how to treat dry hands safely for guineas!

piggiemummy03x

piggiemummy03x

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i really hope this is the correct place for me to post, apologies if it isn’t!

i’m after some advice and maybe even recommendations please for a problem i face every day and also affects my girls.

i suffer from really really dry hands, its so horrible they are constantly dry, cracked and red, it honestly looks as though i have hands of someone who's 100 lol!

i believe a lot of it is probably down to how much i wash my hands everyday (i am extremely worried about not having clean hands when handling/feeding/touching anything to do with the girls and hand washing has increased since della needing meds)

but i wondered if there was anything safe i could use that wouldn’t matter if i still had the residue left on my hands (like once it had seeped into my skin but still feels moisturised) because at the minute i’m washing my hands to get it off basically as soon as i put it on and obviously thats whats going to help my dry hands!

any recommendations please can they be cruelty free!
i did consider that maybe i was being slightly paranoid and over worried about it but i really don’t think i am! just want my girls to be safe, that’s my main priority🩷
 
I have psoriasis and skin that likes to dry out at the merest hint of soap. Cetraben's what I keep coming back to, even Doublebase was never as effective as the Cetraben is. And there's no point to me washing it off again afterwards because soap is soap.
 
Lorcan said:
I have psoriasis and skin that likes to dry out at the merest hint of soap. Cetraben's what I keep coming back to, even Doublebase was never as effective as the Cetraben is. And there's no point to me washing it off again afterwards because soap is soap.
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thankyou!
 
so guys all these recommendations are okay to use inbetween handling our babies? thats my main concern!
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes it’s all absolutely fine. There is no risk to them from having hand cream on.
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amazing! is that the case with all creams or just the ones recommended? my current one i use is okeeffes working hands and it does me good however i only use before bed now when i know i won’t be touching the girls.
 
if that is the one that is working for you, then that’s great.
It’s not an issue to be using hand creams etc and then handling the animals
 
Piggies&buns said:
if that is the one that is working for you, then that’s great.
It’s not an issue to be using hand creams etc and then handling the animals
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oh my gosh i hate my anxiety so much!😪 i worry about literally everything it completely takes over my whole life, honestly i thought i would somehow harm my babies using hand cream while touching / feeding / handling them, my hands are so sore😞
 
Do you think you could tolerate a pair of rubber gloves or something? The cream really shouldn't matter but if it is worrying you then for a lot of what you do then gloves wouldn't matter. A pair of marigolds to reduce waste... The times you want to touch directly you can wash but it would be far less.

What is your worry about hand washing? Fear you could catch something from the pigs? Or that they could catch something from you?
 
Tigermoth said:
Do you think you could tolerate a pair of rubber gloves or something? The cream really shouldn't matter but if it is worrying you then for a lot of what you do then gloves wouldn't matter. A pair of marigolds to reduce waste... The times you want to touch directly you can wash but it would be far less.

What is your worry about hand washing? Fear you could catch something from the pigs? Or that they could catch something from you?
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yes i suppose that’s something to consider!
oh no no i’m not scared of catching anything from the girls i’m worried about me touching them with ‘unclean’ hands and causing them harm! like the handcream in this example somehow contaminating them or something, it sounds really silly when i say it out loud but my head i just think the worst!
 
Doesn’t matter how silly it might sound, the point of anxiety is that it isn’t rational!

You could then consider not using soap and instead using an emollient like e45 as a hand wash. And crucially make sure you dry your hands really really well. (It’s fine to use emollient instead of soap, infection control advise that in hospital for staff with skin integrity) My main reason for asking though was to consider skin integrity and whether that was making your worries worse but as your concerns relate to the piggies that’s not an issue.
 
I agree. My daughter had terrible eczema as a baby and it continued for several years. We were using emollient when bathing her instead of soaps.
 
Tigermoth said:
Doesn’t matter how silly it might sound, the point of anxiety is that it isn’t rational!

You could then consider not using soap and instead using an emollient like e45 as a hand wash. And crucially make sure you dry your hands really really well. (It’s fine to use emollient instead of soap, infection control advise that in hospital for staff with skin integrity) My main reason for asking though was to consider skin integrity and whether that was making your worries worse but as your concerns relate to the piggies that’s not an issue.
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thankyou so much, i get so worried you all must think i’m a weirdo!

ooh okay ill look into this thankyou!
 
I was also going to suggest washing your hands with emmolient rather than soap. Speak to a pharmacist for advice about what you could use. It might also be worth speaking to a doctor to make sure you don't have anything like eczema that's compounding your issue and might need treatment.

Your health is as important as that of your pigs. Hand creams won't affect them at all.
 
Cheekypigs said:
I was also going to suggest washing your hands with emmolient rather than soap. Speak to a pharmacist for advice about what you could use. It might also be worth speaking to a doctor to make sure you don't have anything like eczema that's compounding your issue and might need treatment.

Your health is as important as that of your pigs. Hand creams won't affect them at all.
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thanks so much!
 
sorry guys can i just confirm all these things you have recommended i should use INSTEAD of hand soap? so like wash my hands with water, apply cetraben or double base, usual hand cleaning then wash off and dry and what re-apply?
 
piggiemummy03x said:
sorry guys can i just confirm all these things you have recommended i should use INSTEAD of hand soap? so like wash my hands with water, apply cetraben or double base, usual hand cleaning then wash off and dry and what re-apply?
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Yes. You use the emollient as soap. Wet hands, apply emollient, rub hands like would with soap. Rinse hands with water (a waxy type emollient won’t really come off but rinse anyway), dry hands. Then apply a moisturiser.

Where it gets confusing is that cetraben for example does two different types - the cleansing version that you use as a soap (has pinky coloured writing on the dispenser and says daily cleanser) and then a moisturiser which says moisturiser and is in blue writing.
We used to use Epaderm as a cleanser, blue cetraben as a moisturiser, but then put more epaderm on really dry patches as it is waxy and acts as a barrier.
 
Have you ever thought about wearing gloves when doing the pigs? You may want to invest in some ones you can rinse off and reuse as to not use too many disposable ones. May not be as convenient but if it will help your skin may be good to try even for a bit.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes. You use the emollient as soap. Wet hands, apply emollient, rub hands like would with soap. Rinse hands with water (a waxy type emollient won’t really come off but rinse anyway), dry hands. Then apply a moisturiser.

Where it gets confusing is that cetraben for example does two different types - the cleansing version that you use as a soap (has pinky coloured writing on the dispenser and says daily cleanser) and then a moisturiser which says moisturiser and is in blue writing.
We used to use Epaderm as a cleanser, blue cetraben as a moisturiser, but then put more epaderm on really dry patches as it is waxy and acts as a barrier.
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amazing thanks for confirming!
 
piggl said:
Have you ever thought about wearing gloves when doing the pigs? You may want to invest in some ones you can rinse off and reuse as to not use too many disposable ones. May not be as convenient but if it will help your skin may be good to try even for a bit.
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thanks so much! would just normal washing up gloves do do you think?
 
piggiemummy03x said:
thanks so much! would just normal washing up gloves do do you think?
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I would imagine any gloves would work, perhaps like the yellow rubber ones used for cleaning.
Of course the single use vinyl gloves would work but the powder inside them annoys my hands and they are not good for the environment, which is why I would not pick them but it is up to you.

You can always just use a reusable rubber pair and wash after every use.
I guess you could technically wash those "single use" ones but you would have to buy 100s of them. I was just wondering if you eliminated the need to wash your hands all the time your skin would not be so dried out, especially if you already struggle with skin issues.
 
piggl said:
I would imagine any gloves would work, perhaps like the yellow rubber ones used for cleaning.
Of course the single use vinyl gloves would work but the powder inside them annoys my hands and they are not good for the environment, which is why I would not pick them but it is up to you.

You can always just use a reusable rubber pair and wash after every use.
I guess you could technically wash those "single use" ones but you would have to buy 100s of them. I was just wondering if you eliminated the need to wash your hands all the time your skin would not be so dried out, especially if you already struggle with skin issues.
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thankyou!’m
 
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