Jewellery makers' hands

[LydiaNiz]

I dont know about anyone else, but myhands are usually in pretty dire condition. I keep my nails brutaly short (because otherwise they only end up full of platinol, or wet & dry residue, or silver dust).
I have calluses along the edge of my index fingers, scars on the pads of my index fingers, a great big scar on one hand (answering my husband while cutting wire into my palm, I missed), some blue 'tattooing' on my middle finger (an incident with a cut and some chemical). Normal to heavy weight handcreams on't cut it.
I oftern use swarfega to wash to get the day's grime off, and found climber's balm pretty good (Climb-On (http://bouldersuk.com/climbing-shop/climbon-0-5oz-bar?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=Google+shopping&gclid=CKHxsfz0_7sCFWTlwgodFU0AHg) ), but have you found anything brilliant to look after your hands?

[Anna Wales]

Same here. I have always had "practical hands " unlike my sister who has the most beautiful hands and nails. As you say nails always very short with left hand thumb nail usually down to the quick. Thankfully it didn't take too long for the skin on the pads of my fingers to harden up when I came back to jewellery making. I found that the most painful thing when I first started as I was made to clean up castings for 6 months to see if I was serious about learning . Swarfega and a good scrubbing brush works for me but I can't bear hand cream as it always feels so slimy.

[Lucie]

My hands are always dry and bleeding :( You could try bio oil or vaseline at bedtime - normally helps if they get particularly bad.
It will however not help if you're clumsy like me & injure yourself with episodes of stupid - like last week when I dropped my scalpel & stuck it straight into my leg :-"

[caroleallen]

Ouch! My hands are bad too. When we had a burglary and I had to give my fingerprints, they were virtually non-existent.

[josef1]

http://www.badgerbalm.com/ this is good (or so I have been told because Im a man and men dont use hand creams cause were tough ;-) I always find swarfiga dries my hands really badly

[Dennis]

http://www.badgerbalm.com/ I always find swarfiga dries my hands really badly

Yes I think the most important part is to avoid harsh detergents and wash hands with something gentle, which will not remove natural oils from the skin. Dennis.

[LydiaNiz]

We'd be a good test group for some industrial salve it sounds like! Lucie, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! I thought I was accident prone.
I think my worst accident (aside from a non-bound charcoal brick exploding in my face and perforating my eardrum) was forgetting I had platinol on a fingernail. Until I wiped my hands and took nearly all of the nail off too. Ewwwwwwwww.

[MeadMoon]

I really like the Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners' Hand Therapy. They do a whole range and I also very occasionally use the Gardeners Hand Recovery Scrub when my hands are extra dry and sore, but for everyday use the scrub is just too oily.

[Keia]

Like Lucie said, I also use vaseline on mine and put on gloves over night ;) I've used Nivea original too and it's great. I wouldn't recommend anything purfume infused though, I did that mistake once with dry bleeding hands and let's just say it stung a bit ><

[Lucie]

Nivea is great & gloves overnight work really well (not wonderfully attractive, but effective none the less).

Lydia - At least I'm not the only one lol.
The worst accident was setting light to the kitchen in my old house when a pan of wax went up in flames - because I forgot about it :-O
I really shouldn't be allowed to work unsupervised #-o

[medusa]

forgetting I had platinol on a fingernail. Until I wiped my hands and took nearly all of the nail off too. Ewwwwwwwww.

is platinol that caustic? I've never used it.

[LydiaNiz]

Yep. Leave it on your fingers and it starts feeling 'slippy' and bang goes another layer of skin.

[medusa]

euwwww!

double euwww because my post is too short

[Dennis]

Yes if you brush it on it needs to be a synthetic brush. Natural hair quickly dissolves.