Dry cracked hands in winter: what actually helps

It starts as a tight feeling across the knuckles after you wash up. A week later the skin there looks faintly white and rough, and then one morning a thin split opens along a knuckle crease and stings every time you reach for the soap. Dry cracked hands in winter rarely arrive in one go. They build up over a few weeks of cold air outside, warm dry air inside and the same handwashing you do all year.

Why do my hands get so dry and cracked in winter?

Because winter weakens the skin’s water-holding layer at the same time as you keep stripping it. A 2016 review in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology concluded that low humidity and low temperatures “lead to a general decrease in skin barrier function and increased susceptible towards mechanical stress.” Cold air holds little water, and indoor heating warms that air without adding any, so your skin loses water to the room for most of the day.

The hands lose more than most places. A 1996 study in Archives of Dermatological Research collected the skin’s surface lipids from the face, hand and leg and found that lipid levels at all three sites were “dramatically depleted in winter compared with spring and summer.” Those lipids are the mortar between the skin’s surface cells. With less of it, the surface turns stiff, and stiff skin splits where it bends: the knuckles, the fingertips, the web between thumb and forefinger.

Then there is washing. In a 2013 study of 113 health care workers in the Midwestern United States, examined every month for 6 months, hand dermatitis was linked to the cold season, with an incidence rate ratio of 2.76, and to washing 10 or more times a day, with a ratio of 1.55. Those workers wash far more than most people, but the pattern is the same at home: cold season plus frequent washing is when hands crack.

How do you care for dry hands in winter?

Change how you wash first, then seal the skin after every wash. Most of the damage happens at the sink, so that is where the easiest fixes are.

Use lukewarm water, not hot. In a 1995 study published in Contact Dermatitis, researchers applied a 5% solution of a common cleansing agent, sodium lauryl sulfate, to the forearms of 10 volunteers at 4, 20 and 40 degrees Celsius for 4 days. Damage was higher at the warmer temperatures, and irritation tracked with temperature. Hot water feels good on cold hands, but it makes the soap harsher.

Pick a mild cleanser and rinse well. The same detergent in that study is a standard lab irritant. When you compare hand washes, read the ingredient list rather than the front label, and favor ones that list glycerin or oils fairly high up.

Pat dry, including between the fingers, then put cream on straight away rather than waiting until your hands feel tight.

Wear gloves. Gloves cover both halves of the problem: cold, dry air outdoors and hot, soapy water indoors. In a 2012 randomized trial of 255 Danish health care workers with hand eczema, a skin care education program improved their protective habits, including wearing protective gloves, and their hand eczema severity scores were lower after 5 months than in the control group. You do not need a program to copy the habit: wool or fleece gloves outside, rubber gloves for dishes.

Does hand sanitizer or soap dry hands out more?

Soap and water is usually harsher, which surprises most people. In a 2007 study in Contact Dermatitis, an alcohol-based hand rub caused minimal irritation, “rather comparable to the application of water,” while the detergent sodium lauryl sulfate caused more barrier damage, redness and dryness. Using the hand rub after the detergent did not add to the irritation.

A 2004 review of hand hygiene products in Clinical Microbiology Reviews reaches the same conclusion from the hospital side. It summarizes US hand hygiene guidance this way: “promotion of alcohol-based hand rubs containing various emollients instead of irritating soaps and detergents is one strategy to reduce skin damage, dryness, and irritation.” The sting you feel when sanitizer hits a crack is real, but on intact skin the rub is often gentler than the wash.

That does not mean skipping soap. Soap and water is still the right choice when your hands are visibly dirty or greasy. A sanitizer with added glycerin or other emollients is a reasonable choice for the in-between moments when your hands are already clean.

What should you look for in a hand cream for cracked hands?

Look for something that seals, not just something that feels nice. A 2016 review in the Indian Journal of Dermatology sorts moisturizer ingredients by job: humectants such as glycerin pull water into the skin, emollients soften it, and occlusives form a film that slows water loss. The same review reports that petrolatum at 5% or more reduces water loss through the skin by more than 98%, while lanolin, mineral oil and silicones reduce it by 20 to 30%.

For cracking, that points to a cream with petrolatum, lanolin, dimethicone or a heavy oil near the top of its ingredient list, ideally with glycerin as well. A watery lotion that is mostly water and humectant feels pleasant for ten minutes, then leaves hands tighter than before once it evaporates in dry indoor air.

Using it regularly is what the trials reward. In a 2004 randomized trial at US manufacturing sites, workers who added a hand moisturizer to their hand care routine showed significant improvements in several skin measures after 1 to 2 weeks compared with workers using the same routine without moisturizer, and their skin hydration readings improved at every work site. The study was run by a hand-care manufacturer’s researchers, so read it as a demonstration rather than the last word. A 2010 Scandinavian trial points the same way: in 53 people whose hand eczema had been cleared, those who used a 5% urea moisturizer daily went a median of 20 days before it returned, against 2 days for those who used nothing.

How often matters too. The same 2016 review notes that a moisturizer’s effect peaks 30 minutes to 1 hour after you apply it and usually lasts about 4 hours. Once in the morning is not enough for hands that are washed through the day. Keep a tube by the sink and use a small amount after every wash.

How do you fix cracked hands overnight?

You can’t close a crack in one night, but you can give the skin 8 uninterrupted hours to soften. Wash with lukewarm water, pat dry, then apply a thick layer of a petrolatum-based ointment or a rich cream, paying attention to the knuckles and fingertips. Gloves on top keep it on your hands rather than your pillow. Cotton gloves and thin plastic gloves both do this. Either way, gloves let a greasy texture you would never wear in the daytime do its job.

Check how your hands feel in the morning. If they are still tight, the layer was too thin; if the gloves are slick with leftover cream, it was more than you needed. If you also use active ingredients on your hands, such as an exfoliating hand cream, pause it while cracks are open. Our guide to why your skin feels so dry after showering covers the same seal-after-water habit for the rest of your body.

Editor’s note

I don’t have a daily hand routine. When my hands get dry and cracked enough to feel uncomfortable or to burn, I put a generous layer of Bepanthen, or of the lotion I got from my dermatologist, on my hands, pull on plastic gloves and go to sleep. By morning my hands feel completely moisturized. The other habit I carry over from my face is the water: warm, never hot, and skin well wet before any cleanser touches it, because on dry skin anything I apply stings.

When are cracked hands a reason to see a dermatologist?

When the cracks bleed, stay open for more than a couple of weeks of good care, or come with blisters, swelling, intense itching or oozing. Those can be signs of hand eczema or an allergic reaction to something you touch at work or at home, which is a medical issue rather than a cosmetic one. A dermatologist can work out whether something specific, such as a glove material or a cleaning product, is involved.

For most people, though, the place to start is the sink: cooler water and a gentler wash, with a sealing cream used often. If your face also turns reactive when the heating comes on, our piece on why skin is more sensitive in winter explains the same barrier changes from the face’s side, and our skincare routine for dry skin covers how to layer moisture on the rest of you.

This article is for general cosmetic information and is not medical advice. If your hands are persistently cracked, bleeding or blistered, speak with a dermatologist.