Short answer: No, not against the cold. There are no ointments that help against cold, and research has not been able to show that creams or ointments prevent cold injury. An ordinary water based cream can instead cool the skin for a while as the water evaporates. What keeps your hands warm is dry gloves, protection from the wind and spare gloves to change into. Put cream on in the evening and after work instead, when your skin gets to rest.
It's a deep habit, especially in the far north. You put cream on your hands and face before going out, as an extra layer against the cold. It feels like it should help. But when researchers have measured it, they haven't found any protection, and sometimes the opposite.
Does cream or ointment protect against cold?
No. Sweden's public health service 1177 says plainly that there are no ointments that help against cold. The advice on cold injury is instead about dressing properly, keeping dry and protecting yourself from the wind.1
Research points the same way. A review in the Emergency Medicine Journal brought together the best studies on facial creams and cold injury and concluded that they are not good protection against frostbite, and may even mean a higher risk.2 The studies are about the face. There are no studies showing that it is any different for hands.
What do the studies show?
Most of the studies come from Finland, where it has been common to put cream on the face before going out in the cold.
| Study | What they did | What they found |
|---|---|---|
| Skin model in a lab, 1999 | Measured how four different creams and ointments insulate against cold | Ointment on dry skin hardly insulated at all. Water evaporating from an oil in water cream cooled the surface for about 40 minutes. |
| 15 volunteers in a cold room, 2003 | Water based cream on one cheek, petroleum jelly on the other, at minus 5 degrees with a fan | The cheek with water based cream was up to 1.3 degrees colder. The difference disappeared within 20 minutes. |
| 913 conscripts with frostbite, 1995 | Compared with 2,478 conscripts without injury | Those who used ointment more often had frostbite on the cheeks, ears and nose. |
| Survey of 830 conscripts, 1999 | Asked about ointment and earlier frostbite | Those who had used ointment had more often had frostbite on the face, even though 84 percent felt the ointment helped. |
Sources for the table: the skin model3, the cold room4, the 913 conscripts5 and the survey6.
Two things are important to understand. The conscript studies show a link, not that the ointment caused the injuries. It may be, for example, that those who put ointment on felt protected and stayed out longer. And the studies are about the face, not hands at work. None of them shows that cream protects.
The researchers behind the study of 913 conscripts wrote that ointment should not be recommended as routine protection against cold, and that warm clothes with a scarf and a hat with ear flaps help.5
Why can a cream cool your skin?
Most hand creams contain a lot of water. When the water evaporates from the skin it takes heat with it, just as when you are wet. In the skin model this gave noticeable cooling for about 40 minutes after the cream was applied.3 In the cold room study, the difference compared with petroleum jelly was gone after 20 minutes.4
That doesn't mean the cream freezes on the skin or causes cold injury. It just means there's no point putting it on right before you go out. 1177 gives the same advice for children: don't put cream on the child's face before going out, and choose a completely water free cream if you need to apply something when it's below freezing.7
So what protects hands from the cold?
The boring answer is clothing, keeping dry and keeping out of the wind.
- Gloves and mittens. Gloves or mittens protect hands and fingers in severe cold.8
- A spare pair to change into. Bring extra gloves in case you get wet. Wind and damp cool you down faster.1
- Take the metal off. Metal watches and jewellery can cause superficial cold injuries when it's cold.1
- Shelter from the wind. The biggest risk in outdoor work is low temperature combined with strong wind. Outdoor workplaces should be arranged so that people are not exposed to the wind.9
Cold fingers are also a workplace safety issue. Getting chilled reduces muscle function and weakens strength and precision, which makes tasks like assembly hard.9
How to use cream properly in winter
Cream doesn't protect against the cold, but winter hands still need it. Cold outdoor air, dry indoor air and a lot of washing make the skin crack more easily, as we write about in hands cracking in the cold. The trick is to apply it at the right time.
Step 1. Before: indoors and in good time
If you want to put cream on before work, do it indoors and in good time, so it has absorbed before you go out. Don't put it on right before you pull on tight gloves, because then the glove gets damp inside.10 Read more about dry, cracked hands from work.
Step 2. Cleaning: gently when the skin is already dry
In winter the skin is already worn. Wash with lukewarm water and the mildest cleaner that gets the dirt off, and dry your hands thoroughly before you go back out. Wet hands in the cold is the worst place to be.
Step 3. After: the evening is the best time in winter
When you are indoors for the day, your skin has several hours to work with. Put cream on after your shift and before bed.10 If you already have cracks in your fingertips, there is more about them in our guide to cracked fingertips.
When is it a cold injury?
A cold injury can be hard to notice because you lose feeling. Move your fingers to check that you still have feeling.1 With frostbite the skin can at first feel cold and firm, go numb or tingle, and be red or pale. If it gets worse the skin can turn hard, white or bluish, swell and blister.8
Get indoors or into shelter, take off rings and warm up slowly skin to skin, for example with your fingers in your armpits. Don't massage, and don't warm up with anything heated or with hot water.1 Contact a doctor straight away if you have a cold injury with blisters or a deep cold injury, and go to an emergency department if other services are closed.1 This is nothing a cream can fix.
Frequently asked questions
Is a greasy ointment better than ordinary hand cream in the cold? A greasy ointment doesn't cool the way a water based cream does, but it hardly insulates either.3 Neither has been shown to protect against frostbite.2
Can hand cream freeze on the skin? The studies haven't shown that. What they measured is that the water in the cream cools the skin for a while as it evaporates.3
How long before going out should I put cream on? There is no proven safe waiting time for hands. In the cold room study the difference was gone after 20 minutes, but that was for cheeks.4 The simplest thing is to put cream on in the evening and when you have come in.
Why does it feel like the cream helps? In the survey, most ointment users felt the ointment helped, while they had also more often had frostbite.6 So the feeling of protection is not the same as protection.