Does anyone know how hands (or skin for that matter) becomes chapped? Can a change in eating habits remedy this? I'm currently 100% raw and eat mostly fruit and green smoothies.

I have had terribly chapped hands all my life. I get red knuckles and they begin to crack and bleed. This is my first winter raw and they are 85% better. When they start getting chapped I lather the lotion on and while they are drenched in lotion I put on cotten gloves and leave them on anywhere from ten minutes to all night. Works like a charm.

I love raw!! It is making a ton of little irritating problems get better.

Aveeno is the lotion brand I use. Works like a charm!

I take Flaxseed pills and put flaxseed oil in my smoothies.I used to have cracked, bloody, PAINFUL hands before. flaxseed seem like they are straight from heaven!

Try mixing some coconut oil with a bit of tea tree oil, and use after washing everytime you can.

My feet/heels have really become soft and they were a mess before.

Love,
Prism

lotion did no good for me. I got some refined coconut oil for cosmetic use. I melt it and use it for my hands and face (and sometimes my hair). Works wonders!!!!!

I finally found a cure for this a few months ago. 100% Shea Butter! I get it at WholeFoods..I use the unscented one. THey have some scented and one for guys..dont know what the difference is.

I have an obsession with washing my hands like 100 times a day and sme of the stuff I get on my hands are drying and make it worse. The last time I had it bad where my knuckles were bleeding and cracks everywhere and they hurt like hell unless I kept them under cold water..which of course made it drier. Just 1 night of shea butter and they at least felt better and stopped hurting in the morning, by the middle of the day there was a major difference.

The other trick is using a cheap pair of cotton cloves and keeping them on all day. I cut the fingers off to the knuckles so they're more comfortable.

Before that I used to just use olive oil..but eh wasn't as effective as this stuff.

If you use store bought bars of soap, or commercial soaps they can be very harsh on your skin, hence the reason they sell you lotions to moisturize what the soap depleted out of your skin.

If you buy hand-milled, handmade, or soap that has all the glycerine retained, this will help your hands and skin heal and helps to hydrate and moisturize your skin. Look for soap that has pure ingredients like coconut oil, olive oil, shea butter, etc..and instead of frangrances find the soaps with essential oils as many of them are healing,

I love coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, and olive oil.

Love,
Prism

alicenubby Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I take Flaxseed pills and put flaxseed oil in my
> smoothies.I used to have cracked, bloody, PAINFUL
> hands before. flaxseed seem like they are
> straight from heaven!


Yes me too!! Flaxseed oil moisterizes from the inside out.

Thank you so much for the advice, I will look into natural soaps.

You have NO idea how excited I am to find someone else with this problem! I have EXTREMELY dry, chapped, and bleeding hands year-round, and I felt like a total freak of nature. However, I've found that raw has made it worse! I've tried the lotion, the gloves, I use natural soaps, I eat avos and seed butters and flax and oils...they just keep getting worse. Nothing has made a lasting difference. My job requires anti-bacterial soap and handling lots of cardboard so I know that's part of the problem...but there must be SOMETHING I could do for my hands before resorting to medication. Keep those suggestions coming!

the enchantress,

There are people on Nora's forum who found that their dried skin (eczema) problems disappeared after going to a low fat raw vegan diet. You might try 80/10/10 for a while to see if it can help you, but buy the book first, as there is a lot to consider when you start that diet.

I have very dry and chapped hands....ESPECIALLY when it gets cold. I find that using Shea Butter helps a lot.

When I got a rash on my legs, I put Shea Butter on it and it was gone the next day. It has antibacterial and healing properties. It helped with my athlete's foot and cracked/dry heels. I hope I'm not giving out TMI (Too Much Information).


Don't use the refined stuff because that's no good. The white version has been refined and it's healing properties have been greatly diminished.

My son aquired eczema on his back and tummy areas, and when I saw it I went out and got a couple things to treat it.

The one thing he felt helped him (the eczema has almost all disappeared) and he asked for another bottle was the super B vitamins.

Love,
Prism