Teach Soap

Hi all. I have a question for the experts that I just can't figure out. My sister loves my body butter but she can't put it on her hands. She said with any lotions, her hands burn after application. My butter is made with avocado butter, narcissism oil, green tea extract, tapioca starch, and either do or do. No preservative. Like I said, it's with any lotion, whether it's mine or not, her hands feel like they are on fire. She can use it every where else and its fine. Any idea what is going on? Thanks in advance for any help.

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Haven

if she loves it. how does she get it on her body?

what does she use?

why not try a single oil lotion or whipped shea butter or she may be allergic to the shea. Just almond oil lotion.

do process of elimination ..

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~~~Cheryl~~~

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Haven

maybe she needs to see a dermatologist to see what she is allergic to.. If they were called it would be a different story but tingling, like we do when our feet fall asleep. I hate that..

and our hand skin is thicker then our body skin so that is really different. she should get it checked out. body is trying to tell her something.

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~~~Cheryl~~~

My hands burn like crazy when I use lotion! Have talked to 3 dermatologists and all they can say is its some form of "contact dermatitis" Which I figured out when I was ~10 years old. The best theory I've come up with, and my doctors have supported, is that it isn't really burning. Its more like when you use allergy eye drops and your cells rapidly change shape. Can feel like a cigarette being put out in your eye. Same deal with your hands, but from a different cause.

When you use allergy eye drops your cells go from huge and swollen to almost immediately "normal" sized, as the swelling and fluid leave the cells it agitates the surrounding nerves and causes a harsh burning feeling.

I theorized that when the lotion hits your hands it causes the cells to immediately pick up moisture and effectively swell to a more "normal" size. Most of us have very very dry hands, simply because we work with them constantly and leave a small amount of their vital moisture on everything we touch. As the cells take moisture from the lotion they too would mildly agitate the extremely sensitive nerves in the hands, which could cause the burning sensation. This would be more likely to happen on the palms of the hands, as that skin has a higher moisture transfer rate than the skin of the backs of the hands etc. [Palms, arm pits, scalp, groin, backs of the knees and bottoms of the feet all lose moisture more rapidly than the rest of the skin; these are the areas that your body uses to produce larger amounts of sweat to keep itself at an optimal temperature! /end factoid LOL ]

I occasionally get the same sensation when I wash my hands in cool or cold water. It doesn't happen with warm water because the heat soothes the nerves.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Has she tried lotion bars?

If Hestey's theory is true, maybe she could try a pure slow-to-absorb oil, say, olive oil. Since it absorbs slower, maybe it would not cause such a rapid change in her hands' dryness/moisturization?

Keep the science coming, Hestey, I love it!