Every winter, the skin on my hands basically goes away. Cregan took to calling it winter hands, maybe a year ago, and it stuck. Everyone knows when it starts happening because I can no longer play the guitar for home fellowship group or what-have-you.

It can get pretty painful and annoying - makes it difficult to flip through papers, fold laundry, and doing anything with water - like washing the dishes, is pretty much out of the question. Just taking a shower or a shave requires extensive moisturizing before and after to simply mitigate the effects.

The dermas have proved pretty much useless (though they have been able to deduce that I have chronic dry skin on my hands) - they suggest more moisturizing, which at this point I'm doing about 20 times a day. I've had it suggested (by friends, not dermas) that it may be nerve-related, but I haven't gotten around to pursuing that possibility yet. I wear gloves pretty regularly outside and know most of the tricks inside (soft soaps, cotton gloves, etc.). Nothing works. But I am getting a pretty good idea of what I do and don't like in hand creams...

Eucerin: get the tub, the stuff you open and dip into. Gets an A+ for endurance, a D for greasiness, and a B for overall moisturizing effects.

Cetaphil: there's two basic kinds here. The first is the more expensive stuff in the smaller squeeze tubes. C for endurance, A- for greasiness, and a A- for overall moisturizing effects. The other kind is the pump bottle stuff. Its weaker than its smaller brother, you have to use more of it too. D for endurance, C for greasiness, D+ for OME.

Smith's Rosebud Salve: some people use this for lip balm, but its actually good for general skin moisturization. It gets good endurance marks, but this is actually a problem, because of its greasiness marks. A endurance, F greasiness, C OME.

Neutrogena: the great thing about this stuff is that you only need a very tiny bit to get a good overall moisturizing feel. B+ endurance, B- greasiness, B+ OME.

Curel: the regular stuff is pretty good, the extra strength is not so great. Comes in a pump bottle like the second Cetaphil. Reg: B+ endurance, A+ greasiness, B+ OME. Ext Strength: C+ endurance, A- greasiness, F for OME (loses one letter grade for claiming to be better than the regular, but actually not being any better at all; loses a second letter grade for having a citrus scent when claiming to be fragrance free).

ShiKai by Borage Dry Skin Therapy: I like the particularly small tube, and like Neutrogena, you only need a little bit. Comes from the health food store so you feel like its better for you than the other ones, somehow. C+ endurance, A greasiness, B OME.

I'm realizing now that I could keep going, but I think I've proved my point. This is what you get when its late, I'm running on little sleep, and am fresh out of ideas. I'm impressed that you're still reading at this point.