Mamavation | Healthy Living | Lifestyle | Detoxify Home | Product Recommendations

Mamavation » Blog » Beauty | Mamavation » Best Non-Toxic Hand Creams & Hand Lotions for Dry Hands & Cracked Skin 2023
Best Non-Toxic Hand Creams & Hand Lotions for Dry Hands & Cracked Skin 2022

//  by 

Google+0
LinkedIn0
Pinterest0

Are your hands chapped and dry from hand washing, using hand sanitizers, or being in wintery cold weather? Our hands need more love and care when they are dry and chapped. So which hand creams contain problematic ingredients you’d like to avoid and what should you be looking for when shopping?  Mamavation ranked over 200 hand creams, hand lotions, and other types of products to help make your non-toxic shopping easier. You’ve trusted Mamavation to bring you topics like period underwear sans PFAS “forever chemicals”, green beauty makeup sans PFAS “forever chemicals”, and safest deodorants, now join us as we bring you all the most popular hand creams and hand lotions and rank them for toxic ingredients.

Disclosure: This post was medically reviewed by Sondra Strand, RN, BSN, PHN. This post also contains affiliate links.

Close-up of multi ethnic couple holding hands

Causes of Dry Hands & Cracked Skin

There are several causes for dry cracked hands, which basically are a reflection of your very busy life. As long as we are not talking about severe cases, here are some of the things that are happening that may be drying out those hands.

  • Weather — When the climate changes, and especially when it gets cold, the weather becomes dryer and the moisture disappears from the air. This decrease in moisture in the air draws moisture out of your skin and that can make it very dry and uncomfortable for your hands.
  • Hand Sanitizers — Most hand sanitizers contain 70% or more alcohol which can be very drying to hands. If you are looking for hand sanitizers, look for ones with aloe vera, honey extract, calendula extract, chamomile, and other skin-soothing ingredients.
  • Hand Washing — Washing our hands several times a day (even though we need to) can cause them to dry out. When using hot water on our hands every time we wash them can also increase the dryness we feel afterward. In addition, the hand soaps we are using can also contribute to dryness. Mamavation has ranked hand soaps.
  • Chemicals We Expose Our Hands To — Some of the everyday products we use can contain ingredients that may cause dryness. Mamavation has done investigations on all of the categories mentioned to help make your shopping easier: dish Soap, hand soaps, shampoo & conditioner, lotions, soap & body wash,  face wash & moisturizers, hair styling products, laundry detergent, fabric softener & dryer sheets, space heaters, showerhead water filters,
  • Workplace Conditions — Some of us work in places that require us to wash our hands more often or expose us to chemicals that are harsh irritants and possibly toxic to our skin. Such professions are medical workers, hairdressers & salon workers, factory workers, teachers, janitors, etc.
  • Autoimmune disorders like diabetes, Ezcema & psoriasis — Some autoimmune disorders have symptoms of dry skin including diabetes, Lupus, eczema, & psoriasis. If you start to have symptoms beyond what you would consider “normal” talk to your doctor about what is happening to you. Severe dry hands may be a symptom of something else and they can help you devise a plan to become healthier and have softer hands.

women putting on a safe moisturizer on her hands

Tips on How To Keep Hands Healthy & Moisturized

For most people, dry hands are the result of a busy life. Dry hands can be treated easily and become softer with some simple lifestyle changes. Here are some of the things professionals recommend you can do to get rid of your dry chapped hands:

  • When washing hands, use warm or cold, but not hot water. Hot water will steal the moisture from your hands.
  • Look for a moisturizing hand soap with ingredients like lanolin or glycerin.
  • Try not to be too aggressive when you wash your hands.
  • Use a good moisturizer after you wash your hands.
  • Apply moisturizer or hand cream to your hands when they are still damp, so dab dry.
  • For extra protection, apply a stronger moisturizer to hands and wear gloves as a treatment for 30 minutes

Close-up female hands apllying hand cream. with french manicure on nails

Ingredients to Avoid When Shopping for Hand Creams

Here are the ingredients we found inside hand creams that are of concern.

  • Parabens: Parabens are man-made chemicals derived from petroleum that are linked to cancer and are a known endocrine disruptor. Inside cosmetics, they are used as harsh preservatives that prevent and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and mold, which also increases the shelf life of the product. Common parabens–methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben. The Environmental Working Group has tracked over 2,000 personal care products with propylparaben.
  • Petroleum, Petrolatum, or mineral oil: These chemicals are byproducts of petroleum refining. It’s useful in personal care products because it has a melting point close to our body temperature, which causes it to soften upon application. It creates an effective barrier against the evaporation of our skin’s natural moisture and against foreign particles and microorganisms. When petroleum is properly refined as in “white petroleum” it has no known health effects. But there is no way for consumers to know if that has happened or not. The concern is it contains trace amounts of contaminants linked to cancer called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycols) — are petroleum-based compounds that are widely used in personal care products as solvents, thickeners, softeners, & moisture carriers. PEGs may be contaminated with ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane, both carcinogens. 1,4-dioxane can be removed from cosmetics during the manufacturing process by vacuum stripping, but it’s hard to ascertain which products are which. How often is 1,4-dioxane in raw materials of personal care products? This study says very often. 
  • Polysorbate: These ingredients are treated with ethylene oxide (or is “ethoxylated”) so that it then becomes contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen. It has also been linked to skin allergies.
  • Undisclosed Fragrance: The word “fragrance”, “perfume” or “parfum” can hide thousands of chemicals under the guise of proprietary ingredients. However, the days of true secrecy are gone when companies can contract labs to re-engineer recipes. Therefore, the only purpose this these arcane laws serve is to hide ingredients from consumers.
  • Ingredients Ending in -eth: Ethoxylated ingredients on their own are not of concern, but they could contain trace amounts of ingredients that are linked with cancer–1,4-dioxane & ethylene oxide.
  • Quaternary ammonium compounds or “Quats” — These antimicrobial chemicals are used in a variety of products like dishwashing liquid and hand soaps and air fresheners and can be very toxic to aquatic life and can be an irritant to humans. You’ll find quats hidden as some of the following ingredients: benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride, alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides, alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride, didecyldimethylammonium chloride, dioctyldimethylammonium chloride, distearyldimonium chloride, variants of hydroxyethyl methyl ammonium methyl sulfate, & diethyl ester dimethyl ammonium chloride. You’ll also see them labeled as “catatonic surfactants” in other types of products.
  • Lilial — This chemical is also known as butylphenylmethylpropional and it’s linked to inducing skin sensitization in humans. Most of the time, this chemical is an aromatic aldehyde used as a fragrance.
  • Retinyl Palmitate or Vitamin A — Vitamins sound great, but when Vitamin A reacts to UVA light, it can become problematic to health resulting in lipid peroxidation. Animal studies on retinyl palmitate have found an increase in skin tumors in animals treated with retinoic acid so to be precautionary, avoid any personal care product that is used on skin that is later exposed to the sun. However, Vitamin A taken orally can help to protect from cancers.

high angle view of hands suffering the dryness on the skin and deep cracks on knuckles

Better Ingredients For Non-Toxic Hand Creams

Enough about the bad ingredients. There are lots of healthy ingredients to look for when shopping for hand creams. Here are some of the common ingredients found in the recommended hand creams:

  • sweet almond oil
  • avocado oil
  • aloe vera gels
  • coconut oil
  • beeswax
  • cocoa butter
  • egg yolks
  • honey
  • sesame
  • colloidal oatmeal
  • green tea extract

Hand creams get more complicated than just simple ingredients. They serve to hold water in the outer layer of your skin so it doesn’t escape and cause dry hands. The majority of what is available are water-based lotions, gels, creams, ointments, and serums that can contain at least one of the following ingredients to work effectively, however, they are not always non-toxic and can have a different texture:

  • Humectants — serve the purpose of drawing water into the skin barrier to keep them soft. They include fast-absorbing ingredients like glycerin (yeah!), urea (also known as carbamide and is found in urine & animal waste), and alpha-hydroxy acids (from plants yeah!).
  • Occlusives — Work to hold water in the skin and not let it escape. They include ingredients like petrolatum (meh), shea butter (yeah!), and allantoin (yeah!).
  • Emollients — Works to smooth the skin, and include ingredients like jojoba oil (yeah!), lanolin (yeah!), and sunflower oil (yeah!). Sometimes they can leave a greasy residue.

Drop of hand cream on female's hand

Mamavation’s Investigation of Non-Toxic Hand Creams

Mamavation ranked over 200 different hand cream and hand lotion products available to Americans. After reviewing all the ingredients we found in brands we were able to create categories of “not our favorite”, “better”, & “best” to help our audience make choices based on their lifestyle and needs.

Additional Mamavation investigations can be found here.

Not Our Favorite Hand Creams

These products contain several ingredients we warned you about above in our ingredients of concern section. We do not recommend you purchase any of these products.

  • Advanced Clinicals Collagen Hand Cream
  • Ahava Mineral Hand Cream
  • Aloderman Nourishing Hand Cream
  • Anthony Hand Cream
  • Aquaphor Healing Ointment
  • Aveeno Skin Relief Hand Cream Intense Moisture
  • Bella Rosa Passion, Unicorn Hand & Body Lotion
  • Bioderma Hand & Nail Cream
  • Bliss Lemon & Sage Hand Cream
  • Byredo Suede Hand Cream
  • Caren Aloe Vera + Botanicals Hand Treatment
  • Cerave Therapeutic Hand Cream
  • Colleen Rothschild Beauty Restorative Hand Cream
  • Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Ultra-Moisturizing Hand Therapy
  • Crabtree & Evelyn Renew + Nourish Hand Cream
  • DERMAdoctor KP Duty Lotion
  • Difeel Argan Luxury Hand Cream
  • Difeel Coconut Luxury Hand Cream
  • Difeel Cucumber Melon Luxury Hand Cream
  • Difeel Olive Oil Intensive Hand Moisturizer
  • Dionis 2 in 1 Hand & Body Goat Milk Cream
  • Eau Thermale Avène Cold Cream Hand Cream
  • Eau Thermale Avène Cicalfate HAND
  • eos Shea Butter Lavender Hand Cream
  • eos Shea Butter Eucalyptus Hand Cream
  • Eucerin Original Healing Cream
  • Field Day Coconut Lemongrass Lotion
  • Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Hand Cream
  • Gold Bond Diabetics Healing Hand Cream
  • Groovi Beauty Hand Cream
  • Hempz Milk & Honey Herbal Hand Creme
  • Hempz Original Hydrating Herbal Hand Creme
  • Jack Black Industrial Strength Hand Healer
  • Jergens Cloud Creme for Hands
  • Jergens Ultra Healing Hand & Body Cream
  • Jo Malone Nourishing Hand Treatment
  • Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve
  • L’Occitane Shea Classic Hand Cream
  • TrueScience Hand Cream
  • Lush Hand Gurugu Hand Cream
  • Lush Helping Hands Hand Cream
  • Mario Badescu Hydrating Hand Cream
  • Mario Badescu Special Hand Cream
  • Michel Design Works Bunny Toile Hand & Body Lotion
  • Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hand Gel Cream
  • Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream
  • O’Keefe’s Working Hands (tube)
  • O’Keefe’s Working Hands (jar)
  • OGX Hand-To-Heel Body Cream
  • Old Spice Daily Hydration Hand & Body Lotion
  • Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Fast Absorbing Hand Cream
  • Philosophy Hands of Hope Hand and Cuticle Cream
  • Pre De Provence Private Collection Hand Cream
  • Skin & Co Hand Cream, Rosemary & Verbana
  • Soap & Glory Hand Food Hydrating Hand Cream
  • Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Touch Hand Cream
  • Tatcha Indigo Soothing Hand Cream
  • The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector
  • The Chemistry Brand Hand Chemistry Youth Intense Complex
  • Trader Joe’s Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream
  • Udder Butter Unscented
  • Udderly Smooth Hand Cream
  • Up & Up Extreme Healing Hand Cream
  • Vermont’s Original Bag Balm
  • Vaseline Intensive Care Radiance Restore Healing Serum

Hands with dry cracked skin, the concept of hand skin problems

Better Hand Creams

These products are light years ahead of the category above, but still have some issues we warned you about in our ingredients of concern section. Sometimes there is a give and take with the safety of ingredients and effectiveness of the product and this is that middle of the road.

Closeup shot of woman hands applying moisturizing hand cream

Best Hand Creams

These products do not contain any of the ingredients of concern we warned you about in the section above. We recommend you purchase from the brands we are mentioning below.

Recent Product Investigations

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melissa

    Thank you so much! You are the only site I’ve found that really cares about consumers and what they put in and on their bodies!!!! You rock!!!!

    Reply

  3. Addi

    Thanks for this great info! We are working on switching to nontoxic products so happy about some new ones to look into!
    Thanks,

    Reply

  4. Stephanie Dohrer

    Would love some suggestions for heavy creams for ezcema. Most of these are lightweight everyday lotions..

    Reply

  5. BARBARA CIOFFI RINALDI

    Would appreciate a comment on First Aid Beauty ultra repair cream and also Restore Ancient Rituals Treatment Oil for skin and hair. Thank you so much for all your valuable information.

    Reply

  7. Carol

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was just in the process of screenshotting ingredients and then looking them up one at a time for a bunch of hand creams, and I got fed up! I went through the same process last year at this time. I found a brand that seemed safe but it lists Polawax and Geogard. I am going to post your “best” brands on my fridge. Thank you again. You have saved me.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.