Hey string players.
I was just thinking how gross my hands are, and how much of it is due to violin. I have permenant dents in 3 fingers, and callouses which go through cycles of forming, hardening and falling off on my fingertips. I have a hard patch of skin on my left thumb from where I hold my bow. I have shorter nails on my left hand than my right, and a very short right little fingernail.
Does anyone have any cures for these things? And could anyone recommend a handcream which I can use before playing violin, which isn't going to affect my violin or my grip?
Do share your hands' experiences too!
Bohemian

Hmm, my hands are also not a pretty sight. I've also got callouses and weird nails. I've never really gone to the trouble of doing anything about them because they're not hugely bad so I don't really know what to suggest. Savlon cream might help with the callouses. About the nails, if you just want them to grow then some of that nail-grow stuff which you paint on the nails might help but I don't think that's what you really want.

It'd be interesting to see if anyone's got any solutions.

My hands are a right mess too from playing string instruments. But, it's totally worth it!

I've got freaky fingers in the first place. Thin at the tip, thin at the bottom, and then incredibly wide in the middle, AND IT'S ALL BONE.

I'm not sure if there are many grease free moisturisers out there that I know of, but I think if you do really want to moisturise your hands, moisturise them before you go to sleep and moisturise them before you go to school, so then it won't affect you're playing. Although, thinking about it, you could try mositurising then talcing them.

Your callouses fall off? Blimey, I think moisturiser will help there as it'll soften them but not too much, just enough for them not to fall off.

Yeah they get so hard that they fall off...hard to explain! And disgusting too. My index finger one fell off 2 days ago.
Talc is a good idea, thanks

I used talc on my left hand in a cello exam once, so my sweaty hands were more in control - it seemed to help a bit to begin with....

I got the idea from Gladiators and gymnasts, when they rub their hands in floury stuff!

I don't think string players hands look bad really. When you see how elegantly they move, because they're so used to working hard, I think they look very beautiful. I don't think other people are really as aware of the blemishes that we tend to notice so intensely ourselves. I think as long as your hands are clean and reasonably well cared for, noone's really likely to notice the other stuff.

Like meerkat said, i don't think violinists' hands look bad or ugly. My fingers do have callouses on the ends, but they don't fall off! The skin is just tougher/stronger there so that my fingers don't get sore and sensitive every time I play.

Nothing weird should happen to your fingernails bohemian - what you've said is confusing; are your very short fingernails actually brought about by playing? because I just keep mine reasonably short and they don't get affected and aren't in the way at all.

No, it just annoys me that if they're just a fraction too long, it's near on impossible to play. Can't ever have them more than about 2mm long or they make it awkward. I have to cut them more than once a week...

You kinda get used to it, eventually. A hazard of the trade regrettably However, I use Neutrogena (unperfumed) cream on my hands every night. I apply it literally just before I go to bed, so that it has a good few hours to soak into my skin and do some good. The callouses are still there, but nowhere near as bad as they would be without moisturisation. The cream isn't particularly cheap, but you don't need to use huge amounts of it and it's worth paying for something that actually works. It also very good for preventing cracked skin on the knuckles in winter too.

My nails grow like there is no tomorrow. I have to file them down, really short, every 48 hours, or they will affect my playing. To be honest, I've got so used to them being REALLY short, that even if I didn't play the violin I would still keep my nails as they are now.

I find some hand creams make my callouses fall off - any chance this is your problem bo?

Might be, I don't know They're built up again quite well now.
I'll try Neutrogena, Amanda, thanks. I suppose callouses are good in a way, my fingers never hurt or get cut now! But when they fall off, it's quite uncomfortable. And when they get too built up, it can feel a bit clumsy.

Must remember to go to Boots tomorrow!

I have always had very fast growing nails, too - my fiddle teachers used to whinge at me for not cutting them even when I have! I am so used to short nails that I keep them that way even though I rarely play now.

Have no idea how women cope with tallon like nails. The thought of trying to pick things up with nails like that, or catching them and bending them backwards sends shivers down my spine...ughh!! My hair grows at the same rate of knots as my nails - which isn't surprising really since both are made of keratin - however, as you know, my hair is long, in complete and utter opposition to my nails

Callouses are great from the point of view of never getting sore fingers or cuts, but yes, it's horrible when a bit of it breaks off and you're left with lump that makes playing feel awkward. I used to resort to gently cutting off the other bit with nail clippers, but I sometimes went a bit deep and made my fingers sore instead.

That's the one thing I have found with regular use of Neutrogena; it cuts down on the build up of the callous. Yes, the skin on the fingertip remains hard - with that string-shaped indent? - but you won't get big lumps of skin mounting up.

Yes, I have never understood how anyone can cope with nails like that.

I knew a fiddle player at school who had nails at least half an inch long - played with the flattest fingers to enable her to play. No idea how she managed double stops...! She was not amazing, but she wasn't bad - made you wonder how good she could be if she chopped her talons off so they didn't get in the way.

Have you tried pumicing your calouses when in the shower?

I keep my nails really short too, they do grow fast (but I do wish my hair would too )

On the subject of talons, I once saw a woman on the train with the most horrible incredibly long nails. They must have been 10 inches and I'm not exaggerating, and they were curling around and all yellowy brown. Apart from her nails she was well groomed, I guess she thought it was cool. She had great difficulty just picking up her ticket to give to the inspector, let alone open her purse. When she scrated her eyebrow her hand was miles away from her face! I'm afraid my mind ran riot a bit and after thinking "how on earth does she do the washing up" and coming to the conclusion that someone else must do it, I started wondering about other, shall we say, more basic and personal, hygiene tasks. Yukkk!!!

Ewww... I think nails like hers are gross, Jane! I once saw a woman like that on the Guiness book of records program on TV. Eww!!

Speaking of callouses.. mine feel like a burst and dried blister right now. I can still get cut, but the skin is extremely thick and uncomfortable. Ugh... I think only my violin teacher never gets callouses! He has rather flat fingertips and broad fingers and he's strong. I never see any difference in any of his fingers! :Going green with envy:


I used to peel off the dead skin because I couldn't take it any more, but this is the first time I left it on and it is kind of irratating that it's thick, but I can still get cut. I thought that the callouses should prevent finger cuts.

I must be a lucky one, I have never had callouses or anything like that, my hands are still like they were when I first started playing, I think my hands have been toughened by the fact I always expose them to cold weather as I dont feel the cold, and I love goalkeeping in football, often barehand.
I hope your callouses dissapear soon, try that dude's suggestionf of moisutrising them before bed eacxh night.

Yes, I do moisterise every night, but not Neutrogena. Maybe I should try that. But they were also swollen a couple of weeks' back and the hardened callouses were a deep yellow, going on brown. They still feel a bit swollen right now, and I have lost all feeling in my fingertips. My friend (a violin teacher) was rather shocked when she saw mine, and said that it's the first time she has seen such terrible fingers. Hers were only 'cut' and wrinkled, but no callouses. I wonder if I'll ever get the feeling back in my fingers. It makes playing piano feel very weird, because I can't 'feel' the keys!

When I tap my left fingers on anything, it sounds like my fingers are wearing tap-dance shoes! My right fingers give out the normal dull thud.

Well, I'm lost as ton how you lot can get such bad fingers when mine are absolutely fine, maybe you have thinner than normal skin? Because it seems that you are worse than anyone else on here.

I think anyone who plays string instruments a lot will likely end up with callouses, as testified by the number of people posting to this thread with the same problem Someone who has been playing for a long time/practises a lot will naturally have more callouses than someone who plays less/has been playing for a shorter time.

I never got callouses from the violin as such, but certainly had tougher skin on my fingertips... and I never did practice that much! When I play my harp regularly I certainly get callouses, and I always have to ease back into it slowly or I can end up making my fingers exceedingly sore.

They are still calloused but then after NOT practicing much for a week, a bit of feeling is coming back into them. Although it now feels like I have finger gloves on... tight and prevents you from fully feeling anything!
They are still paler and a little yellow compared to my right hand, and the fingertips are now permanently flat

Sometimes, my left fingertips are black because of the finger boad, but apart from that it's OK(maby it's because I don't practice a lot)

Today my index inger callouse (which was stained black from fingerboard/strings) fell off in orchestra, thanks to 8 days of 8 hours a day playing. The other 2 are looking like they're going to follow on soon Yucky yucky.

i'm finding this thread increasingly puzzling. Surely callouses are a good thing for string players? They protect your fingers, enable you to play longer... they're an expression of your hard work. I rather like mine!