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Your hands go through a lot every day, which is why investing in the best hand cream is a must. Whether you’re earning calluses from deadlifts, drying them out from constant washing, or rocking cuticles that look like they’ve been through a paper shredder, your hands need moisture just like your hair and face do. Personally, I’ve battled dry skin for as long as I can remember. Every time I wash my hands with a bar of soap and towel off, I immediately need to follow it up with lotion—otherwise, they turn ashy on the spot. And in colder months? Cracking and bleeding isn’t the ideal winter aesthetic I’m going for. That’s why I never leave home without a hand cream tucked in my tote bag—hydrated phalanges only, please.
Even if dryness isn’t your nemesis, a good hand cream with antioxidants or SPF can slow down wrinkles, sun spots, and thinning skin. Plus, with cold weather, wind, and obsessive hand-washing stripping away your natural oils, hand cream basically acts like a puffer jacket for your skin. And if you wear rings? Heads up—water can get trapped underneath and cause irritation or even eczema flare-ups. A quick dab of balm post-wash keeps your bling from turning into an itchy liability. To get you started, I rounded up ten standouts—from an affordable drugstore classic to a cult-favorite cologne turned cream, and yes, even one made with wine. Consider it your survival kit for the upcoming cold-weather months.
The Best Hand Creams, According to GQ
Aesop Eleos Aromatique
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Nécessaire The Hand Cream
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Salt & Stone Black Rose & Oud Hand Cream
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In This Guide
The Best Overall: Aesop Eleos Aromatique Hand Balm
Eleos is the latest hand salve from Melbourne’s own Aesop, and it already feels like an instant classic alongside the brand’s other cult-favorite creams. It’s sumptuous without leaving you greasy—your hands get nourished, not slicked up like you’ve left the cap off your olive oil. The scent is spicy and earthy, featuring cedar atlas, patchouli, and clove bud. Whether you spring for the handbag-friendly tube or the sink-side Goliath, Eleos is perfect for anyone who craves moisture but can’t stand thick, oily creams.
The Best Fragrance-Free Formula: Nécessaire The Hand Cream,
Sometimes, all you really want from a fragrance-free, drugstore-adjacent cream is something that doesn’t look drugstore-adjacent. Nécessaire’s fragrance-free line delivers. The texture is about the same as their body lotion—on the thicker side, but without the greasy finish. It’s packed with niacinamide to calm inflammation, peptides to repair skin, and squalane to smooth out texture. It absorbs fast, has the official stamp of approval from the NEA (that’s the National Eczema Association), and skips the irritation by ditching scent and synthetic fragrances.
The Best-Smelling Hand Cream: Salt & Stone Black Rose and Oud Hand Cream
From the best deodorant to body wash, Salt & Stone has cracked the code on smelling fantastic without trying too hard. Their hand cream comes in one of the brand’s top-selling scents—black rose and oud—with mahogany, vetiver, and santal. The formula mixes ocean-derived and plant-based ingredients: seaweed extracts to restore skin, snow mushrooms to trap hydration, and vitamin B3 to beef up your skin’s barrier. The best part? It absorbs fast, dries silky smooth, and leaves zero greasy residue.
The Best Healing Hand Cream: Aveeno Skin Relief Healing Ointment
Aveeno has long been the go-to brand that shows up when your skin is out of sorts. Their latest relief ointment is made to tackle the big four: dry, chapped, cracked, and downright cranky skin. With a thicker, heavier texture, it’s less of a light lotion and more of a serious repair crew. Safe enough to slather on your body, it locks in moisture for up to 72 hours—like an extended weekend of hydration. Powered by glycerin, shea butter, and their patented Triple Oat Complex, this stuff calms irritation like a dermatologist’s note in a tube.
The Best for Gifting: Corpus Hand Cream Amalgam 7
Giving someone a beautifully designed, thoughtfully scented hand cream is an underrated gift—or even just a nice gesture that almost no one sees coming. Corpus, already known for making some of the best shampoo and conditioner combos, doesn’t slack when it comes to hand cream either. This plant-based lotion packs tremella mushroom extract to lock in moisture, plus botanical oils and butters to soothe and calm irritation. With notes of pink peppercorn, coriander, and patchouli, it’s a woodsy hand salve so irresistible you might need to buy two: one for your lucky giftee, and one, well, for you, because the scent is that intoxicating.
The Best Antioxidant Hand Cream: Beau Domaine The Hand & Nail Cream
Whether you’ve heard about Beau Domaine’s wrinkle-fighting face cream, or that it’s co-signed by Brad Pitt, the real sleeper hit is their hand cream. Think of it as whipped luxury in a tube: non-greasy, fast-absorbing, and leaving hands and cuticles velvety soft. The formula flexes two patented ingredients. First up, ProGR3, a heavy hitter that reduces visible aging markers in the skin. Then there’s GSM10, sourced straight from the Perrin Family vineyards—an antioxidant powerhouse that defends against collagen breakdown while keeping your skin balanced. As for the scent? Imagine strolling through a grape vineyard with a glass of wine in one hand and a baguette in the other—that’s thanks to grape root extract, organic grape water, olive oil, and shea butter. It smells natural, feels soothing, and doesn’t make you smell like you just robbed a Bath & Body Works.
The Best for Sensitive Skin: G.M. COLLIN Soft Hand Cream
G.M. COLLIN already nailed it with their sensitive-skin facial spray, and now they’ve brought the same magic to your mitts. Their hand cream is packed with gentle heavy-hitters: maracuja oil to repair, cacao extract to soothe, and a greatest-hits lineup of butters (mango, shea, moringa) to restore, nourish, and hydrate. Because it’s very butter-forward, the texture is thicker—more salve than lotion. Perfect if your hands are sending you SOS signals for hydration, or when winter winds are too harsh.
The Best for Dry Skin: Evolvetogether Hydrating Hand Cream
Washing your hands is the obvious first step to staying healthy and keeping germs at bay—but after the fifteenth rinse of the day, your skin starts waving a little white flag. Enter Evolvetogether’s Havana-scented hand cream: packed with vitamins B5, E, and C to help fight fine lines and pull moisture back into your skin like a thirsty sponge. It’s lightweight, fast-absorbing, made in the U.S., and leaves behind a subtle woody-spicy scent.
More Hand Creams We Love
What to Look for in a Hand Cream
When shopping for hand cream, stick to non-greasy, fast-absorbing formulas. Look for ingredients like glycerin, hyaluronic acid, shea butter, and squalane (your skin will thank you). At the end of the day, though, the best hand creams for your skin will depend on your individual needs. However, there are few questions and general guidelines to keep in mind when choosing a tube to add to your skin care regimen. Are you looking for natural ingredients? Do you care about scent? Do you need a super-gentle formula or something heavy-duty to soothe cracked and irritated skin? There are a ton of other ingredients out there that can help keep your skin soft and smelling great, so don’t be afraid to branch out and find what works best for you.
How We Tested
We go through a lot of grooming products here at GQ, whether that’s beard trimmers, body lotion, shampoos and conditioners, colognes, or shaving cream. We’re constantly testing new releases and comparing how they stack up to our old standbys and medicine cabinet stalwarts. We also test for a while to make sure our picks hold up to long-term use. Plus, we consult dermatologists, skin care experts, and our most grooming-obsessed friends and colleagues. We also double-check customer reviews and ratings, and factor in price and look when we make our selects.
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