Dry hands

My hands get so dry that the edges of my callouses will catch on the strings sometimes. :?

That's what happened so I just put the guitar down for the night. I awoke the next morning to see my callous flaking away which inspired this thread.

My hands get so dry that they hurt and my callouses actually start to peel off sometimes. I've been putting lotion on my hands at night, just before bed, and that helps. It doesn't seem to make the callouses softer, but it does keep them from peeling off and keeps my hands from cracking and hurting. I've tried lots of different kinds and some seem to even make my hands drier. I like the Eucerin, too.

I'm a newbie at the guitar, but I already had the callouses from the mandolin. Mando strings are very hard on the fingers. Playing guitar is almost like petting a kitten after those mando strings. Good for building callouses, though. I've been a little worried that I might lose the callouses since I've been spending so much time on the guitar and not much on the mandolin lately. Doesn't sound like that is going to be a problem after all, though.

Moisturize everytime you wash your hands or have your hands exposed to extreme weather for any period of time.

It really really helps.

I have always had extremely dry hands. My hands actually get a white dusty look to them. In the winter my fingertips tend to split which is very painful. I am one of those people who has to touch my fingertips to my lips or tongue to flip a page in a book or pick up a piece of paper.

I have always thought of dry hands as a big advantage for the fretting hand. My hand moves freely and quickly, strings last forever. But I have always had trouble holding picks.

Anyway, getting off the subject, I have found a very simple solution for my dry hands:

Drink lots of water.

A few years back I was trying to improve as a singer and read many lessons. They encouraged you to drink lots and lots of water so I did so. Well, I noticed that winter that my hands were not nearly so dry, and none of my fingertips split which has been a problem for many years for me.

My fingertips have been so dry lately that they have been slipping Off the strings as I play. And like Wes, my pick has become mighty slippery. I just got some "Gorilla Snot" for the pick problem but I will have to try some cream before I play. I have tried the Eucerin but found it too oily for me. But the Aveeno Oatmeal cream is good.

A really good remedy for those splits you can get in the dead of winter is a cream called No-Crack Hand Cream. I kid you not, that's the name.

http://www.nocrack.com/

I get it at my local drugstore, but this website has a store locator feature.

It comes in various size tubs, but the little tiny jar (about the size of a Carmex jar) should last you a while.

Last I knew, they made two formulations, a pink one and a white one. The white one is too greasy for my liking. The pink one is almost like a thinned-down Chapstick. I believe it's the formulation called "All Purpose," at least that's what my jar of the pink stuff says.

Dab a bit onto those splits and it helps heal them faster than anything I've ever found. For really bad splits, glop some on there and put a band-aid over it before bed so it soaks in all night.

Good stuff.

Margaret

The weather WAS by the way, El Nino. Back around Christmas, in NY, we had 70 degree weather. It was incredible. Dropped nice and low again in late January, and as a result I've been really really sick for the past week +.

Everyone was saying "i want the cold weather!!" and I was sayin' the opposite. Now everyone is complaining about the cold, haha.

ANYWHO. I have really dry hands as well actually, and like Wes said, drinking a lot of water helps.