Why Your Hands Are Itching This Month And What To Do About It

Have you noticed that your hands are unusually itchy?

It's a phenomenon that's happening all over the Hudson Valley, and something that you can thank the COVID-19 pandemic for.

No, those itchy hands aren't a new symptom of coronavirus. Instead, they're an unfortunate side effect of the precautions all of us have been making to ensure we don't get sick.

It turns out that our hands are getting abused, and the cold weather is only making matters worse. No doubt you've been scrubbing your hands longer and more frequently. You're also probably using Clorox wipes throughout the day and periodically rubbing generous amounts of sanitizer all over your hands.

All of these chemicals and soaps can wreak havoc on your hands. And now that temperatures have begun to fall, your skin is also being exposed to cold, dry air that is stressing it out.

This has led to an epidemic of red, itchy hands that are in driving some people insane. So what can you do? Experts suggest washing your hands in warm water, drying them and then applying lotion.  I've tried this and it worked to a point, but quickly my hands started to dry up again and become itchy.

That's when I decided to reach for the big guns. Years ago, I was introduced to a container of hand cream paste that comes in a strange, green container. At first glance, O'Keeffe's Working Hands hand cream looks a lot like those jars of Turtle Wax they used to give out on game shows. Once you screw open the round container, you may be even more confused when the lotion itself closely resembles Breakstone's butter.

Just a little of this moisturizer goes a long way, coating your hands in a slimy and slippery cream that may seem offputting at first, but quickly softens your skin and stops the itching. What I like about Working Hands is that it lasts a long time. My hands will stay moisturized for much longer than using lotion, and it actually repairs cracks and dry patches pretty quickly.

I suggest using it right before bed because the slime it leaves behind will make it almost impossible to open doorknobs or scroll down on your phone. But the results are more than worth it.

And before you ask; No, I'm not getting paid by Working Hands. They have no idea I'm writing about their product. I just thought I'd share this awesome hand cream with you because 2020 is hard enough. Why suffer with itchy hand-sanitizer hands all winter long when you don't have to?