Hand care advice

[allochthonous]

So I have recently got back into climbing, and it's great, and I have a group of friends who I've managed to get hooked on it as well, and I'm saving up for a climbing holiday later in the year, and it's all wonderful. Except that I appear to be steadily losing the skin on the inside of my fingers. Last time I realised that I had ripped all of the skin off the bottom third of my fingers on my left hand and was bleeding (nice). I never ran into this problem when I climbed before, and I guess it's just because I've been out of the game for a while, but is there anything I can do until my hands harden up? Loads of lotion? No lotion? Just tape it up? It's not particularly painful, but I don't want the scrapes to get infected. If you climb regularly, do you just expect calluses? Or do everything to avoid them?

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Ooh, I know lots about this!

*rubs hands*

Can you get hold of Climb On balm, or any of the similar climbers' hand balms -- basically, waxy solid balms with essential oils in? They're ideal because they speed healing without softening the skin, and the essential oils are generally mildly antiseptic.

(I also have a DIY recipe, but that depends on being able to get hold of essential oils and also enjoying melting and mixing things, which may not be your cup of tea.)

Alternatively, the department store option is Elizabeth Arden Eight-Hour Cream; I kid you not.

I never ran into this problem when I climbed before, and I guess it's just because I've been out of the game for a while

Yup. Your skin will start to toughen up quickly.

Just tape it up?

I'd tape up anything that's torn or about to tear (if there's open skin, maybe a sticky plaster then tape over the top to keep it in place).

If you climb regularly, do you just expect calluses? Or do everything to avoid them?

You expect (and hope for) calluses, but you also want to avoid spots where the calluses get hard and rough or ridged up, because it means they can snag on things and rip off (or lead to a blister underneath the callus, which is unpleasant).

So lots of climbers will sand or file down rough skin so that it's smooth but still tough.

Ah, just found an old post in the comm here: http://disobey-gravity.dreamwidth.org/12303.html , with more people's experiences and tips.

ETA: I've just added a "hand care" tag to both posts, to make this stuff easier to find.

[allochthonous]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply! Alas, I am not immediately able to access either Climb On or EA (though I will hopefully be able to grab the latter at duty-free next time I fly), but will see what I can find in the way of lotions that aren't too watery and for the moment keep taping. Thanks also for the link to the other post - so many great resources in this community.

[rydra_wong]

In the meantime, something like plain shea butter would work pretty well, if you can get hold of that (I have no idea what might or might not be available in Georgia).

[wpadmirer]

Great tips! And I can vouch for the blister under a callous thing. I did that when I did 50 ascents in 1 hour on the auto-belay.

I try to keep my callouses smooth because they do protect. I also use a balm on my hands periodically to add moisture to the skin. It does help.

[allochthonous]

50 in an hour - ouch! Fortunately for my hands, I have nowhere near that much stamina :)

I will certainly be adding some kind of decent balm to the list for the next care package from home.