SOS: Handcare for CrossFit babes
It's one of the biggest Fit Girl problems: painful, raw hands! Girls who do weight-lifting or CrossFit are especially likely to fall victim to this. Working on your hard body is something you love to do, but ehm, preferably without getting hands like these. We want a hard body with soft hands, right? Today I'm sharing my tips. SOS: Hand care for CrossFit babes!
Goal
Ok, a little bit of callus is nice. Seriously. You have more grip, don't get blisters as easily and you have more squeeze power. A lot of calluses however, can be ugly, raw and tear off. The latter is something you especially want to avoid! If you take care of your hands daily, you will notice instant changes. Eventually you want to have a thin, soft layer of calluses on your hands, without loose or really thick skin.
Daily hand care
- Use a pumice stone every day after showering. Scour gently (because your skin is soft!) across the upper layer of both palms. Focus on the hard little 'knots' that are right under your fingers - and make these flatter.
- Afterwards, scrub your hands with a rough scrub. You can make this yourself by mixing sugar with coconut oil and perhaps even some grated lemon. By doing this, you eliminate loose skin and will result in soft hands.
- Then, moisturize in your hands with a thick cream. I like Lemony Flutter (brand: Lush), which is full of natural oils. Especially lather up your hands very well before going to bed so there is a lot to get soaked up while you sleep.
First aid for tears
During training it's tempting to use a lot of magnesium powder for extra grip. Don't do this! Only use a little bit. A lot of powder creates a lot of friction on your palms, and that leads to higher risk of tearing any calluses. Ouch!
You are also more at risk of tearing off calluses while lifting heavy weights, (deadlifts) or hanging (pull-ups, toe-to-bar). Do you already have broken skin and torn calluses? This is what I like to do in that case:
- Disinfect: I like to soak my hands in a soda bath (warm water with a tablespoon of soda powder). After a couple of minutes everything is clean, and any loose skin is soaked off.
- Amputate (haha): After soaking my hands, I cut away all the loose skin that's left with (clean!) scissors. Some people like to leave the skin on, but if you take it off, it dries in sooner.
- Let it dry: I give nature some time to heal the open skin and let the edges dry up. I often work out in the evening, so the next morning all edges are dried out.
- Hydrate: After letting it all dry, I start hydrating again. I carry around the Lemony Flutter cream all of the time to moisturize raw edges. Take some time for this every 1 to 2 hours. Important: don't put cream in an open wound.
- When the wound has dried up completely, it will quickly create a small layer of callus again. When that has happened, you can start trimming the edges again with your pumice (see daily hand care above), so you can create a smooth surface again.
That's it! It seems like a lot of work, but it takes me about 1 minute every day to take care of my hands. I think daily care saves you a lot of trouble. Did you think this article was helpful? Or do you have any good tips? Let me know!
x
Roos
