We can’t go to bed yet, mummy, we haven’t put our cream on! – JD, 4

Eczema is a nasty little condition. JD and I suffer noticeably.

The skin on our cheeks gets scaly at the slightest neglect and our hands are worst affected, often flaring up and becoming dry, rough and whitened. Mine sometimes crack and bleed – it’s not pretty.

Hormones are a causal factor for me, so two pregnancies won’t have helped, and dairy is a known cause for both of us, but I think the main problem is all the flippin’ hand washing.

Wash before eating or preparing food/snacks/bottles, wash after eating, wash after going to the toilet/changing Little Miss J. Sneeze? Wash your hands. Use a cashpoint? Wash your hands. Ok, I admit it, we possibly wash our hands too much. And recently we ran out of soap in the kitchen so I used washing up liquid for two days. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

And then there’s antibacterial gel, used as an alternative to hand washing when we’re out and about. It’s a great invention but rubbing alcohol onto already angry hands does not healthy skin make, although we’ve recently switched to a Vaseline hand cream we were sent, which contains an anti-bacterial action, so that’s one less thing destroying our skin.

We’re also trying to drink more water, rub in E45 before bed and generally be kinder to our poor hands. Now the ice cold weather has passed, JD’s are looking good, but mine still look like the hands of a much older person (the pic above is flattering).

Please internet, do you have a magic cure?

Disclosure: the Vaseline hand cream mentioned was sent to us free to try. No payments was received. All posts are 100% honest.