Poor skin (Read 13883 times)

ziggytang · March 16, 2012, 03:03:01 pm

Hello,

I've got pretty shit fingertips. Always sweaty, skin wears down quickly and becomes pretty sore. I notice my fingers are always considerably worse than my friends after sessions.

Anyone else suffer from shit skin? Any advice? Vitamins? Etc.

Cheers.

rodma · March 16, 2012, 03:20:26 pm

Quote from: ziggytang on March 16, 2012, 03:03:01 pm

Any advice?

Search the site

Antihydral. there are threads on managing your skin, how to use it best and where to buy it etc.

gremlin · March 16, 2012, 04:24:06 pm

I once accidentally got a thin layer of super glue on one of my finger tips and noticed how rock hard the tip became. Twas also relatively easy to peel off the layer of glue after a while.
Probably a bit exteme tho' and not very healthy as I can't see that stuff being skin friendly in the long term.

lukeh · March 16, 2012, 05:45:08 pm

Lots of different opinion/preferences, which will also vary on your skin. As a brief summary:

Experiment with chalk with/without an added drying agent.

Try some of the many creams/balms aimed at climbers such as Climb On, Tip Juice etc, or some high end stuff like Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, or some simple stuff like e45 or Neutrogena hand-cream.

Then theres Anti hydral (drying) or cow udder cream (growth). (As I understanding them both, haven't used anti hydral myself.)

Personal I struggle to build up a good layer, and am currently experimenting with O'Keeffe's Working Hands and the udder cream, and no drying agent in my chalk. Undecided.

Also, a while ago I went through a phase of just getting on with it and recognising that skin is a limiting factor, and that wood was soft on sore tips if I really needed a bit extra. Again, undecided, wheres that magic formula ... $:-\$

As said, theres tonnes of info in the forum:
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,2640.msg30922.html
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,6057.msg84243.html
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,5460.msg75436.html
for some light reading!

slackline · March 16, 2012, 05:47:16 pm

Don't know if its an urban myth but wasn't superglue developed by armed forces for rapid repair of lacerations in the field? Thus not too toxic perhaps? Might not be a desirable effect for the friction required for climbing (especially long term like you say) as pulling it off could take the top later of skin off.

IS2 · March 16, 2012, 06:03:52 pm

This also sounds like an urban myth..... but after doing it for twenty years and never wearing tips out even when doing multiple days on grit.. I have found that squeezing well soaked tea bags every morning and allowing the tea to soak in works for me. I began doing this after climbing for many years and being pissed off with developing holes in finger pads and so was desperately seeking a solution. It also cost nothing and of course you can drink the tea !!

rodma · March 16, 2012, 06:24:51 pm

Quote from: lukeh on March 16, 2012, 05:45:08 pm

Lots of different opinion/preferences, which will also vary on your skin. As a brief summary:

Experiment with chalk with/without an added drying agent.

Try some of the many creams/balms aimed at climbers such as Climb On, Tip Juice etc, or some high end stuff like Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, or some simple stuff like e45 or Neutrogena hand-cream.

Then theres Anti hydral (drying) or cow udder cream (growth). (As I understanding them both, haven't used anti hydral myself.)

Personal I struggle to build up a good layer, and am currently experimenting with O'Keeffe's Working Hands and the udder cream, and no drying agent in my chalk. Undecided.

Also, a while ago I went through a phase of just getting on with it and recognising that skin is a limiting factor, and that wood was soft on sore tips if I really needed a bit extra. Again, undecided, wheres that magic formula ... $:-\$

As said, theres tonnes of info in the forum:
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,2640.msg30922.html
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,6057.msg84243.html
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,5460.msg75436.html
for some light reading!

Don't bother pissing about with other remedies. Stump cream (antihydral) is designed to stop the sweating (clue's in the name). I wasted several good years experimenting with all sorts of creams that are nothing more than moisturisers.

thrashhard · March 16, 2012, 06:35:05 pm

liquid chalk helped me a lot.
i don´t use it for every try like normal chalk but for warming up. it´s not the chalk that helps i think it´s the alcohol in it which keeps my finger so dry the skin doesn´t get too soft and peels off.

Oldmanmatt · March 16, 2012, 08:50:58 pm

I'd second the liquid chalk.
Usually for the first dip of the day, then good 'ole reg chalk.

fiveknuckle21 · March 19, 2012, 06:17:17 pm

Quote from: IS2 on March 16, 2012, 06:03:52 pm

This also sounds like an urban myth..... but after doing it for twenty years and never wearing tips out even when doing multiple days on grit.. I have found that squeezing well soaked tea bags every morning and allowing the tea to soak in works for me. I began doing this after climbing for many years and being pissed off with developing holes in finger pads and so was desperately seeking a solution. It also cost nothing and of course you can drink the tea !!

Haha, how can you believe that?!

Dr T · March 19, 2012, 06:28:36 pm

Quote from: fiveknuckle21 on March 19, 2012, 06:17:17 pm

Quote from: IS2 on March 16, 2012, 06:03:52 pm
This also sounds like an urban myth..... but after doing it for twenty years and never wearing tips out even when doing multiple days on grit.. I have found that squeezing well soaked tea bags every morning and allowing the tea to soak in works for me. I began doing this after climbing for many years and being pissed off with developing holes in finger pads and so was desperately seeking a solution. It also cost nothing and of course you can drink the tea !!

Haha, how can you believe that?!

it's the tannins

ducko · March 19, 2012, 10:20:05 pm

Super glue don't glue your fingers together!

saltbeef · March 19, 2012, 11:55:17 pm

hmmm antihydral. now i used some in swiss end of jan because my skin fell to bits on a warm day. it is literally the last 2 weeks that my tips are starting to get back to any sort of normality.
the key with das stumpf krem is to make sure once appplied you keep climbing on rough rock and using moisturiser otherwise you end up with fucking desperate lepper hands (as i have been duly afflicted)
would i use it again? yes certainly, not as a long term thing, i' use it if i went to swiss or some other granite area and it was hot, no place on filthy lime or font/sandstone for me.

all of this is anecdote and it will be a case of trial and error. consider how/when/what you are climbing. are you slapping greasy slopers in the midday sun on the minute (like jim) then you just need to exercise some self control, if you are being a sensible bod and trying stuff in good nick when you're well rested and you get to climb alot then use some stump.

teabags and superglue are nonsense

another thing i found important was to wash the chalk off my hands before driving home - its not so much an issue if its 10mins back to shef but if you're using super chalk and driving an hour an a half its better to get that shit off before you start to get nasty fissures

hand care is an art

Baron · March 20, 2012, 07:36:41 am

I can vouch for the quality of saltbeef's skin - his rub downs are exemplary.

SA Chris · March 20, 2012, 09:05:03 am

Random question, but has anyone ever tried using nappy cream for post climbing raw tips? We've pots of the stuff bought in preparation, but never really needed.

TobyD · March 20, 2012, 09:41:15 am

Quote from: saltbeef on March 19, 2012, 11:55:17 pm

teabags and superglue are nonsense

another thing i found important was to wash the chalk off my hands before driving home - its not so much an issue if its 10mins back to shef but if you're using super chalk and driving an hour an a half its better to get that shit off before you start to get nasty fissures

I don't agree, teabags, I think, help if you have seepy, sweaty skin. After all, what you are doing is basically a mild version of the process of tanning animal hides (worryingly) to dry them out and stop them rotting. On dry, cracked skin, however, they are probably counter productive.

I totally agree with washing the chalk off asap, however.

Stabbsy · March 20, 2012, 09:53:02 am

Quote from: SA Chris on March 20, 2012, 09:05:03 am

Random question, but has anyone ever tried using nappy cream for post climbing raw tips? We've pots of the stuff bought in preparation, but never really needed.

I use Sudocrem for splits, seems to help recovery - but that's only anecdotal evidence rather than any sort of proof. A mixture of that and sanding the edges off seems to help fix splits quite well. Whether it's any better than the alternatives is open for debate. I've not used it on thin skin as it takes forever to soak in. I'd normally just use moisturiser or Climb-On.

Richie Crouch · March 20, 2012, 10:06:51 am

Sounds like you have crouch skin! I am yet to find a solution which keeps chalk on my fingertips for more than 3-4 moves

(haven't gotten around to trying anti hydral but I imagine it wouldn't be good for polished rock in the cave)

ziggytang · March 20, 2012, 10:45:58 am

Quote from: Richie Crouch on March 20, 2012, 10:06:51 am

Sounds like you have crouch skin! I am yet to find a solution which keeps chalk on my fingertips for more than 3-4 moves (haven't gotten around to trying anti hydral but I imagine it wouldn't be good for polished rock in the cave)

I've ordered some Antihydral to give it a blast as I've tried numerous things. My hands sweat when I think about bouldering. Ukb makes them sweat even more. Jack said Antihydral is fine if you use it carefully. I'm going to give it a whirl and then hope my skin sorts itself out. I'm thinking it's that sweaty that Antihydral might just make it normal.

ghisino · March 20, 2012, 10:51:06 am

this seems to work quite well for sweaty skins
http://www.theclimbingshop.com/shop/nst-eco-grip.html

in the urban legend category, someone once told me that fred nicole used tu rub garlic on his fingertips.
It does seem to harden them a bit but for obvious reasons i wouldn't do it outside of a dirtbag climbing trip context...

slackline · March 20, 2012, 10:58:49 am

Quote from: Richie Crouch on March 20, 2012, 10:06:51 am

Sounds like you have crouch skin! I am yet to find a solution which keeps chalk on my fingertips for more than 3-4 moves (haven't gotten around to trying anti hydral but I imagine it wouldn't be good for polished rock in the cave)

What about liquid chalk?

ziggytang · March 20, 2012, 02:21:37 pm

I find liquid chalk drys out nicely....then after a while turns to mushy liquid on my hands. I might start pissin on them as that's what the rugby lads used to do on their feet to stop getting blisters...

SA Chris · March 20, 2012, 02:33:03 pm

Is that their excuse? I thought they just like doing it because they are rugby players.

Richie Crouch · March 20, 2012, 03:27:51 pm

Liquid chalk helps a tiny bit but then it seems to cause splits under the nailbed like superchalk (even with hand washing and climb on/dream cream afterwards.

I'll just keep waiting for it to get colder again

sjw · March 20, 2012, 04:51:28 pm

Quote from: ziggytang on March 20, 2012, 10:45:58 am

Antihydral might just make it normal.

I also have astonishingly rubbish skin. A lot of the time I can chalk up and my fingertips will have soaked up all the chalk within seconds...It's depressing! I can use antihydral once a week for a couple of hours and it seems to help a lot, it's never given me dodgy leper skin. Then again, I probably own more handcare products than the entire female population in my postcode.