Best hand creams: we reviewed the top brands to save your sanitised hands

NOW is the time to find yourself one of the best hand creams around. We’ve all been told to wash our hands often and for 20 seconds each time, leaving our poor mitts drier than ever.

When you wash and dry your hands, you’re removing some of the natural oils which lock in moisture, but the best hand creams help hydrate, smooth and soften them.

Not only can cracked hands get sore, they also allow for more bacteria to get inside your body which is why we should all be applying moisturiser after washing our hands.

If you work in a customer-facing job, we can imagine the constant hand washing must be really getting to your skin, leaving it red raw. If anyone deserves the best hand creams, it’s you.

Dermatologists recommend any hand cream that is fragrance and dye free, and ones that include shea butter, mineral oil, aloe vera, and other ingredients which are gentle on your skin.

There are so many options out there, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to review the best hand creams on the market. In no particular order, let’s get creaming.

1. L’Occitane Shea Butter

• L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream, £21.50 from L’Occitane – buy here

Boasting 15 years of popularity, L’Occitane’s award-winning Shea Butter hand cream is one of its best-selling products.

Combining 20 per cent concentrated shea butter, almond, honey and coconut oil, this silver-tubed cream is a mainstay on the moisturising scene, so we tested it out.

We tried the 150ml tube which is extremely generous and quite heavy for your handbag – the 30ml option is probably more practical for everyday use.

First off, you should know that it’s quite thick which means you only need a tiny amount (we imagine the 150ml tube might last you around six months or longer).

Infused with jasmine and ylang-ylang, this cream smells subtle and flowery, and you can definitely feel the shea butter as you use it, deeply moisturising your hands without leaving them too greasy.

From the stylish, shiny packaging, to the natural scent, we can imagine this making the perfect present for the most loved woman in your life.

2. Nursem Caring Skin & Hand Fix

• Nursem Caring Skin & Hand Fix, £14.99 from FeelUnique – buy here

Nursem cream was created specifically for nurses to help their hands combat the effects of constant hand-washing, and since their launch they have given a month’s worth of hand cream to NHS nurses and midwives for every purchase. Amazing, right?

Featuring hydrating Hyaluronic Acid, allantoin and soothing colloidal oatmeal, this is supposed to be a strong cream that helps the most hardest working hands around.

We tried Nursem’s Caring skin Fix cream around December 2020 when we were sitting in countless cold pub gardens because of Covid-19 restrictions, and our hands had sorely cracked from over- sanitizing.

When we say our hands had cracked, they were red raw, so we were in desperately need of some strong stuff to save them. Nursem was our saviour.

From the very first use, our hands felt soothed to the extent that we assumed that the formula must be medical and recommended by doctors (if it’s not, it should be).

It doesn’t really have much of a scent, but as a no-nonsense ‘Skin Fix’ moisturiser, this wins hands down as you only need a pea-sized amount to see effective results.

3. The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector

• Hemp Hand Protector, £12 from The Body Shop – buy here

Titled as The Body Shop’s best-selling hand cream, the Hemp Hand Protector is made for hard working hands.

Hemp Seed Oil is known to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and contains linoleic acid and oleic acids, all of which helps keep your skin hydrated.

When we received the average-sized 100ml bottle, we realised it wouldn’t be one for our pocket or handbag. The 30ml bottle is more compact if you’re looking for one to carry around.

It definitely has one of Body Shop’s signature, natural scents and it’s quite thick compared to other available creams so you don’t need to use much at all to moisturise your hands.

Upon first impression, it’s a really smooth cream that immediately moisturises your hands. It even worked to soften our dad’s dry gardening-impacted skin.

As our hands weren’t particularly dry when using it, we found the thickness a bit too much but our 60-year-old dad liked the texture a lot. This is one for people who regularly put their hands through some battering.

4. Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream

• Hand and Nail Treatment Cream, £23 from Clarins – buy here

Clarins says that their Hand and Nail Treatment Cream helps diminish age spots, whilst also strengthening your nails and protects your hands from being dried out by the sun or cold temperatures.

Made from shea butter, sesame oil, Japanese Mulberry extract and emollients, this cream is one of the French luxury brand’s best-sellers.

Unlike other hand creams, Clarins’ Hand and Nail Treatment Cream only comes in 100 ml bottle, although it’s more lightweight than you’d expect.

The texture is quite creamy, soft and not too thick, which suggests this is for hands that just need some daily rejuvenation.

Out of all the hand creams, this one definitely smells the most fragrant with such a nostalgic, flowery scent that could pass as one of Clarins’ perfumes.

The smell, the packaging and the anti-ageing aspects suggest that this might be one for our more mature women out there. However, it definitely left our hands feeling soft to touch, we’ll report back on whether our nails feel stronger later.

5. Soap & Glory Hand Food Hand Cream

• Soap & Glory Hand Food Hand Cream, £4 from Boots – buy here

Soap & Glory’s signature pink rose and bergamot fragrance is instantly recognisable, and it’s why we love the Hand Food Hand Cream.

The formula consists of shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow, giving you a sweet-smelling cream that’s affordable at £4 for 125ml – bargain.

Packaged in a vibrant pink tube with cartoon lettering, this cream brightened up our toiletries draw in an instant.

It’s moisturises well from the very first use but the texture is a tiny bit greasier than other more expensive creams.

We think it feels a bit greasy because it doesn’t absorb into your skin that quickly, but once it does, you’re left with softer-than-soft hands.

Although the effects are quite long-lasting, our favourite part of the Hand Food Hand Cream is probably the smell rather than the actual levels of hydration. If your hands don’t get that dry, it’s the perfect post-wash addition.

Beauty shopping? We’ve found the best curly hair products to shop now.

Here are the best beauty boxes to subscribe to.

The Sun Selects Beauty is always full of shopping guides, news and deals.

If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue.