The 16 Best Lotions for Dry Hands

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Our hands do a lot in one day, from endless scrolling and typing to excessive hand washing and sanitizing; it’s clear we put them through a lot. And while we should be treating our hands like the MVPs they are, these hard-working tools are often neglected compared to the rest of our skin and body care routine.

To put it plainly, the skin on the hands can quickly look dry, tight, and aged as a result of overuse and lack of moisturization, which is why hand creams and lotions are so essential. High-quality hand lotions are designed to keep hands soft and supple, reducing your risk of dehydrated cuticles, cracks, and redness. They’re formulated with high-impact humectants (like hyaluronic acid), emollients (like plant oils, ceramides, and fatty acids), and occlusives (like beeswax and dimethicone) that help maintain the skin’s hydration and protective moisture barrier.

Even the busiest bees have time to put on hand cream once or twice a day, especially when the formula is fast absorbing. Below, we’ve laid out 16 of the very best lotions for dry hands. All of which combat the effects of repetitive hand washing, genetics, and overall dryness for a comfortable, cared-for feeling. If you’re not already a hand cream advocate, you’re about to be.

How to Treat Dry Hands

Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize

Just like you moisturize your face morning, noon and night, your hands also need a healthy dose of hydration each day. That’s where lotions and hand creams come in. You’ll want to reach for a restorative lotion after washing and drying your hands, before you go to bed at night, and whenever they feel dry. That’s why we recommend keeping a hand lotion in your bag, next to your sink, desk, and or nightstand, so you always have one to reach for during these critical times. At the bare minimum, aim to apply hand cream twice a day (morning and night) to prevent dryness.

Moisturize Right After Washing

As we briefly mentioned above, one of the most imperative times to moisturize your hands is right after they’ve been exposed to water—whether from washing, cleaning, or bathing. Moisturizing your hands while they’re still slightly damp will help lock in any residual moisture and prevent dry, cracked skin. If you can, wear gloves when doing activities like the dishes, as this will create a barrier between your skin and potential irritants like soap and water.

In keeping with this, it’s also important not to wash your hands right after applying hand lotion since this doesn’t give your lotions or creams time to absorb into the skin and do their job.

Don’t Be Afraid to Layer Your Hand Creams

The art of skincare layering is a total game changer if you want to boost hydration and suppleness, and it all comes down to this simple rule: move from lightest to heaviest. In other words, you want to start with your most lightweight, thinnest formula that will hydrate and bring water into the skin. You can then layer it with a thicker cream or balm to soften any dry or rough spots. Feel free to stop there if your skin feels hydrated enough. Or, if you want to ensure every last drop of moisture is sealed in, you can top it off with an occlusive ointment like Aquaphor or Vaseline.

Keep in mind this tip is totally optional. Most lotions and creams are moisturizing enough on their own, and don’t need to be layered with other products to boast results.

The Best Lotions for Dry Hands

1. Blu Atlas Body Lotion

The best lotion for even the driest hands, Blu Atlas’ combination of shea butter, jojoba oil, and squalane provides ultra-healing hydration to keep skin moisturized and soothe irritation. More specifically, star ingredient shea butter is brimming with beneficial fatty acids, vitamins, and antioxidants that keep skin healthy and youthful. This is key since the hands are one of the quickest body parts to show signs of aging.

The addition of lightweight but effective plant oils—jojoba oil and squalane—as well as other conditioning ingredients ensures the formula slides beautifully across the skin and keeps your hands actually feeling moisturized. Like other Blu Atlas products (which focus on clean, high-quality ingredients with clinical results), you’ll also find seaweed in this hydrating hand and body lotion. This oceanic extract is abnormally high in minerals and antioxidants, both of which work to give the skin a natural, radiant glow.

Ingredients aside, we love that this lotion can hydrate the entire body. Yes, it’s one of the best lotions for dry hands, but you can also slather it on parched feet, elbows, or knees to feel instant relief. To top it all off, this anti-aging lotion comes in three scent options: Classic, Coconut Apricot, or Fragrance-Free. For sensitive skin, we recommend opting for the Fragrance-Free. If you love the ritual of applying a nicely scented lotion, you can’t go wrong with the clean Classic scent or the fruitiness of Coconut Apricot.

2. CV Skinlabs Body Repair Lotion

Like our top pick from Blu Atlas, the CV Skinlabs Body Repair Lotion is marketed as a deeply hydrating body lotion, but is also perfect for replenishing dry hands. The fast-absorbing formula was designed to soothe daily irritations, including more serious skin concerns like dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, and burns.

The base is made from moisture-boosting aloe vera leaf juice that revitalizes the skin with its rich antioxidant and vitamin content. A blend of nourishing glycerin and beeswax, as well as olive, soybean, and rosehip oils, ensure skin is comforted, even when plagued by inflammation, cracking, or bleeding. What’s more, this also contains a boatload of botanicals—including mushroom, calendula, turmeric, and oat—that soothe and replenish dull, fragile skin.

Ideal for super itchy, sensitive, or inflamed skin, this lotion is also dermatologist tested and toxicology-screened for any carcinogens or other harmful ingredients.

3. La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5

This TikTok viral multi-purpose cream is a great budget-friendly buy for targeting areas of dryness or inflammation. Formulated with panthenol (vitamin B5), shea butter, and glycerin, this balm comforts dry, sensitive skin in seconds. Compared to other lotions on our list, this one has a rich, decadent texture—but it’s still super absorbent and doesn’t leave behind any oily, sticky residue.

Partly what makes this moisturizer so great (besides its nurturing formula) is that it can smooth, soothe, and soften from head to toe. Whether you use it on the face, body or keep it solely as your go-to hand cream. Users love using it to heal chapped lips, cuts, scraps, and even diaper rash—the possibilities are endless. The bottle is on the smaller side, making it ideal for targeted areas like the hands and cuticles.

4. Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream

If you haven’t heard of Weleda’s Skin Food, listen up. This iconic lotion was formulated over 90 years ago (crazy, right?), and is still the brand’s best-selling product, used by celebrities and skincare enthusiasts alike. Skin Food is essentially an all-over moisturizer you can use on your hands, feet, elbows, and face—it can even tame hair flyaways. Key moisturizers include sunflower seed oil, almond oil, beeswax, and lanolin, an emollient naturally found in sheep’s wool that is amazing for locking in hydration.

As the name suggests, this is an ultra-rich cream. So the texture goes on thick and creamy at first, but disappears into the skin once you massage it. It also contains a reviving blend of essential oils like pansy, rosemary, chamomile, and calendula that gives the cream its clean, natural scent that is just *chef’s kiss* so good. Because it’s thick, this formula is a great go-to for dry winters or for any healthcare workers constantly washing and sanitizing their hands.

5. Cocokind Sake Body Lotion

This popular body lotion by Cocokind is like a tall glass of water for uber dry hands. Made with sake, a fermented Japanese rice wine with skin-smoothing enzymes and microbiome-friendly prebiotic sugar, this lotion has the power to bring Sahara Desert dry skin back to life. In addition to microbiome strengthening sake, shea butter is rich in moisturizing fatty acids to repair a damaged skin barrier and improve elasticity. Sunflower oil, naturally high in vitamin E and linoleic acid, conditions the skin to prevent dehydration.

Users say this lightweight lotion glides on the skin and absorbs like a dream, leaving behind zero stickiness. Not to mention, during clinical trials, 98 percent of participants found that this body lotion improved their dry skin. It’s also fragrance-free (which is great for sensitive skin) and comes in a large 12-ounce bottle that’s perfect for keeping at your desk or by the sink.

6. Goldfaden M.D. Hands to Heart Brightening Hand Treatment

The act of moisturizing your hands with any of the high-quality lotions on this list will help prevent signs of aging, such as dullness and dryness. But if you want to step your anti-aging game up even further, reach for this brightening hand treatment from Goldfaden MD. Hands to Heart helps to keep skin smooth and supple by addressing the unique needs of hands: dryness, cracks, inflammation, discoloration, and any other signs of skin damage.

It does so with a dream team of high-impact ingredients, including hydration-boosting hyaluronic acid. Inside is antioxidant CoQ10 that helps replenish, reduce signs of sun damage, and even out skin texture and tone. Niacinamide, aka vitamin B3, also helps improve skin smoothness and brightens areas of hyperpigmentation.

Glucosamine—an ingredient known to stimulate hyaluronic acid synthesis—decreases the appearance of wrinkles and increases the skin’s water content for a smooth, hydrated feel. All-star retinol is the ultimate anti-aging ingredient, helping increase collagen production so your skin is plumper and more youthful.

The non-greasy formula goes on smoothly and is hydrating enough for summer or winter, day or night, dry or humid climates. No matter when you reach for Hands to Heart, feel confident that it will kiss wrinkles and sunspots goodbye.

7. Follain Hand Cream: Smooth and Soften

According to the brand, this lotion is basically a facial for your hands. Which sounds pretty good—and it is. Inspired by some of their award-winning skincare, Follain created this lotion-mask hybrid to be decadent and intensely nourishing, all without greasiness or stickiness.

Shea butter and white peony oil extract—as well as squalane and rosehip oil—provide long-lasting relief from dryness, so hands feel supple and smooth after applying. Hence, why it’s considered one of the best lotions for dry hands. Its inclusion of antioxidant powerhouses such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and olive leaf extract helps shield skin from aging free radicals and reduce the appearance of dark spots. While palmitoyl tripeptide-5, an age-defying peptide, penetrates deep into the dermis to encourage collagen production and skin firmness.

The addition of Bulgarian rosewater, which supplies hydration and antioxidants, gives this lotion a feminine rose-driven scent that is soft and creamy. Making it a must-have for fans of florals (and hydrated hands). The budget-friendly price of $14 also makes this buy a no-brainer.

8. Grown Alchemist Intensive Hand Cream

This healing hand cream deeply hydrates hands and cuticles for a fresh out-of-the-nail-salon vibe. The formula strikes the perfect balance between ultra-moisturizing, but non-greasy and creamy, so your hands won’t feel slippery after slathering it on.

You’ll find the usual favorites, like grapeseed oil and vitamin E, as well as aloe vera, argan oil, and mango seed butter. But there are also some more noteworthy nourishers, such as camellia seed oil, which is incredibly lightweight, but intensely moisturizing thanks to its fatty acid profile. Tamanu oil, also rich in fatty acids, promotes healing so skin feels softer and smoother in no time.

Meanwhile collagen-boosting pomegranate seed oil leaves behind long-lasting moisture and assiduous antioxidants. The inclusion of rose, hyaluronic acid, and aloe vera means this hand treatment rescues even the roughest dry skin.

9. Jao Goe Oil

Okay, okay. So this one isn’t technically a lotion, but it is fantastic at replenishing dry, cracked hands. With a texture lighter than heavy creams and body butters, this all-purpose oil claims to boast longer-lasting results than standard moisturizers. This is all thanks to a curated combination of 28 plant, fruit, and flower oils and butters that boost the skin’s moisture content and restore balance.

Key ingredients include rosehip, hemp, meadowfoam, and rice bran oils, which are rich in barrier-repairing omegas and plant-based ceramides. Ultra-nourishing avocado, grapeseed, mango, and pumpkin seed butters help combat dryness while loading the skin with vitamins A, B, C, E, G, and beta carotene. Plus, it’s lightly scented with natural oils, including monoi from Tahiti, jasmine, lavender, clary sage, and palmarosa.

With all these plant oils and butters, you might expect Goe Oil to sit on the skin. But the formula absorbs quickly to drench the skin in moisture and soften any rough spots. A little goes a long way with this one, so use it sparingly.

10. CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion

Pop into your local drugstore to find this dry skin savior on the shelves. The CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion proves that basic can be effective; in fact, our skin often craves minimalism. In this formula, ideal for normal to dry skin, three essential ceramides along with hyaluronic acid provide impactful hydration by increasing the skin’s ability to attract, hold, and distribute much-needed moisture. It also includes MVE technology that gradually releases protective ingredients for seemingly endless hydration throughout the day.

There’s no overbearing scent with this one. The fragrance-free formula is ideal for sensitive skin types or anyone sensitive to perfumes and essential oils. It’s also accepted by the National Eczema Association, so it’s great for reactive skin too.

11. Salt & Stone Hand Cream

You truly can’t go wrong with this hand cream from Salt & Stone. Infused with ocean botanicals—like antioxidant-rich seaweed extracts—it penetrates quickly into the skin to restore the drying effects of outdoor activity, wind, sea, and too much sun. It’s also deeply hydrating with ingredients like snow mushroom that prolong hydration for plump, youthful skin. Olive-derived squalane, which is chemically similar to our skin’s own natural oils, is the perfect lightweight emollient for sealing in moisture and stopping dryness in its tracks.

You also can’t forget about skin barrier-supporting niacinamide, redness-relieving aloe vera, and hydration-boosting sodium hyaluronate, all of which offer protection against dryness. Another standout feature of this hand cream is its decadent texture, that’s a dream for dry hands. It dries down to a silky soft finish—no greasiness or tackiness here. Opt for their Bergamot & Hinoki scent for something down to earth. For sandalwood fans, their Santal fragrance doesn’t disappoint.

12. Bioderma Atoderm Intensive Balm

Another winner for sensitive, eczema-prone skin, Bioderma’s Atoderm Intensive Balm provides immediate relief for symptoms like itching. It does so with a cholesterol and ceramide-enriched formula that reduces dryness and restores skin comfort. Think of ceramides as the bricks you need to create a strong moisture barrier. When the skin is dry, you have fewer bricks to keep moisture from escaping—which is why they’re so essential for rebuilding a healthy skin barrier. You’ve also got a heavy dose of glycerin, one of the best hydrators in the skincare industry, which leaves skin soft and supple.

It’s excellent at moisturizing dry, sensitive skin, whether in the middle of winter or in the humidity of summer. The texture is thicker and not as fast absorbing as others on our list, but it’s a mainstay in countless skincare routines because of how effective and soothing it is. Plus, you know the formula is gentle when it’s suitable for use on the face or even babies. In the case of moisturizing dry hands, it will just make your skin baby soft.

13. Eminence Organic Stone Crop Body Lotion

Hand creams are great for keeping with you on the go since they usually come in small, perfectly portable tubes. But if you want to get the most bang for your buck, we recommend using a nourishing body lotion. Sure, you won’t be able to take it with you in your work bag, but you can keep a large bottle in prime places like the kitchen or bathroom sink. The large bottle size and easy-to-use pump make this body lotion by Eminence Organic one of our favs—though the formula inside is even more impressive.

Stone crop, a type of succulent, is the superstar ingredient here. It’s fantastic at soothing super dry skin, minimizing signs of aging, and reducing discoloration. It’s also formulated with lemon (to refresh), corn germ oil (to increase moisture levels), and an antioxidant complex that improves the skin’s overall look and vitality. We also love that this replenishing lotion is made without nut oils and butters, so it’s ideal for those with nut allergies.

14. Henne Luxury Hand Cream

Your hands need a bit of luxury from all the hard work you put them through. So why not treat them to a rich yet fast-absorbing hand cream. This Luxury Hand Cream from Henne is all about decadence, not dryness.

A base of aloe vera, alongside popular humectant glycerin, supplies a deep surge of soothing hydration. While a bounty of impressive plant oils—argan, jojoba, rosehip, and apricot, to name a few—lock in all of that water content and smooth any dry, dull patches. It’s also brimming in beneficial fatty acids, thanks to shea butter and organic avocado oil, which are essential for keeping the outermost layer of skin strong, supple, and smooth.

Like our top pick from Blu Atlas, this hand cream comes in various scent options: Blomma, which is a lovely blend of rose, geranium, and twinflower, or Citrus, an invigorating blend of grapefruit, bergamot, and sweet orange.

15. Tatcha Indigo Soothing Hand Cream

If your dry hands also suffer from irritation, skin barrier damage, or conditions like eczema, look to a soothing hand cream like this one from Tatcha. As the name suggests, the Indigo Soothing Hand Cream utilizes natural Japanese indigo, a legendary botanical beloved for its ability to soothe and support skin healing.

Indigo’s active ingredient, tryptanthrin, is a nitrogen-rich compound that flushes away irritants and toxins. While indirubin (another key compound) supports the skin’s barrier function. The addition of indigo gives this hand cream its characteristic sky-blue color that melts into the skin once massaged.

It also includes a blend of skincare-quality ingredients, including propanediol, green tea, colloidal oatmeal, and algae, to provide smoothness and softness to parched hands. This option heals dry, cracked hands without feeling greasy or sticky. It is more expensive than other lotions on our list, but avid users swear by its smoothing ability.

16. Ouai Hand Lotion

For a chic lotion you’ll want to keep on the counter, check out the Ouai Hand Lotion. This lightweight lotion uses some of our favorite moisturizers: avocado, rosehip, and jojoba seed oils to transform dry hands. Get ready to say hello to softer, more nourished palms. The texture is cushiony and silky-soft, which explains why your hands also feel that way after applying.

Perhaps the best part about this lotion for dry hands (besides its stylish aesthetic) is the scent. It is essentially a multi-layered perfume bottled into a restorative lotion with the mood-bursting scent of fresh citrus, apricot, rose, magnolia, amber, and musk. Ouai’s Hand Lotion isn’t the most intense moisturizer on our list, but if you’re looking for a lightweight hand treatment that smells sublime—this is it.

What to Look for When Shopping for the Best Lotions for Dry Hands

Texture

The main difference between a lotion, hand cream, or balm is the texture. Lotions are a great all-around choice for all skin types because it’s lightweight and sinks in quickly, which makes application and reapplication a breeze. Hand creams and balms will be thicker and creamier than a lotion, which is ideal for helping to soften roughness or target areas of extreme dryness.

Ultimately, the texture of your hand lotion (or cream) comes down to personal preference. Opt for a hand cream if you’d prefer something rich and luxurious. For lightweight hydration and a non-greasy application, lotions will be your best bet.

Ingredients

The whole point of buying a dedicated hand cream or lotion is to improve the look and feel of dry skin—that’s why ingredients are so important. You want to look for formulas that contain hydrating ingredients, aka humectants, that will draw water into the skin. This can be anything from skincare staples hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and glycerin to more contemporary ingredients like algae extract or snow mushroom.

Moisturizing ingredients—these are your emollients—are also vital. Ingredients like ceramides, fatty acids, shea butter, jojoba oil, and squalane lock in the hydration humectants provide. They’ll also help smooth skin’s texture and repair skin barrier damage. Some hand lotions will also include occlusives, such as waxes, silicones, or petrolatum, that place a physical barrier on top of the skin to prevent water loss.

Antioxidants

In addition to helpful hydrators and emollients, a good hand cream will also have antioxidants in some way, shape, or form. Whether they come from pure sources of vitamin C, E, or B or plant oils and extracts, these tiny powerhouses work to keep skin youthful by fending off damaging free radicals. Vitamin E, for example, not only provides antioxidant protection against pollution and UV rays, but it can help to soothe irritation and improve the skin’s barrier function.