It's not specifically for hands, but for fading age spots on skin anywhere, & it really works. It's called Spot Light Targeted Skin Lightener by Alpha Hydrox. At only $9.99 & found at the drugstore, it's a much better deal than many $100.00 products that make outrageous claims & really don't deliver.

My suggestion to you would be to wear a good sunscreen on your hands during the day. I know we all wash our hands constantly, so it's challenging to keep sunscreen ON our hands, but do your best, & then use the Spot treatment at night. Some of the ingredients in it make the skin photo-sensitive, meaning you could more easily get sun damage while using it. Sunscreen will prevent new spots from forming too. Neutrogena makes some great, high spf products.

I'm not in the sun in the daytime, it's too dang hot! I'd like an overall hand cream to not only lighten the spots, but to smooth or help the texture of the hands.

Since I have dry skin really bad, especially in the winter, and after trying out a zillion products, I'm sold on Nivea Creme! I like it so much I bought tubes for the living room, bedroom and office. lol

I do use Alpha Hydrox creams for my face -- so thanks for the tip!! I do have many brown age spots on my hands from gardening ....

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Oakley, the Spot Light should help with the overall texture of your skin in addition to lightening the dark spots. It has alpha hydroxy acid in addition to skin-lightening agents, which is great for exfoliating & smoothing the skin, anywhere on your face or body!

Good for you for staying out of the sun.

I'll have to try the Spot Light also. I have had "old lady" hands with spots since my mid 30's. Without them I might be able to lie about my age and get away with it. ;)
I have been using hand creams that contain sunscreen. Lately I've been using Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Hand Cream with SPF 15 from Target. It's a bit spendy, but the scent and texture is nice.

Oooh, will have to check that out, Terriks. I love Boots products, & that one sounds really good!

Teacats, since you like Alpha Hydrox products, wonder if you have you tried their Night ResQ? It's a great retinol cream. We all should use a retinol cream once in a while & I think this one works better than Estee Lauder's, which I was using a while back. Again, it costs a fraction of so many retinol creams out there at about $14.99. I think Lauder's is about $70.00. I'd rather buy something for the house with that money!

Just called a friend of mine who was battling dark spots on her hands that were pretty severe. I knew she got something from her dermatologist, so I wanted to ask her what it was. She has seen some improvement since using it for about a couple of months, while nothing over the counter ever helped. It's called "EpiQuin Micro" but you must have a doc's prescription to get it. For more severe cases, this may be the way to go.

Stinky, so I can use Spot Light all over the top of my hands and not just for the spots alone? If so I'll get some.

I'm really surprised there aren't any commercials about cremes for aging hands. If they can do faces, why not hands?

I've always wondered if face creams (for texture, lines, etc.) would work on hands.

And is it "creme" or "cream?" LOL

Well, that just depends on how French you're feeling on any given day! When in Paris, say "creme," & order a creme brulee with your face creme, lol!

The cosmetic companies would like us to think that we need a special moisturizer or treatment product for every square inch of skin, hence we have eye, throat, chest, face, body & hand products. Yes, body skin is thicker than face, face is a bit thicker than eye skin, but use more or less product, accordingly.

I do buy eye creams & body lotions & face only products, but I also multi-purpose with them all. Have used eye cream that I like allover my face! Have used face cream that I like on my arms & hands.

Experiment. Use what works best for you! But, I don't think women need to spend a gazillion dollars & own a small village of products to look their best. Personally I do own a small village of products, but that's just because I love girly stuff!

Thank you Stinky! That is good to know. I have just a light bit of freckling on my hands, not spots yet. Like Jan, I garden and although she and I are both in the hot, sunny south, I must have my time outdoors! We also spend alot of time at the lake, so I am in the sun a good bit. However, I am religious about sunscreen. I wear sunscreen daily on my face and all over if I am going outside. I should be using a handcreme with SPF, so thank you for that info Terriks. I am going to try both products.

People don't realize that you are exposed to the sun even early morning and late evening (though not as strong of course!) and even in the car, etc. Sunscreen is a very good thing. It definitely helps keep our skin looking young!

tina

Hi Tina! I live in the hot, sunny south too. It's really been brutally hot & humid in SE VA this year, with temps often soaring into the triple digits!

I wear my gardening gloves regularly. They provide sun protection, & overall hand protection. Still, you can't wear gardening gloves when you're driving & running errands! As you said, you pick up a lot of UV rays when you're out & about. You are smart to to protect your skin whenever you go outdoors.

I had skin cancers removed 3 times in my (younger) life, so I am now a big user of sunscreen! I'm almost 48 & haven't seen anything suspicious on my skin since I was 26. I think that's due to becoming really vigilant with the sunscreen, sunglasses & hat!

Btw, I was curious what other people were saying about Spotlight, & found these reviews. There are a couple of negative ones, but I guess nothing gets 100% positive feedback. Most of the reviews are very positive.

Here is a link that might be useful: reviews

I just went to Walmart, Target, Rite-Aid, Walgreens and Fred Meyer looking for the Spot Light, and none of them had any Alpha Hydrox products at all! I just ordered some from Amazon. I couldn't believe that I couldn't find it locally. I know that I bought Alpha Hydrox products here several years ago. Ialso checked the reviews on Makeupalley, and they were very positive.

I am going to get some although I HATE the smell of lightening cremes. When I tried some a few years ago and first smelled it, it was "Ah ha! this is what both my grandmothers smelled like all the time".

The most reviews are on Makeup Alley - I love that site.
In products, go to skin treatments and choose Alpha Hydrox under brands.

I can't keep sunscreen on. I start sweating and wiping my face, etc. and the protection is gone. Can't keep gloves on either. I have a couple brown spots, but at my age figure that's normal and not something I'm going to stress over.

Natal, I think you have a healthy attitude! None of us should be stressing over a brown spot! If a "flaw" bothers us, I think we should use what's at our disposal & deal with it to the best of our ability, but never stress over it.

When I was a teenager dealing with pimples, I did what I could to zap them, but if my complexion wasn't always clear, I learned to live with it. It didn't hurt when my boyfriend told me, "Why do you care so much about having a couple of pimples? Big deal, so you have a beautiful face with a couple of pimples."

So, if we can't zap the age spots, remember, we're beautiful women who have a couple of age spots! Not bad.

Now, I had a boy friend who made me distinctly aware when I had a pimple and made a point of telling me I wasn't beautiful.
We broke up...but he broke my heart (it mended).

Awww, so sorry Bumblebeez! Good thing you didn't stay with him!

Stinky - re the gloves - I just can't stand wearing them! I do if I'm digging or doing something really heavy duty, but otherwise, I garden bare handed.

I agree, no need to obsess. You and I are just about the same age! I do however, believe in taking the best care you can of your skin (and looks in general), and aging gracefully.

I cringe when I remember my younger years and just baking in the sun. Baby oil with iodine. My family has always loved the outdoors. Hubby and I have always taken our beach trips and like I said earlier, love the lake and many water activities. But you can be careful. We always have our umbrella at the beach. I don't spend the day in my bathing suit, much of the time I will have some type coverup on for protection. Sunscreen is a must. Yes, it will sweat off and of course with water activities, it eventually comes off. There are formulas that stay on better than others, and I just reapply often. If it's hot out I will most often wear a sun visor that is covered with terry cloth. It absorbs the sweat somewhat and I don't need to reapply as often.

tina

Hi Tina. I know, so many people find garden gloves to be a nuisance.

I deal with so much prickly material, that I must wear gloves to protect my hands from cuts & scrapes. Pine needles, pine cones, twigs, etc. are painful to deal with on bare skin! Even a lot of the leaves I need to pick up are sharp & scratchy, so I prevent a lot of "ouches" by wearing gloves!

You sound like you have a very balanced approach to self-care. You still do the things you love to do, & make an effort to protect your skin at the same time. You care about how you look, but don't obsess.

There was a time when women were just expected to throw in the towel once they turned 30! I think it's great that today, women in their 40's, 50's, 60's & beyond still make an effort! Of course, we all know examples of women going beyond healthy self-care into desperate attempts to turn back the clock. We don't want to go there!

Do all of the lighteners contain a form of retinol? I have a problem with it being too harsh for my fair skin.

One of my favorite products for years was Neutrogena's Daily Facial Lotion with SPF. Used it for years. One morning I opened a new bottle, applied per usual, and by the next morning I looked like I had spent the previous day sitting in the sun without sunscreen. Wouldn't have been so bad, but it was Christmas morning and I wasn't in a tropical area. LOL It took 3 or 4 days for the redness to go away. MIL swears to stick with it that my reaction was a common one, especially not ever having used retinol products. Sorta of no pain no gain. I keep reminding myself that MIL has used prescription strength retinol to rid herself of facial wrinkles. Her face looked like raw meat for so long. I didn't see any difference in her wrinkles despite her use of the retinol and who knows what other prescription products. Well, I'll go with the no pain. Not trying to rid my well earned facial lines, just want to moisturize my face!

Are there skin lightening products out there for those who can't tolerate the retinol??

My Spotlight came in and I love the feel of the lotion. It doesn't stink either. lol

I garden in the early morning and late afternoon and I don't wear sunscreen. That's because we are told we NEED a good 10 minutes a day of sun for our health. It's been so hot here I've been a hermit all summer.

Natal, I sweat also so I can't wear any type of lotion when I'm outside.

Tonight a big coldfront comes in with lots of rain. Maybe tomorrow I'll go outside during the day. lol

Oakley, glad you like the feel of the product. Hope you get good results with it.

Gardening in early morning or evening is the way to go during the summer months! Heat (& our humidity) is hard for me to handle too.

So you're expecting a cold front. Sounds delightful! We're waiting to see what Earl is going to do here in Virginia Beach.

Yes, I think that's what most of us here do - spend more time outside in the am and pm. We spend most evenings out doors. I cannot shut myself up inside - I need my fresh air. It's no problem for me to get my 10 minutes a day just going in and out. I still protect my skin with sunscreen. I also take vitamin D, so I'm covered.

Stinky - we're getting a cold front too - for all of two days! LOL But supposed to be 80ish during the day and low 60's at night. We've already had a couple of weeks of lower night temps and that has been great. We may fire up the firepit this weekend. We're not expecting rain from Earl (at least not through the weekend), so I am sure we will get in lots of time outdoors this weekend. We do not like taking the boat out on a holiday weekend, and I am hating that we will miss this great weather on the lake - maybe next week.

I can handle the heat, it's the humidity that gets me.

tina

I just got my Spot Light also. It doesn't have a strong odor to me. I think that if you just put suncreen on your hands it won't affect your vitamin D absorption.