Winter used to make my hands painfully dry. My fingers would crack and refuse to heal. Good lotions didn’t seem to help, the benefits would be gone in minutes. So I made Mend Me, a lotion with deep healing for cracked and extremely dry hands. A good winter butter shouldn’t just offer moisture; it needs to help existing cracked skin heal and stay in place.

How Mend Me Helps Cracking Skin Heal

What works in Mend Me Butter to heal cracked skin is what I use in my Rescue Me Salve. I noticed how my Rescue Me Salve did two things I didn’t expect. It stopped pain and hastened healing. If I put Rescue Me on a cut it usually stopped hurting. The sooner I put it on, the less pain I experience. I find if I get a cut and put Rescue Me on fast, I have no pain afterwards. Better yet, it heals fast enough I forget about the cut entirely.

I am neither a Doctor or a Scientist so I can’t be certain why this happens. What I suspect is the ingredients in Rescue Me and Mend Me keep bacteria and fungus from thriving in the cuts and cracks. Lowering bacterial and fungal exposure is probably lowering the pain too. Perhaps it is invading germs from the environment that creates a greater inflammatory response from the body. By keeping unwanted infections at bay, inflammation is decreased and so is any resulting pain. That’s my theory anyway.

It is less surprising to me that keeping certain bacteria (and fungus) out of open skin wounds like cracks in the skin or cuts will help skin heal faster. Although I was surprised that there’s some debate about the influence of microorganisms and healing. Surprised because my experience suggests that my cuts and cracks heal faster due to antibacterials and antifungal properties of my ingredients.

Ingredients That See to Keep Skin Cracks and Wounds Clean and Healing

There’s lots of ingredients that people claim have antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties and many do. However, please keep in mind that we don’t fully understand how certain ingredients interact with viruses, bacteria and fungus. We shouldn’t rely on self-administering oils and plant extracts when medical care is required. That said, there is some research that suggests the following ingredients can have an impact on mild bacterial, fungal or viral infections.

Perhaps the most important ingredient in my Mend Me Butter is neem oil. Neem oil encourages deep healing for cracking skin and extreme dry hands. This oil is discussed at length in a book called Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems. Chapter 7 outlines the studies done on Neem as a fungicide, antibacterial and antiviral.

Essential Oil Blend Defense

The second defense against invading microorganisms is my essential oil blend. No single essential oil will probably ever be used to fight off bacteria, fungus or viruses on people’s skin. There’s at least two reasons I know of for this: not all microorganisms react the same to essential oils and too much of an essential oil isn’t good. The amount of essential oils needed to fight microorganisms can be unhealthy and unsafe for skin. That said a healthy blend of essentials oils can aid in the fight against microorganisms in combination or with other ingredients. That is how I am trying to apply my use of essential oils.

For instance oregano and tea tree essential oils were studied against the microorganism that causes nail fungus (onychomycosis). 15 of 18 of those who stayed with the study were cured. I discuss another study in my listing for No Fungus Nail Serum about the power of oregano, clove and cinnamon.

Making the Mend Me Butter Stay in Place

My Mend Me Butter offers healing for cracked and extremely dry hands because I pack it with as many skin healing, moisturizing, bacteria and fungus fighting ingredients. It works because I use lanolin to help it stay in place longer than a lotion can without Lanolin. Because the butter stays where you put it, it can ward off further drying and protecting overly stressed skin from further damage and infection. It gives your skin a chance to mend those painful cracks and dry spots while preventing them from getting worse.

About Lanolin

I use Lanolin because it naturally makes a lotion stay in place. Studies suggest it can reduce trans-epidermal water loss by 20-30% which is second only to petroleum jelly. It is the substance that sheeps make and distribute on their wool to help them remain warm and waterproof. Lanolin is very similar to oils produced by us.

It has marvelous ability to protect skin and seal in moisture from the elements. Perfect to keep skin from drying out so much that it cracks and also great to protect already cracking skin from the elements and further cracking. Of course, if you are allergic to wool then this product might not work for you. We use Lanolin to protect the skin of babies and heal and protect nipples during breastfeeding. (I don’t recommend this for nipples as babies could ingest lanolin which could actually create an allergy to lanolin and wool.) It is also a popular wax for lips, heels, elbows and to protect athletes from chafing.