Hard Working Hands: Mary Ellen’s Made By Hand – Tried & Tested

Hard Working Hands: Mary Ellen’s Made By Hand – Tried & Tested

There are millions of things I love about the wintertime – long dark evenings for reading lots of books and enjoying a warming hot toddy – to name just a few. But sadly, there are two parts of my body that really struggle with this season. My hands and my feet do not love the wintertime!

From October through to March my feet are permanent ice blocks, and wearing hand knit socks is just about the only things that will take away the chill! My hands, now they are not much better! The cold weather, icy winds and rain on dog walks, and hours and hours of stitching, knitting, stitching, crocheting, stitching and typing leaves my skin sore and dry. There is no worse feeling than trying to work on a project when the skin on your hands is dry and cracked, the way it rubs against the fibres of the fabric or yarn is just about enough to turn my stomach. Gah!

Yes, of course, I slather on hand creams, lotions and potions. But, more often than not I find that I have to wipe away the lotion pretty quickly after applying it, purely because it makes my hands slippy – I can’t hold the needle, the yarn is getting greasy or I’m worried about leaving a stain on the fabric, or gloopy blobs on pattern paper. So, these creams have been relegated to the nightstand, where they can do only good, and not harm any of my precious projects.

That doesn’t help when it comes to the working hours in the day! Until my friends, I received a sample of Mary Ellen’ s Made by Hand. This is more than a simple moisturiser, this is a Hand Therapy Gel – sounds fancy huh? But, what does that really mean? This light gel is designed to be quickly absorbed into the skin, to provide moisture and relief for sore tired hands – and most importantly, allow you to continue with your task.
Mary Ellen’s Made By Hand, £9.90 c/o EQS UK

I decided to give this little bottle a test drive and see for myself how it handles.
The gel is light and a little seems to go a really long way, at first glance I thought that this was going to be like those hand sanitisers, that have a stingy feeling and a potent alcohol scent. Nope! No stings here – even when I applied it to hands that has suffered cuts and grazes from reckless rotary cutter antics. The gel almost melts into the skin and is absorbed in seconds, literally seconds.

There is no heavy, over-perfumed scent and my skin was left silky and not slippy, greasy or goopy. Made by Hand includes extracts of white willow bark which is a renowned natural remedy for the relief of pain and inflammation- ideal if you’ve been hand stitching for hours and your knuckles and joints are starting to get more than a little weary!

Image Kerrie Mitchell

After a week of using it I have to say that my hands actually feel human again – my fingertips no longer feel like they are made of leather and the cracked skin on my knuckles is silky smooth! So, you know what people? I’m sold on this!

Made By Hand, RRP£9.90 for 175ml, for stockists visit EQS UK

Fancy trying it for yourself?

I have five bottles of Mary Ellen’s Made By Hand to giveaway to five Made Peachy readers! To enter, simply leave a comment below sharing what you’re currently working on and why your hands need a little treat! (UK entries only) Winners will be announced on 6 February – Good Luck!