For a while now, my hands have been dry. Not just a little dry, but ridiculous. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten into the BAD, BAD habit of picking at my nails again, and yes, sometimes biting at them, which is awful considering I actually quit biting my nails about a year ago… but due to a little stress, have picked up the habit again, occasionally… and due to a horribly infected cuticle on one of my fingers last week, I couldn’t polish my nails, use hand creams, etc, since I had to use antibiotic ointment and let my finger heal. I’m ready to get back in action making my hands look nice, and I want to start by rehydrating them so they look pretty again when they’re polished.

While I am not really an over-washer, my hands do get wet a LOT – definitely a lot more than in the days before I was a mom, that’s for sure. I feel like I’m constantly doing dishes, washing out baby bottles, wetting rags so I can clean the baby/high chair/whatever, bathing someone, using cleaning products, and lots more activities that are harsh on my hands. I also tend to use a lot of hand sanitizer when I’m out and about, which is very drying. It’s so crazy how putting your hands in water actually seems to suck the moisture right out of them!

I found a tube of this Eucerin PLUS Intensive Repair Hand Creme this week while cleaning up my makeup drawer in my bathroom, and I want to try to use it up this month, since it’s half finished.

I’m going to start by doing a week of really focusing on rehydration and using the hand creme as much as possible to see if it helps my dry skin situation. I’ve always been a fan of Eucerin and its sister product, Aquaphor, and for some reason I always have tons of tubes of both laying around my house, so let’s see what this can do for me!

Let’s hope that it does help, because here’s what we’re dealing with as far as my horrible skin!

I can’t believe I am actually posting this on the internet… I’m sure my husband is horrified!!!! Ha ha. Yes, it’s gross. But I know for a fact that I’m not the only one out there, and I’m curious to see if this little experiment works, and also would love to hear from other dry-skin-sufferers.

The skin on the palm of my hand is starting to even shrivel a little bit because it is just SO dry, and let’s not even talk about my nails and the area around them. It’s a nightmare. Seriously a nightmare. You’re lucky you did not have to look at that photo in high-resolution like I did!!!

My goal is to try to remember to use the Eucerin to moisturize as much as I can after exposing my hands to harsh situations. I’m going to keep the tube at home so I don’t lose it, so if I’m out of the house, I’ll just moisturize once I get home. I’m not changing ANYTHING else, like my diet or water consumption or anything – just using the hand creme. I can’t wait to report back in a week and share my results! I officially started YESTERDAY (even though I didn’t get a chance to post until today) and I do think I see a difference already!

What are your favorite hand cremes? Have you tried any that completely didn’t work for you or made things worse?

Note: This is NOT a sponsored post, just a fun personal challenge in an effort to rejuvenate my skin. I didn’t get paid by Eucerin or receive this product for free.