Skin-Nomad's Take — At a Glance

• Two-in-one hand cream that nourishes and keeps hands hygienic
• Shea butter and coconut oil with a silver-based antibacterial
• Fresh, zesty Lime & Mango scent

The dryness that comes from washing your hands all day is not solved by the sanitiser sitting next to the soap, which is part of the problem rather than the fix. The BettyHula Anti-bacterial Hand Cream rebuilds the skin with shea butter, coconut and jojoba oils and keeps hands fresh between washes through silver citrate rather than alcohol, all carried in a sharp, fruity Lime & Mango scent. BettyHula works out of the UK with a Hawaiian love of fragrance, and that shows most in the scent of a product this functional.

Key Benefits

• The fats that soap strips out get replaced: Washing removes the natural oils that keep hand skin pliable, and shea butter alongside coconut and jojoba oils puts that layer back. Cracked knuckles and rough patches are a shortage of those oils rather than a shortage of water, which is why a light lotion never quite fixes them.
• Panthenol and Vitamin E work on the parts that catch and snag: Panthenol pulls water into the upper layers of the skin and holds it, while Vitamin E takes on the oxidative damage that constant washing and weather bring. Cuticles soften and stop lifting away from the nail.
• Silver citrate does the antibacterial job without ethanol: Silver ions released from silver citrate disrupt bacterial cell function, which is a different mechanism to the alcohol in a gel and does not dissolve the skin's own oils on the way. Hands stay fresh through a day away from a sink and softer at the end of it.

Texture & Finish

A medium-weight cream that spreads further than it looks like it will and disappears in seconds, leaving no slip on a keyboard or a steering wheel. The scent is bright and zesty, sharp lime over ripe mango, and it lifts and fades within the hour rather than clinging to everything you touch.

Ideal For

• Skin types: All skin types, including dry, rough and repeatedly washed hands.
• Skin concerns: Dry, tight hands, chapped knuckles, ragged cuticles and staying fresh between washes.
• Best used by: People who keep hand cream in the car, the gym bag and the kitchen drawer already will find this one covers the hygiene side too, which is the reason a second bottle otherwise gets carried alongside it.

FAQ

Q: How much do I need, and does it need to go anywhere beyond the backs of my hands?
A: A pea-sized amount covers both hands properly. The places that dry out fastest are the ones most often missed, so take it over the knuckles, into the webbing between the fingers, around every cuticle and onto the wrists, where sleeves and cuffs create constant friction. Skipping those spots is why hands still feel tight after using a hand cream.

Q: How does this compare with carrying a hand cream and a sanitiser separately?
A: Two products work against each other, since the gel removes the oils the cream just delivered. The BettyHula Anti-bacterial Hand Cream combines both jobs in one step, with silver citrate providing the freshness inside a shea butter, coconut and jojoba base that leaves the skin better than it found it.

Q: Will an antibacterial cream dry my hands the way a gel does?
A: No. Alcohol gels dry hands because ethanol dissolves the skin's own oils as it evaporates, and there is nothing in the formula to put them back. Silver citrate works without a solvent, so it sits inside a rich cream base quite happily and leaves hands nourished rather than parched.

Hands are the part of you other people look at most and you look after least, which is the whole argument for keeping something you enjoy using within arm's reach.