Cold-Weather Hand Care: Washing, Sanitizer and Overnight Repair

Every year our hands tell us winter has arrived before the calendar does. Knuckles tighten, fingertips split, and the skin around the nails starts to catch on sweaters. Cold, dry air outside and heated air inside both pull moisture from skin. And cold and flu season means more washing, just when hands can least afford it.

The answer to dry hands in winter is not to wash less. It is to wash well, then put back what washing takes away. Here is the cold-weather hand care routine we follow from the first frost.

Wash well, not hot

Clean hands still matter in winter, so keep to the basics. CDC’s handwashing advice is simple. Wet your hands with clean running water, turn off the tap and apply soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails. Scrub for at least 20 seconds, rinse, and dry with a clean towel.

What changes in winter is mostly temperature and drying:

Use lukewarm or cool water. Hot water feels good on a cold day, but it strips skin faster. WHO’s hand-hygiene advice says not to rinse hands in hot water. The American Contact Dermatitis Society recommends lukewarm or cool water and suggests avoiding water that is very hot or very cold.
Pat, do not rub. Blot your hands dry with a clean towel. Pay attention to the skin between the fingers, where cracks often start.
Choose a gentle soap. Plain soap is all you need. In our view, antibacterial versions add nothing for everyday use. If your hands are already sore, a wash without added fragrance or dyes is the gentler pick. Our guide to reading a body wash label shows how to spot the gentler cleansing agents.

Use sanitizer wisely

When you are out and there is no sink, a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is the right backup, according to CDC. Rub it over every surface of your hands until they are dry. When your hands are visibly dirty or greasy, wash with soap instead.

Sanitizer has a reputation for drying hands. But the dermatology society’s review found that alcohol sanitizers with added moisturizers have the lowest irritation potential of the common options, lower than soaps and detergents. If sanitizer stings, that is often a sign the skin was already cracked.

Two habits help:

Pick a sanitizer with added moisturizers. Avoid heavily fragranced ones.
Do not stack methods. WHO advises against washing with soap immediately before or after using an alcohol rub. One or the other is enough.

Our full comparison of hand sanitizer vs hand washing covers when each one wins.

Moisturize every single time

The dermatology society’s most useful instruction is also the simplest: apply moisturizer immediately after washing. WHO recommends a protective hand cream or lotion at least once a day. In winter, we aim for every wash.

How much? The society suggests two fingertip units for both hands. That is about two strips of cream, each the length of the last joint of your index finger. It also prefers tubes and pumps over open jars, which collect germs from fingers.

Keep a small tube by every sink you use and one in your coat pocket. Moisturizer you have to go looking for does not get used.

Bring in a carrier oil for knuckles and cuticles

Creams do the daily work. But a few drops of plain plant oil (a carrier oil, the kind used to dilute essential oils) help most on the worst spots, especially knuckles and cuticles. Apply the oil to skin that is still slightly damp from a wash, or over a layer of cream, and massage it in.

Our winter hand oil, for a 30 ml (1 fl oz) dropper bottle:

20 ml sunflower or jojoba oil
10 ml avocado oil

Each oil brings something different. Sunflower is light, inexpensive and in a small study kept the skin barrier intact. Jojoba keeps for years. Avocado adds richness for very dry skin. Our carrier oil comparison sets out the full trade-offs.

We leave this oil unscented. Essential oils add a fragrance load that cracked skin does not need, which fits the dermatology society’s advice to avoid fragrance on sore hands. If you want a scent for skin that is intact, keep it to 1%, which is 6 drops in 30 ml. Our dilution calculator handles other bottle sizes. Gentle choices include lavender. Skip citrus and spice oils on hands that will be out in the sun or are already irritated.

Overnight repair

Nights are when hands catch up. The dermatology society describes two approaches we use:

Cream and gloves. Before bed, apply a generous layer of moisturizer, then wear cotton gloves or loose plastic gloves overnight. The gloves keep the cream on your hands instead of your pillow.
Soak and smear. For hands that are really struggling, soak them in plain water for 20 minutes, then immediately apply moisturizer to the damp skin. The society describes doing this nightly for up to two weeks.

A thin layer of the hand oil under the cream works well with either method.

Outdoors

Wear gloves whenever you are outside in the cold, and pull them on before your hands feel chilled. Wool can itch on sore skin, so a thin cotton liner underneath helps. Keep a tube of hand cream in the glove pocket and use it when you come indoors.

When to see a clinician

Give this routine a fair two weeks. See a clinician sooner if cracks bleed, weep or look infected, if a rash spreads beyond your hands, or if itching keeps you awake. Also make an appointment if nothing has improved by the end of those two weeks. Persistent hand rashes are sometimes allergic, and a patch test can find the cause.