The thick hand creams sold for cracked working hands, the ones in a squat jar next to the register at every hardware store, are genuinely effective at what they do. They are also a fundamentally different kind of product from a tallow balm: they are water-based creams built around glycerin, where mine is fat and wax with no water in it at all.
The water line
Turn one over and you will typically find water listed first and glycerin second, followed by a long list of emulsifiers, film formers, mineral oil, silicones and preservatives. Fifteen to twenty ingredients is normal. Read whichever jar is in your hand, because they all differ and formulas change.
None of that is a criticism on its own. Water plus glycerin is a real and well understood mechanism: glycerin is a humectant, meaning it pulls water into the outer layer of skin and holds it there, and it is very good at it. The long ingredient list is mostly what it takes to keep an emulsion of water and oil stable, spreadable, and free of bacteria.
Mine has no water, which means no preservative system is needed and every scoop is concentrated fat rather than mostly water. It also means it feels heavier going on, because there is no water to flash off and make it feel light.
Humectant versus barrier fat
Glycerin draws water in. Tallow replaces the lipid that holds the water there. Those are complementary rather than competing ideas, and if your skin has plenty of lipid and just needs hydrating, glycerin alone will do a lot. If your skin's barrier is stripped, which is what repeated washing and solvent exposure actually does, drawing water into a leaky barrier is a smaller win than fixing the barrier.
Where a hand cream wins
- It absorbs fast and leaves almost no film, so you can go straight back to work.
- Cheap, and available in the store you are already standing in.
- Glycerin genuinely works, particularly on skin that is dry rather than damaged.
- No animal ingredients.
Where mine wins
- It survives a hand wash. A water-based cream is largely gone after one.
- Seven ingredients you can pronounce, and no preservatives, because there is no water to preserve.
- Works under a beard and on a face, not just hands.
- Avoiding propylene glycol, mineral oil or the preservative system, if that matters to you.
The honest summary
If your hands are dry, a good glycerin hand cream is a perfectly reasonable answer and it costs less. If your hands are splitting despite using one, the problem is the barrier rather than the water content, and that is the case for a fat that absorbs.
Related: tallow vs. lotion and cracked working hands.
Made by hand in small batches in Wakarusa, Indiana. Seven ingredients, and 5% of every sale goes to FreedomSystem, which connects veterans through authentic camaraderie and meaningful programs.
