Hand Care

[Pete Verdon]

Well, I've been known to. My work laptop has a fingerprint reader to be used before it will boot, and I did a spot of very amateur bricklaying a few weeks ago. I borrowed/hired the mixer and barrow from a guy at work who lends them out at £10 a time to his colleagues, so I'm obviously not alone. The majority of those people will also have readers on their laptops.

That said, I didn't have any issues with the computer after three days' solid brickying. What really screws it up for a week or two is when I go square-rig sailing - lots of hauling on big old-fashioned cordage and my hands go glassy-smooth :-)

Pete

[Lino expert]

Fab, thanks. I use Google Groups (cue general lambasting from some quarters!) and will pop along and have a look.

I followed the thyroiduk.org link from your sig and could only tick off two symptoms from the checklist, which I was quite pleased about - but no harm in double checking.

With regard to the dry hands, if you slather them in your chosen cream and put some cotton gloves on just before turning in, the warmth will help it soak in overnight.

[Phil L]

Avoid alkalis like cement and plaster as they will remove the natural oils from the skin, leaving it cracked and open to infection - no amount of callouses or hard skin is a defence against this, and so almost all builders avoid touching it like the plague.

I use a fantastic cream called 'Aveeno', which is made from oatmeal, doesn't smell and is readily absorbed into the skin - my doctor once prescribed it to me for my exzema, saying that he had been using it for years, and as it's available without prescription, I now use it all the time.

Keep it away from your eyes though as it makes 'em water!

[Rod]

Fantastic.

Went to their website. Seems it contains shea butter (which I have already mentioned as being good) - and they do a free sample. Which is already ordered.

[Rod]

After posting I remembered the old rosalex (pink stuff) we used in metal work. Horrible smell and feel. But it actually worked quite well.

Will try the Savlon, thanks.

One problem is washing hands before and after toilet.

Have found vaseline feels nice but somehow does not seem to work as well as the ones mentioned in original post. At the time it is great but the next day I don;t seem to have recieved much benefit.

[Bruce]

It is a first class product. Whenever I see some, I buy a tube or two, just to make sure I will never run out.

[Roger]

The message from John Rumm contains these words:

my glove of choice too but being a cheapskate I usually buy a back-up dozen of the cheaper riggers gloves as well for less abrasive work. Unfortunately the cheaper ones have been known to last less than 5 minutes before wearing through when faced with a bit of gritstone walling.

I usually have sore finger ends as it is as I try to get as much use as possible out of each pair of gloves. The ultimate riggers do wear through as well but they are more likely to fail on stitching first. Every so often I have a clearout and throw aay the dozen or so badly worn pairs of gloves that have accumulated since the last Screwfix order. :-(