Knowing how to choose a hand cream is essential to keep your hands comfortable, protected, and healthy.
Hand lotionsprovide nurses and medical staff with adequate skin moisture, protection, and nutrients.
However, not all nurses have similar skincare needs, and what works best for one may not work well for another.
In addition, depending on your skin health and work routines, you may have particular needs that require a specific hand cream lotion.
For example, hand creams that provide deep penetration and moisture suit dry/dehydrated skin well.
Conversely, an antiperspirant hand lotion is better for nurses with frequently sweaty palms.
Moreover, nurses with itchy skin, acne, or open cuts benefit from hand creams that relieve those skin conditions.
The following section provides tips to help you pick an appropriate hand cream to address your specific skin care needs.
1. Identify Your Skincare Needs
The first step to determining which hand cream best suits your needs is to Identify your specific skincare needs.
So, what are the biggest challenges you face to keep your hands healthy, moisturized, and protected while at work?
Firstly, do you typically deal with dry hands, cracked skin, rashes, or itchiness?
Also, has aging or sunburn made it more difficult for your skin to recover quickly, especially after frequent washing?
Finally, is the hot/cold work environment causing sweating, dryness, skin rashes, or constant cracking?
Whatever your specific healthcare concerns are, there’s likely a hand cream designed to treat your skin care needs.
To illustrate, nurses’ most common issues regarding maintaining adequate skincare treatment for their hands are the most.
Common Skincare Issues:
- Sunburn
- Acne
- Skin rashes
- Sensitive skin
- Itchy skin
- Dry/dehydrated skin
- Cracked skin
- Cut/scraped skin
- Aging skin
Consider these factors when choosing a hand cream that provides adequate treatment for your skincare condition.
The most suitable hand creams for nurses combine adequate protection, moisture, and nutrients to protect your skin.
As a result, they improve skincare health and provide additional protection from harmful conditions.
Consult a professional and trusted dermatologist if you struggle to find a hand cream lotion to treat your ailments.
They’ll accurately assess your condition so you can pick a suitable hand cream to address your needs.
2. Choose the right ingredients
The ingredients used in hand creams significantly impact their quality and nutrients.
Therefore, the hand cream you choose affects your skin protection and moisturization.
If you’ve ever applied low-quality lotions to your hands, you know how quickly they dry out.
Consequently, they leave your hands feeling worse off after using the hand cream.
High-quality creams ensure proper moisture, absorption, and nutrients penetrate your hands.
As a result, your skin feels better, silkier, and more comfortable throughout the workday.
Conversely, hand creams with low-quality ingredients cause dryness, itchiness, and cracked skin.
Therefore, you must consider a hand cream’s ingredients to ensure it offers the best protection and moisturization possible.
For instance, hand creams with SPF and vitamin E provide better protection if you have aging skin.
It allows you to maintain a youthful appearance and protect against harmful sun rays.
In addition, hand creams with Aloe Vera help with dry/cracked skin by maintaining sufficient moisturization throughout the hands.
As a result, the skin heals more effectively when damaged or cracked.
Common Hand Cream Ingredients Include:
- Aloe Vera
- Cocoa Butter
- Essential fatty acids
- Glycerin
- Hyaluronic acid
- Mineral oil
- Lactic acid
- Petrolatum
- Retinol
- Shea Butter
- SPF
- Vitamin E
If you need more advice on skincare ingredients, here are several articles describing popular and high-quality ingredients.
They provide information on commonly used ingredients and how they affect your skincare health.
Note: If you have a skin condition, consult a dermatologist or skincare specialist for proper advice.
Based on your skincare routines, they’ll better diagnose skin conditions to determine the most suitable hand creams for nurses.
3. Decide How Much Moisture is Right For You
Hand lotion moisturizing ingredients significantly impact how quickly it dries on your skin.
Therefore, depending on your workflow and specific needs, it can be good or bad.
Hand creams with thin and diluted ingredients will dry out quickly.
As a result, you must hand lotion frequently to avoid dryness and cracked hands.
It requires frequent application, creates irritation, and quickly reduces your hand cream supply.
That said, oily or overly thick hand creams leave hands feeling oily and slippery.
As a result, they leave undesirable residue on the hands and feel uncomfortable.
It can even negatively impact your daily work performance.
Consider using balanced ingredients to provide proper moisture when picking a hand cream.
Also, avoid hand creams that are either thin and diluted or oily and thick to allow proper skin penetration/absorption.
It makes you feel more comfortable at work and properly nourishes your skin.
In conclusion, choose a hand cream with good penetration and moisture protection if you have dry or cracked skin.
It will help you avoid damaged skin due to frequent dryness.
Conversely, choose a hand cream with antiperspirant properties and moisture control if you deal with sweaty hands.
Essentially, it will help you feel more comfortable and confident at work.
Finally, strong hand sanitizers may negatively impact your hand cream’s performance.
They leave your hands feeling dry and cracked despite using a high-quality hand lotion.
Therefore, consider a proper hand sanitizer and your hand cream lotion for the best results.
4. Be Cautious of Fragrance-Based Lotions
Some healthcare settings may restrict the use of fragrance-based lotions and hand creams.
As a result, you’ll want to avoid strong fragrances whenever possible.
The restriction of fragrance-based hand lotions occurs for several reasons. For example, certain smells can negatively impact patients in medically sensitive situations.
Conversely, less medically sensitive environments may place fewer restrictions if the hand cream doesn’t negatively impact a patient’s quality of care.
Aromatherapy offices and practices may limit hand creams if fragrances negatively impact aromatherapy treatments.
As a result, nurses may need to limit their personal use of fragrance-based oils and lotions.
Finally, banning or limiting odor-based lotions provides a more professional work environment.
Healthcare facilities sometimes ban or limit certain scents due to their strong presence.
However, some facilities allow less powerful fragrances in the workplace.
The healthcare facility you work for determines whether fragrance-based lotions and oils are acceptable.
Some hospitals and medical facilities use aromatherapy with essential oils and fragrances.
These fragrances are part of their patients’ healing and relaxation process.
Therefore, they may allow certain scents to be at work to help promote patient recovery in some instances.
To determine whether a fragrance/essential oil-based hand cream is acceptable, consult your supervisor/manager or human resources.
They’ll provide proper clothing and healthcare safety guidelines to determine which hand cream lotions are appropriate.
5. Get enough SPF
SPF 15, 30 & 50 sunscreen lotion and hand creams protect skin from the harmful effects of the sun’s radiation.
In addition, good hand creams boost skin protection by blocking harmful UVA and UVB rays.
UVA/UVB rays contribute to the aging process and expedite the onset of wrinkles, skin discoloration, and sagging.
Furthermore, studies link sunlight overexposure to higher skin cancer levels and increased aging.
Therefore, SPF sunscreen lotions and hand creams can benefit nurses who want to maintain young and healthy hands.
Here are two of the numerous benefits of SPF-based lotions and hand creams for adequate skin care health.
- SPF lotions may help slow/protect against the aging skin process
- SPF lotions help protect against sun/ultraviolet radiation
As always, consult your physician or dermatologist regarding which hand cream is best for your skin type.
It ensures you receive adequate protection and use hand creams with the best ingredients to maximize your health.