After hearing/reading from many people how amazing moisturizing with oils/butters is, I tried multiple oils to try to find one that works for me (jojoba oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, vitamin E, apricot oil, & maybe others, I can't remember now) and I seem to have the same issue with all of them:

The first day or so is good, but then the backs of my hands get red, blotchy, and both the palms and the backs get extra dry, with rough patches. In the case of the most recent attempt with coconut oil, my hands were so bad last Friday that my skin was cracking and in pain (it was approx. the 3rd day of use and they went from normal to cracking over the course of one work day).

I have some thoughts as to what might be causing it, but would like some feedback/insight from those who have more experience with oils than me, because I have no idea if these make sense or not.

Some possibilities:

1. Mixing moisturizer types: I used the coconut oil at home, but I have Curel at work. I washed my hands a lot that day and so used lots of Curel. Perhaps the coconut oil and Curel combined caused a reaction?

2. Using too much coconut oil: The rest of my body (and I used the oil all over) didn't break out, just my hands. Since I use my hands to apply the oil, could they have gotten an overdose and caused a reaction? I know when I first tried out oils, I was using too much and had red blotches and dryness on other parts of my body. After I started using it more sparingly, it seemed to get better elsewhere, but I still have issues with my hands.

3. 2nd version of too much coconut oil: perhaps it's not that the oil caused the reaction itself, but maybe it worked too well and made the skin on my hands extra, extra soft. This might cause issues because I work with a lot of paper & put reports together, so if my skin was made too soft/delicate by the oil, it may have been hit extra hard by the drying/rough effects of the paper and toner I'm exposed to?

4. It was an extra cold day, so that may have exacerbated the issue, whatever it was.

Thanks for any help!

-Jen