I don’t suffer from dry skin in the winter (or other times of year) unless it gets really cold and dry. The exception is my hands and my shins. Starting in the fall, I apply a good moisturizing body lotion to the skin on my shins after I get out of the shower, but I’ve spent the last few years in search of a really good lotion or cream for my hands.

My hands get a bit chapped because I wash them frequently during the day. I got myself into the habit of washing my hands often, and I used to swear that I caught fewer colds because of this. However, last winter I caught every cold that came down the pike. Maybe it would have been even worse without all the hand washing.

My cuticles especially are prone to drying out, and when they do I tend to pick at them, which I know is a bad habit. But the drier my hands get, the more I pick at the cuticles, and then they get really irritated. A good hand cream is a necessity.

For me, a good hand cream has to meet several criteria:

• It can’t have too strong a scent.
• It can’t be too oily or goopy or take too long to absorb into the skin.
• It can’t be too expensive.

I don’t want a strong fragrance because I don’t want the scent interfering with whatever perfume I am using that day. It also bothers me to have a strong scent on my hands when I am eating.

I don’t want a very oily lotion or one that just stays on the surface because then I leave smudges on things or drop cups and glasses. The other week I put on some hand cream and picked up my cup of coffee at my desk. The handle of the cup twisted in my slightly oily hand and I slopped coffee all over my desk. I work on a keyboard and with a trackball device rather than a mouse for my computer. If too much of my hand moisturizer ends up on my keyboard or trackball, they get a sticky film. The trackball especially can gum up fast.

As far as expense, we are talking hand cream here, and it should not be a major expenditure in my budget. There are a lot of quite of good products that don’t cost you an arm and a leg to treat your hands. If I had a really bad problem with dry skin, I might invest in more expensive products or even one of the prescription moisturizing lotions that are out there. (And investing in a skin product is probably wiser than investing in Wall Street at the moment.) But my dry skin is not so severe and I’ve found some very good products that work well and are easy on the budget.

Body moisturizers and lotions cannot double for hand lotion, and a product that is made specifically for hands is better than one that is for both. I’ve found that most body moisturizers violate my first two conditions for a hand cream. They usually have too strong a scent and they are too greasy or oily. I have to wipe some off or wait several minutes before I can do anything with my hands.

I have a couple of favorite products, however. They are:

Vaseline is the product I always come back to because it really seems to help my hands and it strengthens my nails. I use this regularly and my nails definitely grow better. Honest! It contains alpha hydroxy acids and keratin as active ingredients and also glycerin and mineral oil. I’ve also found that there are generic or store-brand versions of this product. CVS drugstores sells one version. I have also used other kinds of moisturizers from other brands and most of them are pretty good. Moreover, you can also use balms and can also make balms at home with simple ingredients.

Nowadays people are becoming sensitive about their looks and they tend to take extra care of their facial features. In the past we had heard nothing of the asymmetrical face but now as the medical science is advancing more and more people are getting into cosmetic surgeries to alter their facial features according to their liking. These surgeries are not perfect but in many cases they can soothe your urges and give you a nearest possible version of your imagination.

There are various skin problems that people get to face. Heathlinear has talked about it along with other major health issues in a beautiful manner.