I’ve review a lot of hand cremes over the years, but I keep coming back to this one. At work we can use some pretty harsh hand soap (need to kill the ICU germies!), but we took this to an entirely higher and crazy level when I was still in training a few years ago.
That’s right, the ICU where I did my fellowship used surgical scrub as hand soap. Rather than the just plain old harsh regular hospital soap. It was the most drying stuff ever, and if I didn’t get a moisturizer on my skin pronto my ezcema would flare and I’d be a red and rashy mess.
By far and away the best hand lotion to keep my skin comfortable and looking good during the months that I was “on-service” was this one from Kiehl’s. It isn’t exactly cheap, but the bottles are pretty big and would last me at least six months.
Once I started bringing Ultimate Strength in to work with me a few other people got hooked, and then a few others… and it kind of snow balled. We were giving it to each other as gifts. It was amazing.
Why did the nurses, docs and I love it so much? This stuff isn’t girly, so any one was willing to use it. It has a light fresh scent that disappears quickly. It is a thick white cream that just soothes immediately as you are applying, and it fully sinks into your skin. No greasiness left behind. Perhaps most importantly, it worked so well that you only needed to apply it every 3 or 4 hand washes. When using surgical scrub. That’s definitely Ultimate Strength Hand Salve.
The formula is meant to provide a “glove-like” barrier against moisture loss, and it contains a lot of botanicals according to Kiehl’s. When I apply it, there is a cooling feeling for about 60 seconds. Although the formula is a little greasy, if I avoid putting the cream on my palms this doesn’t really bother me at all.
I carry a tube of Ultimate Strength Hand Salve in my pocket and I have applied it 2-3 times a day. Despite my obsessive hand washing, I have hands that are moisturized, without a crack in site!
I’m a doctor, a mommy and a bit of a beauty addict. If you let me, I can take 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Really. I'm on a quest for faster beauty that works!