So some of my kids and my husband had a terrible gastro virus this week (which I'm still hoping and praying I do not get!!!!) so its like every five minutes I've been scrubbing my hands and stuff because I had a busy cake week. So now my hands are dry and red and cracked and bleeding. I have been using some Gold Bond lotion since last night and it helps some but boy, frequent hand washing really can mess up one's hands!

I hate baking when there is sickness but when you have people with large fancy cakes depending on you for their event, what does one do? I just prayed I wouldn't get it and washed my hands ALOT and used alot of Lysol!

Have any of you ever canceled due to sickness?

I don't know about canceling, but I can help with your hands. Next time you do the dishes, put a lot of lotion on and then a pair of rubber gloves. By the time you are done with the dishes your hands should be well moisturized. Also, anything with Shea Butter seems to help the most with dry hands. When my hubby worked in the OR and had to scrub his hands all day that was the only thing that would help with the cracking and bleeding.

Shea butter, I'll have to remember that. Well I just put my dishes in the dishwasher....my main problem was every time I touched a kid, or a bathroom, or ANYthing, I went back and washed my hands again with antibacterial soap. There were times I washed them several times in only a few minutes. Plus of course there are several times during cake making I have to wash them to get icing off or food color, etc....

Get a box of gloves next time the family is sick...that way ...you just toss the gloves and save the hands..

when my hubby worked in concrete construction, he would get what they call, concrete cracks in his fingers and hands. What he used to alleviate the problem was good ol' Corn Huskers lotion. It didn't leave a greasy feel and is clear. It worked wonders on his hands. You might try that. Another nice thing about it, if you do have cracks n such, it won't burn near as bad as some of the other lotions out there on the market. Also, if ya wanna smell like chocolate (and who doesn't) you might want to try Palmer's Cocoa Butter. That also is good and doesn't leave a really greasy feeling on your hands either.

Another solution is to put petroleum jelly all over your hands and then put a pair of cotton gloves over and go to sleep and in the morning your hands will be really soft and not crack at all. I do this every Sunday night.

The overnight thing works great. I find that Aveeno is the only lotion I can use that doesn't sting. I wash my hands a hundred times a day and also have dry, cracked skin especially in the winter.
My manicures don't last more than a day!

My husband has dry cracked hands and he says that when he uses antibacterial soap it drys his hands out even more. Maybe you could use a hand soap with out antibacterial in it. See if that helps some.

A week or so ago, I finished my niece's bday cake and started cleaning up. hours later i got sick. My kids had had it 3 and 5 days earlier. I lysoled and disinfected everything and thought i was in the clear. I told my sister and she got another to be on the safe side. We displayed mine and ate a store bought one. But the family ate it later and were all fine. Good luck!

"They" [in the medical/health profession] say that using antibacterial soap is worse than regular soap. It's a bit more harsh or drying and also handwashing with regular soap (frequently and when needed) is just as effective. Also, with the antibacterial soaps, more bacteria strains are becoming stronger and more resistant to antibiotics and they think the a-b soaps are contributing.

Also, I use a product (from a company I used to work for, but the product came out years after I left) called Risarium Body Butter by Perlier, an Italian bath and body company. The American division is run by the Borghese family (son, daughter in law and grandchildren of Princess Marcella Borghese - very nice people). Anyway, this product is wonderful and reasonably priced, especially when purchased through HSN! You might want to give it a try if the other suggestions don't work out. It's the only moisturizer I can use on my hands because I can't stand having 'stuff' on my hands. Oh, they also have another product in their chocolate line that I use (when I remember) for the body and ocassionally on my hands before bed - Chocolate Vanilla Body Balm. It's very rich, but not as thick as the butter. It smells heavenly!! I also use the Vanilla Bath & Shower Cream with the same scent. Simply wonderful!

Well now that I sound like a commercial for Perlier (Skip - aka Prince Scipione Borghese - and Amanda, his mom, better appreciate this!), I'll get off my soap box. Gee, I miss getting these products for free.

-Grace

Kitagrl, we don't get sick in our household very often because from birth (okay, from toddlerhood) I have instilled good handwashing in my children, and a no-touching-the-face rule. As a result, we rarely get sick.

However, you do not need to use antibacterial soap! I use Jergens soap (with that lovely cherry almond scent). I just can't use antibac soap because it is extremely harsh on my hands, as well as my childrens hands.

For reparative moisturing, we use Neutrogena Hand Cream. It's available with and without fragrance. It is the ONLY hand cream I've found that moisturizes really, really well and never stings...even when my skin is cracked and bleeding. I use it periodically throughout the day and slather it on at night. I've tried all the others and nothing works as well as the Neutrogena.

I suggest you get rid of the antibac soap. Soap is soap. Ask any physician.

Actually, the interesting thing about soap is that it's purpose is to make water more slick, or slippery, on a molecular level. This helps the water remove the dirt. The important part about washing to remove dirt is in the rubbing motion.

Just a little info. I picked up watching some of my Discovery, Discovery Health and other channels.

Anti-bacterial soap doesn't kill viruses that cause the flu or most gastroenteritis anyway.

Thanks for all your ideas!!! I will definately keep them all in mind... I usually use the antibac from Bath n Body (scent preferences), does anyone know if the moisturizing kind is better than the regular? My dh likes the scrubby kind but I think its helping my hands get chapped.

I have heard that about antibac not helping that much as well...

Yeah I guess its true, you are probably more contagious before you get sick anyway....so probably alot of us do cakes when we are sick and don't know it.

I have very rough feet and was a diabetic at one time so had to be careful what I used. My doctor told me to get " vaselin intensive care extra strenth UNscented" this worked fantastic and I now use it on my elbows and hands as well. For some reason my hands get like sandpaper in the winter and this is the only thing that helps. The unscented is so that it doesnt burn. It's the perfumes that cause the burning on cracked skin. And you can buy it almost anywhere and its reasonably priced.

Sorry double post.

Okay, nobody laugh at what I am going to suggest. I use a product called. MANE 'n Tail. This company makes products for horses and cows. I use the shampoo and conditioner and I have also used the cream for udders. The cream they use for animals that are nursing to put on cracked and bleeding nipples. It is very inexpensive and works great. I buy it at Walmart. You can also get it any farm store. I put it on my hands and feet and wear socks or gloves. If your family keeps getting sick, I would look in the bathroom and see if their toothbushes are next to each other. The germs will transfer back and forth. You will need to sterilize the toothbrushes or get new ones.
this is the site for the udder cream http://www.uddercream.com/products.html

this is the site for hair http://manentail.com/

No, we don't really keep getting sick...we actually did really good most of the winter but then we started getting colds and then this stomach bug so far has only hit three out of five of us...so far so good....

The toothbrushes probably are in a bad spot...I have tried those toothbrush holders though and the nice ones don't drain and that gets nasty! So I got rid of that.

I have a terrible time with my hands from washing etc. and to make it worse I have excema so I have to be really careful. I noticed now with the cake I did this weekend for my great-neice that I was washing my hands alot because I was coloring fondant ( can't use plastic gloves -even the no latex ones because they irritate my skin. ) and that irritated my skin, but also that fondant irritates my hands also my palms are all torn up from rolling etc. Anyhow, the one thing that helps me is the walmart brand of hydrocortizone cream. I use that now instead of ALL the prescription creams I have tried because it works better.

Sorry so long!

I use the Mary Kay extra emollient night cream (its part of the Satin Hands set also) on my hands & feet a couple nights a week (wearing socks & gloves to bed) and on my knees & elbows as well. It is also for dry skin on your face so it has many uses

When I was working for a massage therapist I bought a parafin wax bath like they used. When my hands get sand papery this is what I do. I wash them well then use SpaPedicure's cucumber heel therapy cream. You could use any good moisturizing cream. Massage it into my hands and cuticles and then dip 3-4 times, to my wrist, in the warm to hot parafin and put in a plastic bag for 20-30 minutes. This works so well for me and it feels heavenly. It actually soothes and relaxes my whole body. I've done this on both hands right before going to bed and left it on until I wake up and take it off. All I have to do then because the wax has fully cooled is rub my hands together (bags on) and it all falls off into the bag. Since I'm about the only one who uses the wax I put the wax back in to remelt. When I'm working on cakes I wash so much my hands not only get sandy but so dry they hurt. This has been well worth the investment for me.

My skin cracks and bleeds bad also and I use the liquid bandage to seal the cracks and then I use the Jergens shea butter lotion and love it. Everybody laughs at me because I have a bottle of the liquid bandage in my pocket and it goes everywhere with me but my fingers feel better.