Skin care

I'm looking to maximize my training time and find that skin is just as much an issue in recovery time as muscle and neurological fatigue. Anyone have any tips on skin maintenance? Do you apply a salve after plastic bouldering, hangboarding, or campus training? Anyone using Antihydral to toughen their skin?

My issue is skin damage: blistering on the pads and soreness from pulling plastic.

Burt's Bees Res-Q ointment. Pretty much the Bees knees, haha.

I've climbed the past 12 days in a row in joshua tree. I bouldered twice and route climbed the other days. I also had 3 half days.

I started this after 3 rest days but immediately split open a not completely healed split. I also started using antihydral two days before this.
Here's what I'm doing with my fingers.
Before bed I cover my tips, and all of the rest of my hands (for crack climbing) with antihydral. This dries out the skin and promotes calus growth. While climbing or before, if any of my tips gets really thin or splits open (any bleeding beneath the skin too) cover that tip with super glue and then cover the super glue with tape while it is still wet. I then coat the tape with super glue. I can still climb pretty hard like this, especially if only one tip is bad at a time. If the tape starts to loosen up I add more glue. It usually lasts all day long. Then immediately after climbing, I wash my hand deeply, and then use a climbing balm (I use climb on). This moisturizes the skin and add nutrients to it that help skin grow and cuts heal. Also, in the morning before I climb and my hands are dry from the antihydral I sand my tips and creases on my fingers to make them smooth. This helps you avoid getting flappers.
yeah so keep your hands dry, moisturize after climbing, and use super glue with tape on your tips when they start to bleed.

i use a combination of bag balm, gold bond lotion, and some body shop lotion that my wife got for free. i slather it on before bed and sleep with a pair of cotton work gloves so i don't get it all over the place. actually works pretty well.

A drywall sanding block does wonders. I sand down all major caluses and then moisturize. I got the idea from a bunch of boulderers in my gym.

I also have to actively manage my fingernails to avoid the dreaded bleeding from under the nails. I trim my nails exactly once a week, atleast 24 hours before climbing, and then moisturize under the nail.

/\ I second that. I like to sand down my calluses with an emery board(spelling?)a little before I got to bed and just slather on moisturizing lotion. I am also mainly a gym rat (office job; gym lets me get 2.5 hours of climbing training in after work)and that strategy has definitely saved my hands while working mainly overhanging stuff.

Obviously you have your own routine, but I definitely do try to switch off and only hit the overhanging stuff once a week. Saves my hands and forces me to switch it up.

First, avoid all of the over priced rip off climbing balms that you can buy at gear shops, gyms or the REI. Then find a feed supply store and buy a 32oz jar of Mane & Tail Hoofmaker for $9.95. It is tested and approved for human use, so no worries there. What it does better than all the others, besides being about 10% of the cost per serving, is that it makes your skin tough but pliable. many lotions make your skin soft, and other things, such as alcohol makes it brittle. Also Metolious Super Chalk has a drying agent in it that makes the skin tender also, so that is something to avoid, just plain chalk is better for the skin.

Now, let me give you some background. I spend 6 months climbing at the Red River Gorge in 2010. For 3.5 months, I always had to stop climbing because of skin, not lack of strength. I tried almost everything. Then i met a climber from Oregon that gave me some hoofmaker, what he called "instant calluses". Since then, I have almost never had to quit climbing for skin issues. The stuff works.

I'm a big fan of O'Keeffe's Working Hands. It's not greasy like Climb On and J Tree. It heals better and is a good bit cheaper than climbing specific creams.

Eric Carlos wrote:First, avoid all of the over priced rip off climbing balms that you can buy at gear shops, gyms or the REI. Then find a feed supply store and buy a 32oz jar of Mane & Tail Hoofmaker for $9.95. It is tested and approved for human use, so no worries there. What it does better than all the others, besides being about 10% of the cost per serving, is that it makes your skin tough but pliable. many lotions make your skin soft, and other things, such as alcohol makes it brittle. Also Metolious Super Chalk has a drying agent in it that makes the skin tender also, so that is something to avoid, just plain chalk is better for the skin. Now, let me give you some background. I spend 6 months climbing at the Red River Gorge in 2010. For 3.5 months, I always had to stop climbing because of skin, not lack of strength. I tried almost everything. Then i met a climber from Oregon that gave me some hoofmaker, what he called "instant calluses". Since then, I have almost never had to quit climbing for skin issues. The stuff works.

Keep in mind that everyone's skin is different.

I use obscene amounts of hand salve on the off days. The gym doesn't generally pose much of an issue unless I've been on real rock like 3 days in row. I tend to stay away from lotion, it feels like it makes my hands get too soft.