Tips for Maintaining Healthy Musician’s Hand Skin
Hands are the most important tool for a musician. Without them, practicing and performing is not possible. Unfortunately, musicians also have to deal with all the problems of dry skin that everyone else does – but amplified! In addition, musicians’ hands are subject to occasional dryness due to environmental factors like weather or indoor heating and from constant use of their hands on an instrument.
Tried and tested hand care for musicians
We will offer some tips for maintaining a healthy musician’s hand skin.
- Practice good hand hygiene: always wash your hands before eating anything salty or greasy; don’t touch any part of your face without washing first; wear gloves when you’re in contact with things that can make you sick (don’t forget about those pesky coughs and sneezing)
- Apply lotion after playing music. Musicians typically play their instruments with their fingers rather than the palms of their hands. Hence, it is very common for them not to apply lotion all over themselves after playing an instrument because they feel like they don’t need it. However, if you do this without applying lotion, your hands will dry.
- Choose a hand cream or lotion formulated explicitly for musicians’ hands. It will likely contain ingredients like glycerin and urea that help keep the skin hydrated.
- Apply the hand cream or lotion before bedtime, so it can soak in while you sleep.
- If your hands get dry, consider using a humidifier in your practice space. This will help add moisture to the air and prevent your hands drying out.
Why should you keep your musician’s hand skin healthy?
Musicians have very nice-looking hands with smooth skin and short nails; however, this look is achieved only after years of practice. The initial few years of practicing the instrument will yield deformed nail beds (curving downwards) due to the fingertips’ long-term pressure. Besides looking bad, it may present difficulty playing the instruments because of sweaty, sweaty palms usually caused by anxiety when performing, which induces slip-offs of either string or wind instruments.
As a professional musician, your hands are one of the most important tools you have to work with. Unfortunately, this may lead to dry, cracked skin that can be painful or even causes other problems. Fortunately for musicians, you can do some simple things to ensure healthy hand skin and get back on track at work!