Bleeding Fingers

a) Anti-bacterial soap has no benefit beyond regular soap as long as you do a good job washing your hands. Plus it gets into wastewater and current treatment systems can't remove it, which lead to resistant strains of all kinds of bacteria and germs = really bad news. Plus it's bad for your skin. So stop using anti-bacterial soap.

b) I use a beeswax/olive oil based balm. Badger Balm, Mad Gabs, Burt's Bees, Climb On - they're all basically the same stuff when you get right down to it (I should know, I've worked for two of the listed companies).

I've been using New Skin for a few days now on one split. It certainly stops the pain quickly. It has clove oil in it.

As for making your body heal the split skin, I have noticed that carefully cutting back each side with some nail clippers and shaving off the top layers signals your skin to go ahead and grow some more. I did this on my thumb last week and within days it formed a scab. Before, it just kept splitting and bleeding.

I have been using Bert's Hand Slave but curiosity got the best of me and so i stopped yesterday at my local farm supply and grabbed some Bag Balm. I put a fairly generous helping on last night before bed and this morning my hands feel/look 100% better. Cuticle splits are not painful to the touch and the skin just feels better, overall. It was cheap too; big can for $6. That will last a long time.

Thanks for the tip, Brian!

Try a collogen supplement for cracked skin on hands and/or feet. I get 1/4 inch deep fissures on my heels which do hurt plenty. Also, it helps decrease the cracks on my fingers, too.