Hands-On Treatment Even if you are diligent about keeping them protected when doing housework or gardening, and unfailingly apply moisturizer whenever the opportunity arises, you can still suffer from bone-dry, cracked, parched hands. Don't get me wrong, it is still of vital importance to protect your hands from dish washing detergent, laundry detergent, excessive washing, and irritating ingredients, and also when doing potentially irritating manual activities such as yard work or sports. Wearing gloves to prevent contact with these types of products and ingredients is of the utmost importance. However, a significant number of women may find they are allergic to latex gloves. About 10% of the population have negative reactions, ranging from mild to severe, if they come in contact with latex. If this turns out to be a problem, you should use nonlatex gloves. The faster you apply an emollient moisturizer on your hands after washing, and the longer you can keep it on, the better. (Note: Any good, emollient moisturizer will work—it does not have to be labeled "hand cream" to be used on the hands.) It helps to keep small tubes or bottles of moisturizer all over the house, including near the kitchen sink, in the bathroom, at the bedside, and in the garage. Keep more in your car, purse, briefcase, and desk drawer. That way it is never out of reach for a quick application. The best moisturizers for daytime are moisturizing sunscreens whose active ingredient is avobenzone, titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide. As an added benefit, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide provide an occlusive barrier that can act as a protective layer to retain moisture in the skin while keeping the sun's rays off the skin. (Bear in mind that brown "sun spots" on the back of hands and arms are a direct result of relentless, daily, unprotected sun exposure.) Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula and Eucerin are excellent moisturizers to use at night. The best approach is to apply moisturizer every chance you get. It is also incredibly helpful to purchase an over-the-counter cortisone cream such as Lanacort or Cortaid to help treat cracks and fissures that may occur, but cortisone creams should only be used intermittently, not on a regular basis. Severely dry hands can also benefit from overnight treatment with moisture-infused gloves. These unique gloves are lined with a synthetic material that slowly releases moisturizing ingredients as they are worn. Two to consider are Borghese Spa Mani Moisture Restoring Gloves ($46.50 per pair) and blisslabs' Glamour Gloves ($48 per pair). A less expensive version of these gloves (and socks, which Borghese and Bliss also offer) is available from the Spasensials line at Ulta stores. Their Intensive Moisturizing & Conditioning Hand Treatment ($11.99) is an option, though it is considerably less emollient than gloves from the aforementioned lines. Still, you could benefit from first applying an emollient oil (even something like olive oil or plain Vaseline) then wearing the Spasensials gloves. If your cuticles are also dry and/or cracked, make sure to moisturize them with a very emollient, thick moisturizer. Almost any moisturizer for dry skin will do, and it is not necessary to purchase special cuticle creams. Products with glycerin, petrolatum (Vaseline) or other oils are wonderful cuticle-softening options. 
 Giorgio Armani Designer Shaping Cream Foundation SPF 20 ($65)
earns a place on the ever-growing list of über-pricey foundations, but at least there is a lot to über-love about this particular option. Its higher-than-usual SPF (at least for a foundation) is from in-part titanium dioxide, and this is one of the creamiest yet lightweight foundations for dry to very dry skin you're likely to find. Its emollient texture feels decadently silky and blends very well, though it takes time to set to a soft satin finish. Dry skin is left with a radiant glow, while coverage stays in the medium range. The array of 12 shades is, by and large, quite neutral. The only shades to be careful with are the slightly peach #6 and slightly orange #9.5. Shade #2 is gorgeous for fair skin, and those with light to just-medium skin have several excellent choices. The silk fibers and oil in this foundation do not contour skin, so don't mistake this for a face-lift in a jar (that's likely how the lofty price was determined). It's just a rich, yet not heavy-feeling, cream foundation with a superb blend of ingredients to replenish dry skin while leaving a soft glow.
Dear Paula, In the latest Harvard Health Newsletter they answered a question about the safety of self-tanning sprays and lotions. The answer was very thorough, but part of it (see below) was both new to me and worrisome. (I've been using self-tanning lotions for about a decade and hope to continue.) "A study found that DHA [diydroxyacetone or DHA is derived from sugar and is the ingredient in almost every self-tanner that turns skin color] added to skin cells damaged proteins in the cells' DNA, suggesting more research is needed before DHA can be declared safe for long-term use." Have you heard anything about this study? I was unable to find more information. Karisha, via email Dear Karisha, I found the question and answer you mentioned above, and was a bit surprised that the doctor who responded didn't provide a source for her information regarding the potential safety risks associated with DHA. She also mentions that the long-term effects of self-tanner use are unknown, yet DHA has been used topically since Coppertone launched their QT Lotion in 1960 and the FDA permanently approved DHA as a safe color additive in 1973. Considering how many self-tanning products are on the market and its nearly 50 years of consumer use, I have to wonder how much long-term proof this doctor needs. From all of the research and information I've read over the years about self-tanners and DHA, I see no reason to be concerned about using it on your skin. An overview of self-tanners recently appeared in the November 2006 issue of Cosmetic Dermatology, and although some safety concerns were expressed in terms of DHA being a mutagen, the author indicated that results were mixed and that there are far more indicators that DHA is safe than any sort of threat to skin. That is, the majority of studies have shown that DHA does not have a mutagenic effect on skin. After delving further into the information (or lack thereof), it seems that the study mentioned in the Harvard Health Newsletter was published in the June 2004 issue of Mutation Research. This study showed that due to the manner in which DHA works it can negatively affect DNA and cause cell death after a short period of time. However, the study looked at the action of pure DHA on living keratinocytes (the epidermal cells that synthesize the protein keratin and undergo changes, including death, as they move toward the surface of skin) in a petri dish. That's a key point, and it's the basis for my reassurance that topically applied DHA is safe because it acts only on the surface layers of skin, which are composed of dead skin cells. And that's not to mention the fact that applying the amount of DHA used in self-tanners to your skin is far removed from applying a dose of pure DHA directly to living skin cells. This is the reason a self-tan fades on its own after a few days. As the superficial layers of dead skin cells naturally slough off, the "tan" goes with them (and you can speed up this process by shaving self-tanned skin or using an AHA or BHA product). I see no reason to be concerned about continuing to use a self-tanner. Finally, and this is a point also stressed in the Harvard Health Newsletter, it's unquestionably a safer approach than sun-tanning.
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