Actually, it is the most normal thing in the world to wash your hands regularly and thoroughly: However, due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus, it is recommended to soap your skin for at least 20 seconds and as often as possible – this is the only way to be effective protect against infectious diseases. To increase protection, you can also disinfect your hands regularly. Both expose the skin to severe stress. The soap and alcohol-based disinfectants attack your natural protective acid mantle, making it brittle and cracked. Not only does this look unsightly, but it can cause your hands to burn or itch. But there is good news: with the right care, you can get painful skin problems back under control. You can find out which hand creams help here.
According to Prof. Christian Raulin, a dermatologist from Karlsruhe, you should under no circumstances forego washing and disinfecting your hands regularly. Instead, you should supplement your skin care routine with an ointment that is as greasy as possible but is still well absorbed. His rule of thumb for correct use is: “Disinfect once, apply cream five times”. However, the question arises as to which hand cream is recommended? According to Ökotest, many over-the-counter products contain questionable ingredients such as mineral oil-based fats and waxes, synthetic polymers or the fragrance Lilial – which is suspected of being harmful to reproduction. For this reason, 50 hand creams were tested. It was primarily organic cosmetic products that scored “very good”:
Test winner
Current price
Cattier White Healing Clay
that. 12 Euros
Dr. Scheller Calendula
that. 10 Euro
Weleda Sanddorn
that. 9 euros
Sebamed Urea
that. 5 euros
Lavera Sensitive
that. 9 euros
There is a good reason why natural cosmetics are often the better choice – even when it comes to hand creams: According to Öko-Test, manufacturers are not allowed to use problematic substances such as PEG, paraffins and silicone in order to receive the corresponding certificate. This not only benefits your dry hands, but also your health. When purchasing, make sure that the hand cream:
You can take preventive measures to prevent your hands from getting dry in the first place. This includes:
This means your skin stays supple throughout and is less likely to crack when you need to wash or disinfect your hands more often.
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