CeraVe Healing Ointment, and the Small Jars I Keep Beside It

CeraVe launched in 2005 with just three products: a Moisturizing Cream, a Moisturizing Lotion and a Hydrating Facial Cleanser, all built around three essential ceramides. Two decades on, the line is huge, but the thing I actually keep in my bag is a small, unglamorous tub. CeraVe Healing Ointment is lanolin-free, with a petrolatum base plus ceramides and hyaluronic acid, and the brand says it was developed with dermatologists. It carries the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance, and it is listed with 46.5 percent petrolatum as the active ingredient. I went deeper on a related idea in CeraVe Moisturizing Cream: The Ceramide Formula And What Sits Beside It.

None of that sounds romantic, and I do not need it to. I put a thin film on cracked cuticles, on the corners of my mouth, on a windburned cheek before bed. It is greasy for about ten minutes and then it just works quietly. The trick is to apply it on skin that is still a little damp, so the ointment shuts the moisture in rather than shutting a dry surface out.

Around it I keep a few rescue balms with more personality. Erborian's Centella Barrier Cream is a cica balm meant to strengthen the barrier and soothe skin that feels raw and thin. Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Hand Salve is the one that lives by the kitchen sink. Hanni's Splash Salve is a body moisture treatment you use in the shower, which makes it the best option for anyone who never has time to moisturize properly. First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Rescue Balm is a barrier balm with dimethicone, and it doubles as a mask when I leave a thicker layer on overnight.

Hands take the worst of it. They are washed, sanitized, dunked in cold air and then handed a phone with a glass screen, When the knuckles split, an ointment is the emergency answer, but a good hand cream is what stops you getting there.

The richest of the group is Drunk Elephant's Therabu, a buttered reparative cream that sits like a soft balm. Soft Services makes its Theraplush overnight hand repair cream with retinol, refillable, and it is the one I would put on at bedtime and forget about. Cyklar's Sacred Santal has urea, ectoin and squalane in a sandalwood-scented cream, and it is my pick for dry, rough patches between the fingers.

For lighter days I like Glossier's Hand Cream, which is quick to sink in, and OUAI's Hand Lotion, which smells like the rest of the brand and does not leave a film on your keyboard. Sol de Janeiro's Brazilian Touch smells of pistachio and salted caramel, the one people ask about when you pass them a pen. Salt & Stone pairs bergamot and hinoki with niacinamide and seaweed extract, a green, clean scent for the desk drawer. Nécessaire's The Hand Cream carries five ceramides, five peptides and niacinamide, so it is the most barrier-minded of the lot.

Keep one tube by every sink and it will actually get used.

Heels are the forgotten end of the body. They pass all day pressed into shoes, they get no attention in a hurry, and by February they start to crack and catch on socks. A dedicated foot cream is not a gimmick, because the skin there is thick and dries out easily.

L'Occitane's Nourishing and Softening Karité Confort Foot Cream is my one recommendation for that job. Karité is the brand's word for shea, and the cream is made for dry, rough feet, thick enough to leave a little cushion and soft enough that you can slip socks on afterward without a struggle. I put it on right after a warm shower, when the skin is pliable, and I go heavy on the heels and the sides of the big toe.

If your heels are especially stubborn, do the old two-step. Foot cream first, then a thin seal of ointment over the top, then cotton socks and bed. In the morning the skin looks quieter and feels like it belongs to you again. A few nights of that in a row is usually enough to notice a difference.

What I would skip: filing or scraping heels aggressively when they are already cracked, and any foot product with a strong menthol or fragrance kick if the skin is split. Soak briefly, smooth gently if there is a callus at all, and let a plain cream do the rest. If a crack is deep, bleeding or will not settle, that is a question for a doctor, not for a shelf.

My rescue kit is small on purpose. One ointment for everything, one balm for the face, one hand cream at the sink, one foot cream by the bed. That is four things, and none of them needs an explanation.

Put the ointment on last, since it seals whatever went underneath it. Use less than you think, and keep it away from anywhere you are prone to breakouts, because a petrolatum layer is thick. Give a new product a week before you judge it, and if a patch is red, sore or weepy for more than a week or two, please have someone qualified look at it. Ordinary dry skin usually settles with a steady routine. Skin that keeps flaring is worth an appointment.