Taking care of your Skin

Have you been climbing for a little while now or just started and you’ve already noticed your skin is either hurting or maybe already gotten injured? Maybe you haven’t experienced any of this and you’ve heard that the skin on your hands is important and want to learn more or have seen others get various injuries and you want to know more.

Well, It’s now time to learn about how to care for your skin!

The Easiest and Hardest way to care for your skin!

Now here’s probably a secret everyone knows if you really love climbing but even though it is the easiest way it is also the hardest way to care for your skin.

Take adequate rest between climbing sessions and don’t climb until your skin is raw. It’s so simple and easy to think about cause obviously don’t climb for too long and let yourself rest in order to heal but to do it is especially hard when you want to climb two to four times a week.

Now that’s no secret but a reminder of what you should do but on top of resting and not pushing your skin too hard, there are other important things to keep in mind for skin health.

Now the ideal skin for a rock climber is flexible but tough skin which is oily but not sweaty.

Not do you have that? If you do great and if you don’t it’s also great as in either case, you can still get your hands injured and also take care of it.

A common way to take care of your skin is hand lotions that will nourish your skin making it healthier overall but, the part that affects new climbers more and is more important for you to know is how to deal with climbing skin injuries.

Another important habit is the maintenance of calluses on your hands as calculuses are good but if you let them build too much that can lead to one of the first major skin injuries you can have!

Ripped Calluses

Now, there are two ways to deal with ripped calluses one, try to prevent them by properly filing them down so they don’t catch on the holds. Calluses are great and you want them as they are thicker skin that you can use to help prevent pain and hold onto various holds with a stiffer edge. The downside is when they are too built up they can catch on the holds and tear. Now you can maintain them by using a nail file or skin file to reduce the size of the calluses the other way is if you feel the calluses are getting sore when you climb and the skin below it is pinching then take it easy and give them a break as that’s a sign that it may tear.

Now, do how you deal with them after the calluses have either been ripped partially or completely off?

Splits

Splits… not the stretch. A split is exactly what it sounds like it’s when the skin splits or cracks either revealing the flesh below sometimes with blood or just leaving an uncomfortable gash. The most common reason for a split is stretching the skin and then it fails to spring back due to lack of moisture. The cause for this can be a couple of things but cold weather, frequent hand washing, hot showers and surprisingly being exposed to excessive moisture can all reduce moisture in your hands.

Beyond all that how can you prevent and help fight against splits? Well, moisturizing will help the skin on your hands stay elastic thus reducing the likelihood of splitting.

Skin Overuse

So you were climbing a lot either on rock or in the gym and the holds felt like sandpaper or you decided today four or more hours of climbing feels good. Now you're near the end of your session your fingertips hurt when you touch anything and oh, is that blood you see?

If you’ve ever experienced anything like this don’t worry this is a common experience for the climber and can be treated in some very simple ways!

Stop climbing… like I mean it for the next two, three or maybe even a week stop climbing let your skin rest and recover. If that’s too long there are creams and other lotions that if you put onto your fingertips will help your skin recover more quickly.

How do I prevent this?

Don’t overdo it, like more skin injuries in climbing on your hands overuse is the most common way they occur so be mindful of your own hands and if you feel they are ever getting close stop wait till tomorrow then climb again if you really need to climb.

There are other ways to reduce and prevent this irritating injury that makes it sometimes even painful to hold the rock and holds but that comes with building up the skin on your hands and having better climbing technique.

Luckily for you, that means the longer you have been a rock climber the less likely you will experience skin overuse.

What does all this mean?

Just moisturize… a bit like most of this can be prevented or helped by moisturizing or using various skin care products on your hands in order to keep your skin healthy so find one that works for you and don’t overwork your hands!

Now, Hand-le your skin with care out there!

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