There’s a time and a place for getting your hands dirty: cleaning the house, working in the garden, cooking in the kitchen. Afterward, though, you’ll need a good, reliable hand soap, preferably one that doesn’t damage the skin it’s meant to protect.
“Most ingredients are very drying and very fragrant, and fragrance is always a problem for sensitive skin,” said Paula Begoun, founder of Paula’s Choice Skincare.
We asked Begoun and others who wash their hands a hundred times a day – a test kitchen expert, a chef, an artist and a dermatologist – to tell us what they use to get squeaky clean.
Begoun recommends a body wash for the hands. She likes the ingredients in Aveeno’s Skin Relief Fragrance Free Body Wash.
For seriously dirty hands, Maryland artist Margaret Boozer said there’s nothing better than Permatex Fast Orange Smooth Lotion Hand Cleaner.
Renee Erickson, a chef and cookbook author in Seattle, likes unscented soaps for a work environment. But for home, where one can have more fun, she said, “I have become a big fan of L:A Bruket’s cucumber and mint soap from Sweden.”
Stacy Fraser, test kitchen manager at EatingWell magazine, said the kitchen uses mild, natural soaps like Mrs. Meyer’s Lavender Hand Soap.
For those who prefer bar soap over liquid, Jenny Liu, a dermatologist and professor at the University of Minnesota, recommends the Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar.