Let’s be honest until the COVID-19 pandemic none of us were washing our hands long enough to sing Happy Birthday. And now we are not only washing our hands for 20 seconds but we are doing it multiple times per day. This – of course – is vitally important in protecting ourselves and our loved ones, but it might have left your hands dry, flaky and sore…

Don’t worry! As skincare creators, we have some solutions…

Wash your hands using cold water.

It might not be as nice as dipping your hands under a warm stream, but hot water is known to irritate skin and dry it out. It is why when you step out of a hot shower your skin can appear red and feel tight. In addition, an excess of hot water can actually damage the surface of the skin and aggravate skin conditions. It is a small thing, but turning to the cold tap will immediately prevent further aggravation to already dry skin.

Switch to hand sanitiser.

Every now and then, use hand sanitiser instead of water to try and reduce the aggravation excess washing and drying can cause. This is particularly useful if you are out at the supermarket or the doctors and don’t have access to a tap and soap. Once you have exited the shop, splash a few drops on your hands to try and get rid of any bacteria before you absentmindedly touch your face. We now have a small batch of hand sanitiser available, made with organic alcohol, water, palm-free glycerin and scented with peppermint and eucalyptus. Pick up one here: LINK

Use natural soaps

The majority of soap products are packed with chemicals and synthetic fragrances which can irritate skin conditions and damage the skin by stripping it of all its natural goodness. And if you’re applying this kind of ingredients to hands all day, they are going to start feeling sore. Instead, look out for soap made with natural and organic ingredients. The Nathalie Bond Soap Bars and Liquid Soap are all formulated using carefully selected, gentle ingredients. For example, our soap bars combine pure essential oils with silky smooth clay, vitamins and cold-pressed oils to cleanse without drying out your skin, and our liquid soaps blend organic vegetable oil with mood-boosting essential oils.

A recent customer review on our Bloom soap bar read: “With all this handwashing your soaps are gentle and lovely. I keep seeing people with red and sore hands who have used a harsher liquid soap and I have no problem with continual washing at the moment as your soaps are so nice. My husband has used your soap all day and he can't believe the difference.”

Moisturise 

Finally, after washing and drying, massage a bit of moisture back into the skin. You’ll only need a tiny blob of moisturiser but make sure to get it into the crevices between fingers and around rings where skin can get particularly aggravated. Our Skin Balm is made using the finest natural, organic waxes and oils that sink smoothly into skin, so we’d recommend that!