any way to avoid "dive hands"?

[The Chairman]

I have found that I need to wear socks inside my boots or my feet blister and get raw.

I learned this on a liveaboard. Man that was a painful week! Now I always wear socks.

As for hands, salt water leaches out the natural oils in your hands over time. It's similar to what soap does in getting 'dish pan hands'. Those oils make your skin soft, supple and stop cracking. I would suggest Tropical Seas Biodegradable Hand Cream before and after each dive. Make sure to use it before you start your vacation so that your hands acclimate to it. I know the chemist who devised it, and he loves the ocean as much as we do. It's inexpensive and safe for the reef.

 

[CT-Rich]

Some dive locations don’t allow gloves (keeps you from pawing the reef).

Just got back from a dive trip and WOW - my hands were/are a mess.

I think it's just from being in the water so much -- my skin gets all soft and weak (and even whiter) and everything cuts it. I'm constantly bleeding.

I'm not touching corals or hydroids or anything else. In fact, other folks have it too so I'm possibly just being a baby.

But I'll never forget putting hand sanitizer on my hands (no soap available so I had to use it) and SCREEEEEEEEEEAMING in pain. I felt validated when the same thing happened to my roomie.

So... is there any weird diving trick to fix this? Don't think it's a glove thing since I really wasn't touching anything..

just a thought... you may be grabbing/touching more than you realize. Sea water is isotonic to blood, so if you grab a barnacle encrusted rope, you might scrape yourself up without even feeling it. I shredded my hands on my first OW dive when I forgot gloves. I didn’t know it until I was back on the boat.

 

[RyanT]

Seawater is hypertonic to blood, with seawater being about 3.5% salt and blood at 0.9%.

 

[The Chairman]

Sea water is isotonic to blood

Seawater is hypertonic to blood,

The sea is a tonic to my very soul! Give me my Vitamin Sea!

 

[Sam Miller III]

My sister was a cute little teen age model and miss every thing.
Unforteunely when she matured she was only 5-2 tall
Some how she got into "hands modeling" - for jewelry, gloves etc

She used a Revlon product called Siliicare -- a silicon based lotion to protect her hands-- she used so much she should have purchased it in a 55 gallon barrel- but it worked until A G E caught up with her.

I recommended it to several of my former students who used it while diving with good results

Check out Revlon Siliicare, It is possibly not biodegradable and considered a No No on the beach, on a boat and in the water.. Who knows ? But for your diving comfort give it a try

AND Report your experiences with Silicare

 

[RyanT]

The sea is a tonic to my very soul! Give me my Vitamin Sea!

Chairman and SB poet laureate!

 

[Couv]

So... is there any weird diving trick to fix this?

I have just the thing for you. Before your next trip, come over and rake my yard. ;-)

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Some dive locations don’t allow gloves (keeps you from pawing the reef)..

Certainly worth checking before you book if you have to wear gloves like I do. I have checked in advance with the dive operators if gloves will be allowed with a Doctor Certificate. So far even Parks with "No Glove Policy" have accepted the certificate.. but always check.

I like taking pics. There is no point going somewhere my hands get messed up day one and ruining the trip because I can't handle camera and gear! Obviously the pain and discomfort don't end when you get out of the water either

 

[M DeM]

I have just the thing for you. Before your next trip, come over and rake my yard. ;-)

Get those blisters goin'?

 

[M DeM]

Do you wear a wetsuit and spend time pulling and pulling to get it on? That always messes up my hands for the first number of days on a trip. Bleeding though, I'm not familiar with.

Definitely spend time with the wetsuit... hmmmmmmm. I hadn't thought of that