Don't overlook Amazon's Solimo
Chapped, dry, and bleeding hands are no joke and I have probably experienced the worst it can get while working in a machine shop (prior to CNC) and doing assorted mechanic work out in my garage. When really dry, it felt like my hands were going to fall off at the wrists, and I'll always remember the excruciating pain.<br /><br />It was some time around the 1960's that specialty hand soaps for mechanics began appearing in the car parts stores. They were a bit of a miracle to watch as the gel just effortlessly lifted all that grease off the hands. But this new miracle solution worked so well it would also dry out the hands until years later when somebody thought to include lanolin in the mix. That finally changed everything for mechanics who no longer had to show up at the dinner table with grease still embedded in their dry, chapped, and bleeding hands.<br /><br />Up until then there was LAVA soap (still in production today) but that's like scrubbing your hands with a brick. The highly abrasive mixture would sting and didn't work well on dry chapped hands, doing nothing to help heal them or diminish the pain involved. There were some special lotions like Corn Huskers and Vaseline Jelly (probably the oldest) for repairing dry, sick skin, but it would be used up too quickly and it might take weeks before remembering to buy more.<br /><br />Now that I'm retired I haven't had dry skin or bleeding fingers for the past ten years, but it doesn't mean the hands still won't chap when neglected. Vaseline Medicated Intensive Care lotion was my favorite up until they took it out of production, nearly putting me into a panic. Vaseline introduced a replacement that worked even better, called Vaseline Deep Moisturizing lotion with 30% Petrolatum and had the same consistency as tooth paste. A little dab will do ya' on the back of the hands on a daily basis. But I quit buying it recently because Vaseline now contracts it out to other cosmetic companies, and the price is soaring to about $10 for 4.5 ounces while the quality continues to go south. So now I'm using Amazon's Solimo, likely made using Vaseline's own 100% White Petrolatum Jelly that has proven for a couple of centuries now to be better and Amazon has it priced lower than everything else.<br /><br />There really is no need for anyone to suffer from dry, rough skin with the hundreds of lotions and treated soaps that are now available, all intended to remove that greasy feeling that women make very obvious how much they despise. Typically, most men couldn't care less how it feels provided it does what it claims. The best ones all seem to contain at least one ingredient of either lanolin, or petrolatum, or glycerin, and even menthol. There is a whole flock of ingredients listed in other products that have such long complicated names they can't even be pronounced. Oddly enough, those are the same ones that cost the most, whereas my little 7.5 ounce jar of Solimo that cost three bucks only contains just one ingredient: 100% White Petrolatum Jelly. A little dab on the back of the hand soaks into the skin quickly and the jar will last a couple of years positively keeping my hands absolutely free of dry, chapped, and bleeding fingers. And for that, I am very thankful. So there you go.
Rating: 5 stars