Dry hands from typing

Hey,

I was always having that problem of my hands drying out while typing on a keyboard for a prolonged period of time. For a time there I thought it was normal, then I found out it's not, apparently.

The effects are nothing too bad--I've read about people whose skin actually peeled off or cracked. My skin just gets hella dry and I get white spots that make my hands look like they're from a 90-year old. It's really unpleasant as I'm sure everyone knows who's had dry hands before. Especially while writing.

I know pouring water on your hands in that case is probably not the best idea--more like the worst--but I don't exactly like the idea of applying lotion to my hands. After all, I do plan on touching my keyboard to type after that. So I was just wondering if anyone has malady as well and maybe knows a secret technique to prevent it, like, I dunno, taking your socks, soaking them in water and then putting them on your hands (though it would be hard to type that way).

Cheers,
a cookie full of sorrow

I feel like I'm missing an obvious solution again. Please tell me I don't.

WillSauger said:

Do your hands dry out if you're not typing?
...cause I don't see how typing would cause dry skin...

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No, my hands only dry out when typing. Don't ask me. I don't know anything. It's not specifically my keyboard's fault either though, other keyboards also dry out my hands.

Thinking about it, it is really strange that typing dries out the whole hands instead of just the finger tips, isn't it? Hm.

I'm going to try out all the nice suggestions and tips you gave me later. For now I'm just going to answer questions.

Brightdreamer said:

Weird, that it's just from typing. Maybe some sort of weird circulation issue? Have you tried taking breaks or doing some hand exercises, to see if it alleviates the issue?

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Taking breaks is really not an option because I would have to take breaks like every 10 to 15 minutes or so (I type really fast--might be another cause. And no, don't tell me to slow down now! d: ), which would just completely kill the flow of my writing. Especially because the breaks would probably have to be like half an hour long. I haven't tried out hand exercises yet because I really doubt the effectiveness of that method but I'll try and do it the next time (if I don't forget).

I also can't understand why holding your hands atop a keyboard would dry them out when, for example, holding them out to read a book wouldn't.

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Don't ask me. I'm weird that way. I should probably note that I'm a cookie, too. I'm guessing all of you are actually humans.
We should probably consider the differences of the two. So, while reading, for one I don't move my fingers (except for turning the page of course). And I also don't touch any keyboard. Who knows, maybe I'm allergic to keyboards? .. That doesn't really make sense, does it?

You need to soak them in the tears of a baby walrus every night for 6 nights.

After that, you achieve immortality.

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That sounds extremely useful. Most helpful tip by far in this thread yet, I would say. Might be a little difficult to do since I like sleeping but I'll see it done. +1

Can you try wearing fingerless gloves (as well as applying lotions -- think of it as icing on the cookie) ?

I get dry hands at work because of the air-con system. Could it be the air is too dry around your computer desk?

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If I remember right, I already tried to wear fingerless gloves once. Didn't work. Like I said, I'll try the lotion thing some other time.

I don't know about dry air. I'm not exactly an expert in this. I'm just a cookie. How do you know if the air is dry? I can't smell anything at least. Thing is though, I don't only type on a keyboard at home. I remember doing a traineeship once at a webdesigner's--my hands also dried out there.

So is your desk near an airvent?

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I don't know about you guys but in my country air vents in private homes are really uncommon. Like really uncommon. No, there's no air vent anywhere but I do have another thing instead. Something even better, I'd say. Windows! I am, of course, talking about the windows you can open and stuff. Not the OS. And, well, due to the immense heat here right now, our windows are pretty much open all the time. So dry air is probably not it.

OP, are you using a desktop or a laptop?

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Desktop.

I just remembered that my finger also seems to dry out when using the mouse wheel. Odd.

Cheers,
Cookie