Real Life Skin Care for the Healthcare Professional: Our Conversation with Kim
As a skin care company created by a physician with a passion to craft simple, natural, and responsible products for other healthcare professionals, we wanted to get to know some healthcare professionals and get to know a little bit about their skin care at work and at home.
We spoke to Kim, a registered nurse in an acute care hospital in Philadelphia, PA, who works in the intensive care unit taking care of adult patients who may, at times, be recovering from surgery.
“We wash them, help them use the bathroom, administer medications, monitor their vitals for changes etc. – it’s hands on all the time,” she said, “so you have to keep your hands clean and steril both for their protection and for mine.”
Employees who work in the intensive care unit not only always wear gloves, but wash their hands before and after seeing a patient and possibly use lots of hand sanitizer throughout their day.
That’s a lot of washing and drying of the skin.
While cleansing the body is important, it can also rob the skin of key hydrating nutrients if done without replenishing moisture which can then lead to other skin issues.
“My hands are always dry, I always apply lots of cream throughout the day. I work from 7PM to 7AM and within that 12 hour shift, I’ll moisturize at least 5-6 times.”
While she can’t always keep her hands hydrated at work because of the frequency of handwashing, she tries to balance the effect on her skin at home with intense moisturizing rituals.
Kim continued, “Before bed, maybe once a week, I’ll put on a thick amount of coconut oil and cream on my hands and wear gloves to help heal them and seal in moisture. But as soon as I go back to work, the [heavy cleansing] process starts all over again.”
Recently, Kim changed the cream she was using at work. She decided that if she could not completely resolve the causes of dry, cracked hands, she would capitalize on what type of cream she uses.
“I actually use amolee body creams. I know what’s in them, that’s why I like them so much. Before amolee, I used a couple different creams you can find in the pharmacy but they always left my hands feeling greasy.”
Kim says she can apply the cream as needed and immediately type on a keyboard or pick up a pen to write down notes without a greasy residue on her hands.
“amolee doesn’t leave that oily, greasy feeling and it moisturizes my hands without all kinds of crazy ingredients,” she continued, “I love the simplicity of amolee.”
After using amolee at work and having positive results, Kim said she started to use it at home. “Because I trust amolee enough to use during work, I have introduced it to my family. I have my daughter use the body cream after bath time. I was always afraid of what to put on her, so I wanted to stay as organic as possible.”
While Kim still has to wash her hands many times a day, she feels comfortable using a cream that leaves her hands feeling hydrated and is made of simple ingredients that work just as hard as she does.
