If you are suffering from dry skin in your hands, then you should be taking some basic preventive measures to ensure that this does not happen repeatedly. In order to take the correct steps, it is a good idea to understand how your skin remains dry. If your hands are constantly in and out of water, then you will experience dry skin more than if you keep your hands out of water altogether. So the first thing you need to do is check and see how much you keep your hands in the water. If you are constantly keeping your hands alternating between wet and dry, then you need to stop doing this. Start wearing rubber gloves when you work in water. This is the best way you can prevent this problem. The other reason your hands could be dry is that they are not getting enough moisture. You should keep your hands constantly moisturized for a few days and see if this makes a difference. In all likelihood, you will see that the dryness will gradually disappear. But you would need to be patient, as this will take some time to happen. Do not expect to see overnight results.
You should also be following a routine for regular care of your hands. Start by following a nightly routine of applying cold cream on your hands. Then you should cover your hands with thin cotton gloves and go to sleep. The cotton gloves will allow the air to keep passing through and will help your hands not to become a sweaty mess. The cold cream will work towards deep moisturization. You will notice a marked difference almost overnight by following this method. If you do not want to use cold cream, you can also use olive oil or even coconut oil. Both of these are deeply moisturizing in nature and will help to keep your skin well fed and nourished. You can also apply a thick layer of fresh heavy cream to your hands about once a week. Leave this on for about half an hour and then wash it off with a deep moisturizing soap. This will help to nourish your hands, if you have forgotten to follow your daily routine any time during the week. In any event, you should be careful to shield your hands well from extra exposure to harsh sunlight as well. This too will help to keep them in good and healthy shape.