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Climber Hands

• September 2015
• Hi Steph Simple Living Climb Gear

Hi Steph
Greetings from Australia. Apart from being a climber and mama to a rescue dog I also recently started my AFF, thanks for the inspiration!

I have a beauty question for you! With all the climbing my hands are in a pretty rough state. I’m slightly embarrassed around non-climbers and haven’t touched nail polish in nearly a decade so as to avoid drawing further attention to my claws! Do you use any products that are effective in keeping your hands respectable?

Thanks
Porscia

Hi Porscia,
Maybe my standards are just low, but I think my hands look fine 🙂 I use hand salve to help with sore skin when I’m climbing multiple days in a row, and it really helps!! I usually put it on just before going to sleep and when I wake up the soreness is gone and I can grab holds again. You also may find that if you do a lot of packing at the drop zone all day you have a lot of soreness in your fingers and cuticles, and the salve is good for that too.

There are several great brands making this kind of hand salve, and I recommend all of them because they all work very well and they are all small climbing companies. Check out Bonnie’s Balms, Climb On Bar, Giddy Balms and Joshua Tree climbing salve.

Another thing to think about is protecting the backs of your hands from sun. Wearing tape gloves is great for that, but consider hiking in an ultralight long-sleeved shirt, and even trying out some sun sleeves if you do long approaches in the sun.
Hope that helps!
Steph