Hand Skin Therapy for older climbers

• EDIT*  I hate taping up. Or crack gloves, I own the original Hand Jammies and OR gloves.
  
  But my skin is getting thinner as I get older and it rips and I get Gobi's even in smooth cracks. Is there any alternative that someone has found to toughen up the skin on the back of their hands that turns back the clock for older folks climbing hand or fist cracks?
  
  I have tried Mane & Tail Hoofmaker with no success, just makes my skin softer and more likely to rip.
  
  It is damned frustrating to grease out of a crack that is well within your limits because the skin is stripping off your hand.  My wife hates all the blood on the sheets from the scabs coming off as well.  Gross.
  
  In the past I used tincture of benzoin and tape, but I want to avoid tape if possible.

Ocun crack gloves?

HTBU.  harden the buck up!  :)

reboot wrote: There is no miracle cure if that's what you are asking.

I've never used OR gloves but I like the Ocun's (get them on the snug side of fitting) enough that I don't bother taping other than fingers when needed. Yes they make tight hand jams harder, but that size has been really easy for me w/ lots of sport climbing.

I have a sizing problem with Ocun gloves, I tried them.  I have really fat fingers, but smallish hands. So to get the size correct for the hands, my fingers get strangulated. To get the fingers right, it is too sloppy to do any good. Catch-22. 

In recent years, I shaved my hands, which made untaping less  painful. In the last couple of years, I've liked Ocun mits.

I may have to resort to using a spray adhesive and a thin layer of tape. No crack gloves, please. They simply prevent me from feeling the slight imperfections inside the crack that I have grown accustomed to and depend on.

I don't need to shave my hands..All of the hair has already worn off.    

Try the rhino skin products.

Tico wrote: Try the rhino skin products.

I'll give it a try...I think the "Repair" product is what I want????  Actually, none of the products promise to toughen up the skin, but I guess help in repairing is better than nothing.

soak them in W5-30 motor oil.

Jeffrey Constine wrote: soak them in W5-30 motor oil.

Just wanted to capture this not-funny, not-helpful comment for posterity.

Suuthe salve...its main ingredient is emu oil, no joke. Super good! Won’t toughtn your skin,
But it keeps it healthy, more pliable I’ve found...

FrankPS wrote:

Just wanted to capture this not-funny, not-helpful comment for posterity.

So I climbed a couple "test piece" crack climbs at the local 60 ft crag, did laps on them without tape. I really concentrated on not over torqueing my hands, and using my feet more, instead of just hauling my ass up with my arms. Seems to have worked, since I really didn't do any damage to my skin. Just surface abrasion.  But they were short, and only .10a.  But since coming back from a layoff, I noticed I don't have the brute strength I once had, where a hand jam is as good as an anchor that I could hang on all day. The key to this route is actually a back-step for me.