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Avoid Skin Tears | Callus Care | Prevent Lost Calluses


Jedd Johnson

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Quick article showing how to manage skin damage to the palm, calluses, fingers, etc.

http://www.dieselcrew.com/callus-tear-prevention-taking-care-of-hand-skin

Losing calluses sucks. You can prevent most of them by doing this simple little trick.

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Thanks for posting this! I've been using nail clippers to get the bulk of my calluses and then filing them down to get them even and clean so I'm going to have to try this.

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I've been trimming mine down with the straight razor out of a box cutter. Definitely helps for keeping them from getting ripped off. However, at times, I have split callouses right at the base of the finger due to the stresses there. The 'grain' of the skin is such that it splits right into the flesh. I think this has to do with the volume of pull-ups I do, not necessarily the grip related stuff.

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Good info Jedd. I've been shaving only when the skin is dry and hard. I've never thought to soak them for shaving. Then again, I haven't used shaving cream in years.

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Daniel,

I always go with wet hands because when I first started doing it, I tried it dry and cut myself pretty bad. The razor hooked onto a hard part of the callus and I actually tore a large portion of it off my hand. It was like the farmers implements ripped my callus off in the opposite direction.

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Have you tried using a pumice stone instead of a razor? I've never used a razor, but found a pumice stone to work well. Of course, my hands never look nearly as bad as the picture in your article. That's nasty.

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Have you tried using a pumice stone instead of a razor? I've never used a razor, but found a pumice stone to work well. Of course, my hands never look nearly as bad as the picture in your article. That's nasty.

I use one along with a razor they use for feet calluses which I feel is a bit safer and works really well on the hands also. I honestly only get bad calluses when doing like deadlifts on a bar with sharp knurling.

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With the box cutter razor, I actually trim them dry. I have never tried a shaving razor setup like Jedd is showing, but I don't doubt that it works.

I think the trick is to take off just enough that you take off the layer that will tend to fold up and snag on implements, but leave enough skin so that you don't get water blisters or additional damage when you're working.

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With the box cutter razor, I actually trim them dry. I have never tried a shaving razor setup like Jedd is showing, but I don't doubt that it works.

I think the trick is to take off just enough that you take off the layer that will tend to fold up and snag on implements, but leave enough skin so that you don't get water blisters or additional damage when you're working.

Exactly.

I do that with the regular razor like Jedd does, except I've been having luck doing it dry. Will try it wet and see what happens.

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Have you tried using a pumice stone instead of a razor? I've never used a razor, but found a pumice stone to work well. Of course, my hands never look nearly as bad as the picture in your article. That's nasty.

When I have tried a pumice stone, it has taken 20 times longer to remove the callus than with the razor.

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Have you tried using a pumice stone instead of a razor? I've never used a razor, but found a pumice stone to work well. Of course, my hands never look nearly as bad as the picture in your article. That's nasty.

When I have tried a pumice stone, it has taken 20 times longer to remove the callus than with the razor.

Do you do it in the shower, when the skin is saturated with water and soft?

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Hellswindstaff, that was going to be my next question for Jedd. I found having the hands soaked and using the stone underwater makes a big difference in how effective it is.

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I seemingly never get any real callouses on my hands - not sure why - I just don't. Never really did - even when doing lots of construction work. Some of course but never enough I had to "manage" them in any way. Buy I have them big time on my toes - go figure? I file them off with a strip of "emery cloth" on a piece of board that I made up - works fine.

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Have you tried using a pumice stone instead of a razor? I've never used a razor, but found a pumice stone to work well. Of course, my hands never look nearly as bad as the picture in your article. That's nasty.

When I have tried a pumice stone, it has taken 20 times longer to remove the callus than with the razor.

Do you do it in the shower, when the skin is saturated with water and soft?

Yes. You might not have seen the top post, but there is a link to the article on my site. Thanks.

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I've used a clean rounded micro wood rasp.Works like a charm and very safe. Similiar to this one: http://www.woodworki...roduct/gp32018/

I used a similar device when I made my farmers adaptors for training the frame hold at nationals.

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  • 1 month later...

Sweet tips man. I use gel finger tubes when I train with grippers to avoid inflaming finger calluses. I had a video on YouTube but someone reported it as 'spam material' (I know who It was haha) and it was removed.

I'll try the razor method to shave down the calluses

Edited by Joey_grips
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  • 3 years later...

Jedd, awesome info on your article.  I keep ripping my pinky callus when I pull double-overhand on a normal barbell.  I don't seem to have any issues with grippers, the VBAR, axle, etc, but the barbell always gets me!!  Thanks man - I'll be trying the razor today!!

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Hope it helps, bro!

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I use a medium course emery cloth wrapped around a dowel or cardboard tube about the same of slightly larger than a lifting bar. I sand my callouses dry and find the size & shape ideal for all the callouses, even the ones on the base of the inside of the thumb (near the web). Done this since I started powerlifting many moons ago. As I'm not deadlifting a whole lot I do more grip stuff, I also get callouses at the top (first) joint of my middle and ring fingers (from grippers) the sanding works well for those to. Even just rolling the emery cloth (or equivalent) into a tube works well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I use a pumice stone and that has always worked well. I climb quite a bit on top of my grip stuff so I have to keep an eye on my calluses. I would consider sand paper if the pumice stone stops doing the trick but I wouldn't want to use a razor. I'd be scared of cutting my hands (I'm a wimp).

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  • 1 month later...

I understand the concern with the razor, but understand you're cutting off dead skin that is loose and risen above the level of the good skin.  Very little cut risk.

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  • 1 month later...

Long before getting into grip (due to working with my hands) I have had to file my fingertips almost weekly, if I don't the skin builds up too much, gets hard and splits which causes great pain. removing skin with a file and then moisturising stops this occuring. then a few years ago I discovered a Micro pedi, designed for removing hard skin from the feet, this worked great for the fingertips, much quicker than the files.

The last year after I really got into grip training I decided to use this technique on my palms where I developed a ridge of hard skin and calluses at the base of each finger, but it was awkward to really get the callouses in the middle of the palm without hitting skin around them, so I used to use a pair of nail clippers to chop the bulk of the skin out, then go over with the micro pedi as this was quicker but it often led to removing too much of the skin in places. So I decided to try a Dremel tool with a sanding wheel, works great for really pinpointing the calluses without removing skin from around it which can lead to sensitivity. heres a video to explain, you only need it on slow and you can't hold it on one place too long or it burns! I do it with bone dry hands and then wash afterwards and moisturise with E45 (paraffin based moisturiser) which makes them feel like new hands!

 

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I've heard of that before.  Sounds like it works well!

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