Avene Cicalfate Restorative Hand Cream

[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] We’re not using sanitizer at quite the same level that we were here – we are still being mindful about hand washing and sanitizing when coming back into the house, but out shopping it’s a different matter. I feel completely duty-bound to sanitize when I enter a shop and if you’re going to several shops at once, that’s quite a lot, especially as I usually sanitize on the way out as well. Actually, I’ve really noticed that shops are keen for you to sanitize on the way in but don’t really offer anything on the way out which somehow seems just as important. A quick trip to my local shops last week saw me going into GAP, M&S, Wilco and W H Smith – that’s eight doses of sanitizer in about half an hour, and then again when I came home. No wonder our hands are dry.

With that in mind, this drop from Avene is very timely – add in some gardening over the weekend and my hands are just a mess! We are all big fans of Avene in this household – it’s great for reactive skin, dry skin or sensitive skin and won’t exacerbate or irritate soreness.

In texture, it’s not the thick blob you might expect – in fact, it’s quite a loose consistency so you don’t need very much – a little goes a long way with this one. It’s instantly softening and more or less weightless, once massaged in – if anything the finish feels very lightly powdery rather than greasy.  I notice from the Avene website the original Cicalfate was used on 401 children with dry skin conditions over 15 days (twice daily) with 89% seeing improvement – this is the hand version that I have here so it will last through five hand washes. It also contains copper and zinc, both of which are anti-bacterial. All in all, it’s a very unobtrusive, effective product. Escentual are having their regular French Pharmacy offer til Friday this week, so instead of being £9.50, it’s £6.33 HERE. There are also some nice offers on Shiseido and Khiels. Non-affiliate HERE.