The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector

I used to use this hand cream, made with “Community Trade hemp seed oil”, all the time when I was in high school and then for some reason I stopped. While I knew it still existed, it had pretty much fallen off my beauty product radar until this past May, when I ended up getting a free tube as part of Body Shop promotion.

Like many Body Shop products, this one is short on packaging claims. It merely says “Dermatologically tested” and “Very Dry Skin”. We’ll just have to trust Body Shop on that first claim but as for the second one, I’m very happy to report that yep, this cream works wonderfully on dry skin.

I’ve been using it regularly at work on my hands, as well as occasionally on my lower arms and elbows (which used to definitely fall into the “very dry” category) and I have noticed a clear improvement in my skin’s moisture level as well as all around appearance.

It is a thicker/richer cream that does initially feel a bit greasy. However, it does absorb quite quickly and cleaning so I find that can easily use this at my desk, I just need to give it a minute to soak into my skin before I start typing again. I’ve also learned that a little of this product goes a long way and that you don’t need to saturate your skin in it the way you have to do with some hand creams.

While it is an effective product, I know that it won’t be for everyone because it does have a rather strong, distinctive herb/woodsy smell to it. Personally, I quite like how it smells but I have no doubt that some people hate (hopefully none of them sit near me at work).

One thing that does annoy me about this product is its packaging. It comes in an aluminum tube with a screw cap and while this looks quite nice, it’s also rather impractical. The tube has a tendency to “push” the cream out unassisted unless the lid is firmly on but because the lid is a screw top, it’s a bit of a pain to get on, especially when your hands are greasy from initially putting the cream on. So you tend to end up with a bit of “bonus” cream coming out (which is why I started using it on my elbows).

Thankfully, like I said earlier, you don’t need to use a lot of this stuff to see results and it is quite affordable. A 30 ml tube like the one I use only costs $10 and with all the promotions Body Shop runs, you can often get it cheaper.

Would I buy this again:  Yes.
Should you buy it: As long as you like the smell.