[LL55]

My missus manages to split her fingertips at every possible opportunity, she spilt one last week, too a week off and managed to split it again yesterday (even though it looked and felt totally healed).

Apart from moisturizing each day, and not using that incredibly drying Metolius chalk - is there anything she can do to stop the splitting tips?

 

[Johnny Brown]

Don't moisturize too much, never before climbing, even avoid getting hands wet on mornings before climbing. Remember Ron wears marigolds for his morning shower. I think Superchalk is very good, basically I reckon you want your skin as dry as possible when actually climbing.

[dave]

to avoid splits:

sand your skin all the time to remove any dry build-up (sanding also helps splits heal)
sand skin when out climbing to even out any lines/tears you get
avoid sharp holds
avoid pebbles
avoid slapping rough-sharp holds
on a long-day clean off chalk when you're not actually climbing.
loose weight
avoid antihydral unless as a last resort

not using the metolius chalk is a good start - that stuff blows bigstyle. bollocks to JB, having very dry skin is exactly why i used to get random massive gasping splits the first time i'd catch a crystal wrong, or on the first problem of the day, or tear of calluses on jugs. if you've got soft feminine lady's skin you might want it a bit drier just for toughness, but personally if i let my skin go to its natural dryness i'd be fucked, never mind actively making it drier.

 i've also had reports that overusing Climb-On can make your skin worse.

[Monolith]

Perhaps not on split tips, but putting raw crushed garlic on thin skin at night will thicken your skin right up. I was told this tip and thought it to be a piss take, but when I tried it in Magic Wood recently it worked a treat. Not sure if it's to do with concentrated vitamin E or something? SCIENCE anyone?

Forgot to mention..I'm about to experiment with some odorless garlic/shea butter fusion type shit at the moment. Will feed back.

[dave]

yeah we do the garlic thing in font too. Not sure if it works but reeking of garlic certainly helps you fit in with the locals. or that could just be my stripey jumper and beret.

[LL55]

"loose weight" - cheers, she's not a fattie fattie fat kid

Advice is boss; the climb-on problem sounds interesting as she uses the stuff all the time.

Her problem is that she has extra dry skin, she rips of callouses and gets splits forming naturally. Where i have poncy lady skin that doesn't split ever, but wears though in about 2 minutes on grit - she's usually fine.

But anything mildy sharp will make a painful crease in her skin.

Dead shame, as she sent her first proper v7 last week and was feeling strong, then she splits a tip in the cave again.

[dave]

on a day to day basis i would try using something like palmers cocoa butter, or even that dirt cheap Boots cremolia stuff instead of climb-on, both are good. also tell her to avoid using hand-dryers at work etc, they're another killer.

[Scouse D]

i've heard that chillies work well on split tips. Chop em up fine and liberally rub all over affected area. Then go for a piss without washing your hands.
(disclaimer: this is not based on fact, or having actually 'heard' it from anyone. got to be worth a pop though)

[BenF]

It's rigorous scientific research like that, that got Scouse his Ph.D.   

[Monolith]

I really can't sell the garlic tip enough. Our room stank of it at night as 3 of us had indulged in the treatment. Amazingly, despite climbing all the next day and chalking up all the time, the smell was still there at the end of the day!

I was wondering whether it has to be fresh garlic or if you could pierce a load of odorless garlic capsules and mix it in with shea butter to give the ultimate rejuvenation therapy. The problem being that I don't know exactly why it seemed to work.

[SA Chris]

Then go for a piss without washing your hands.

Putting contact lenses in, even after washing hands, is fun too.

[Paul B]

I was wondering whether it has to be fresh garlic or if you could pierce a load of odorless garlic capsules and mix it in with shea butter to give the ultimate rejuvenation therapy. The problem being that I don't know exactly why it seemed to work.

I did this with Vitamin E (I think???) and it didn't seem to do anything, the contents of the capsules just would not rub in at all.

[Monolith]

Gutted, I had hopes of building an empire there! Back to the drawing board then eh.

[ned]

I did this with Vitamin E (I think???) and it didn't seem to do anything, the contents of the capsules just would not rub in at all.
Posted on: Today at 12:44:49 PMPosted by: SA Chris 

Vitamin E oil (from a bottle, not out of capsules which are designed to be ingested) is good for healing splits and very worn tips i reckon, but takes ages to soak in. Palmers cocoa butter good for every day use (and malc uses it).

[Paul B]

Vitamin E oil (from a bottle, not out of capsules which are designed to be ingested)

yeah that might of been why 

[dave]

I've got this vision of paul trying to rub a sore elbow or something with a paracetamol tablet and wondering why it still hurts.

[fatdoc]

to avoid splits:

sand your skin all the time to remove any dry build-up (sanding also helps splits heal)
sand skin when out climbing to even out any lines/tears you get
avoid sharp holds
avoid pebbles
avoid slapping rough-sharp holds
on a long-day clean off chalk when you're not actually climbing.
loose weight
avoid antihydral unless as a last resort

not using the metolius chalk is a good start - that stuff blows bigstyle. bollocks to JB, having very dry skin is exactly why i used to get random massive gasping splits the first time i'd catch a crystal wrong, or on the first problem of the day, or tear of calluses on jugs. if you've got soft feminine lady's skin you might want it a bit drier just for toughness, but personally if i let my skin go to its natural dryness i'd be fucked, never mind actively making it drier.

 i've also had reports that overusing Climb-On can make your skin worse.

i dont agree.

yeah right, here we go on *thats cos you make cash out of selling antihydral*, well no actually I really think the stuff used properly can give you better skin for climbing, so there.

the climbing specific chalks work beter than plain chalk for me, I use less and it totally dries my skin to a near crisp. i wash it off straight after, and use a variety of different creams, for some reason i think that works better - currenty i'm in favour of climb on and hoofmaker... i've herd good reports of body shop hemp cream, gonna try that soon.

i dont see how a balanced non alochol bases skin cream like climb on can actullally make your skin *worse*, it's kinda like, not possible.

[dave]

if you think using antihydral (presumably on a semi-regular basis) and using superchalk is the way forward then presumably you don't have the kind of dry skin I do so it won't be a problem for you. Though i would question the logic of using superchalk cos it "totally dries my skin to a near crisp" as being a good point - this aught to be exactly what you don't want. When my skin goes like this its fine on uniform slopers but catch a bad crystal or something sharp and its like breaking the surface of a waterbomb.

I only use antihydral when my skin wears down uniformly thinly and I still have climb on it, for example a font trip. I also use it to dry our split tips to help sand away the split. If you have to moisturise all the time to avoid splits due to dry skin then using antihydral regularly won't give you better skin for climbing, it'll give you worse skin, and the splits will take longer to heal.

Why do you think its impossible for climb-on to make skin worse? sureley it depends on the ingredients and what their long-term effect on skin is rather than wether its alcohol based or not.

[SA Chris]

- currenty i'm in favour of climb on and hoofmaker... i've herd good reports

Was that deliberate?

[Rice Boy]

Although at the beginning of sessions I generally sweat enough to put a stop on any problem, for all involved, my hands eventually dry out hugely and not using Super ‘suck your soul dry’ Chalk. At which point I can’t re-iterate enough the power of sandpaper for any loose/crusty bits as has been mentioned before. I've not had a full blown flapper for a year or so now.

Ben Moon does it. So I do m’kay.

[fatdoc]

- currenty i'm in favour of climb on and hoofmaker... i've herd good reports

Was that deliberate?

yep

[fatdoc]

skin types vary for sure, we all have our own little *ways* of getting as much skin out of souls as possible to then trash it on by ascending rocks with our bare hands.

smooth thin skin   = antihydral for me... if roughened / divoted then no way.

sandpaper = good

as for the climb on, alcohol bases in skin creams are common, (there is none in climb on) if you have dry skin they then can make it worse, hence my line of thinking.