and the salt in the wounds (literally). Striper thumb was never even a thing when I was working.
 
X2 on the gloves! I keep several pairs on the boat, pretty much every fish in Powell will poke you. I am guessing the stinging came from alcohol or something in the lotion to make it evaporate so your hands don’t stay greasy. I treat my cracked hands with good old Vaseline. Especially before going to bed, it doesn’t just soak in. Obviously not the best if your driving 🤣
 
I use 9mm nitrile gloves during the cooler months, don't need lotion/cream at all since the gloves trap moisture and keep your hands wet inside the gloves.

During warmer months I use St. Ives collagen lotion, works great and doesn't leave a slippery mess, and recently started using Bag Balm.

Staying overly hydrated is critical, helps keeps the lips, hands and feet from drying and cracking.

Here's one I learned from my cowboy father-in-law: Hoofmaker Mane N Tail cream. It was originally marketed for horses but my father-in-law noticed it took care of his hands too when he cared for the horses' hooves, used to swear by it. It works! :ROFLMAO:
 
Gloves for fishing and sun protection have really helped keep my hands from getting dried out and cracked at Powell. Before they get bad now, I will minimize future damage by not fishing as hard and being much more careful when I work with anchor lines and fish. I've also used lotion on my hands and make sure I have SPF chapstick that will protect my lips from the sun.
 
Here is something to consider. Skin cracking can sometimes, for some Individuals, be caused by CANOLA, which I learned meant CANadian Oil Low Acid.

I found my fingers split with small cuts, almost as if I had sliced myself with a razor blade. I went to work with 16 bandages on my fingers one morning. I mentioned it to my mom, and she immediately asked me if we cooked with canola oil. Yes, we were harvesting squash, which my wife prepared by breading and deep-frying in oil. Canola oil. My mom said she had exactly the same experience, and when she cut out the canola oil, the problem cleared up. We rid our kitchen of canola oil, and prepared the squash with other oils and my fingers healed.

After that, I had occasional skin cracks, and we traced them to prepackaged foods with canola oil in them. Canola is used in lots of things, because it is cheap. Lots of food products list "vegetable oil", which we learned left open the possibility that they might switch the oil, depending on availability. We now read food labels on every trip to the store, and we only purchase products that specifically list oils other than canola.

Even now, years later, I still get canola related skin cracking now and then, when I let my guard down. If I work with the cracked skin, it can get very painful before I can apply antibiotic ointment or cortisone and glove up overnight.

It is a genetic thing, I suppose. But if you are suffering from cracked skin, try reading food labels and cut canola out of your diet. It might help.
 
Ed_on_WD said:
Here is something to consider. Skin cracking can sometimes, for some Individuals, be caused by CANOLA, which I learned meant CANadian Oil Low Acid.

I found my fingers split with small cuts, almost as if I had sliced myself with a razor blade. I went to work with 16 bandages on my fingers one morning. I mentioned it to my mom, and she immediately asked me if we cooked with canola oil. Yes, we were harvesting squash, which my wife prepared by breading and deep-frying in oil. Canola oil. My mom said she had exactly the same experience, and when she cut out the canola oil, the problem cleared up. We rid our kitchen of canola oil, and prepared the squash with other oils and my fingers healed.

After that, I had occasional skin cracks, and we traced them to prepackaged foods with canola oil in them. Canola is used in lots of things, because it is cheap. Lots of food products list "vegetable oil", which we learned left open the possibility that they might switch the oil, depending on availability. We now read food labels on every trip to the store, and we only purchase products that specifically list oils other than canola.

Even now, years later, I still get canola related skin cracking now and then, when I let my guard down. If I work with the cracked skin, it can get very painful before I can apply antibiotic ointment or cortisone and glove up overnight.

It is a genetic thing, I suppose. But if you are suffering from cracked skin, try reading food labels and cut canola out of your diet. It might help.
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Interesting. I’ve never heard of that. A great substitute for Canola or Vegetable oil is Avocado oil. Still has a super higher smoke temp point so is great for frying but way better for you, very tasty. Just a bit more expensive.
I try to stay away from palm oils as well. Not because of skin issues. It is in just about every packaged food in the store, it’s also in makeup, lotions and who knows where else. A large majority of it comes from Sumatra, Indonesia where the government has allowed deforestation to run rampant, much of it for mono-culturing of palm oil trees.
 
I will second the neosporin on cracks, cuts , sore cuticles and hang nails. Clean and dry the affected spots, apply Neosporin at night, most of the time you are good to go in the morning. If needed apply high quality lotion to the rest of hands and feet. A couple of people that have extreme issues tell me they use nitrile exam gloves after applying lotion at night and sleep with them on, they swear by it!
A remedy a commercial salt water fisherman recommended was soaking the affected areas in as warm/hot salt water as you could stand for 10 minutes or so, then quick rinse and dry, then apply neosporin to cracks/cuts. A friend of mine had cracked heels on her feet for years. I told her to try it. She did it for several days in a row and she told me it cured the problem!! She had that problem for years. That method fixed her sore cracked heels, HAPPY feet!
 
I didn't see it mentioned, but Duke Cannon Bloody Knuckles hand repair balm has worked really well for me. I have tried most of the other products mentioned above over the years and most did nothing for me (some even made the cracking/bleeding worse).
 
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