Can anyone recommend some good Hand Soap to use. I don't know much about the way my hands effect my cards or my ability to preform sleights but I have had a few people tell me to get some pH neutral soap. Can anyone recommend a brand or give some sort of link? I just started to learn but I have already noticed that my hands tend to be very oily. Thanks and I hope this is the right forum ... I live in America btw

If they are oily you can use any form of degreaser type soap, dawn dishwashing liquid would work. Alcohol is also good for removing oil from your hands. You didn't say what kind of problem you are having, making the cards soiled, difficultly handling or what? The old timers trick for improving your grip is to use glycerine. Hand lotions like Corn Huskers lotion is largely glycerine and is not oily and gives really good grip, or you can just go get a bottle of glycerine at a drug store and mix it with a bit of water and rub it on your hands before handling cards. This improves grip. If the problem is soiling the cards or saturating them with oil, then try any type of degreaser soap. Liquids other than dawn would be things like Simple Green, or Greased Lightning. Give us a hint.

Well my hands are really oily and I didn't say this at first cause I feel crazy like its all in my head. But I feel like after a couple of days the deck that I am using starts to handle differently. I figured either that I'm degrading it really fast or that I'm "breaking it in" and shouldn't complain lol. Thanks for you help

Well, decks are not meant to last forever. Depending on what you do, you can burn a deck pretty fast.

Having clean hands certainly helps. But if your hands are to dry from the soap, your handling will also be impacted.

I agree with Andy.
Decks begin 'breaking in' fairly quick.
Personally, I prefer decks that have been used for a few hours of heavy shuffles and a few routines.

I have oily skin myself. All you have to do is wash your hands thoroughly with warm to hot water, using a good strong soap, on a frequent basis. My entire skin is oily, so if I touch my face, I have to wash my hands before I touch cards. In addition, I live in North Carolina, which is not as muggy as Mississippi but it's darn close. lol

Just be more religious about washing your hands and not touching parts of your body that are oily and you should be fine. Eventually, you'll get to be able to "feel" when your hands are too oily for you to have a good grip on the cards, and will instinctively go wash your hands before picking them up.

Carry a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket(if thy aren't too crammed full of other stuff!)

Also, I use a product called Take Hold. It and other similar products are sold at Staples, Office Max, etc to be used by tellers and cashiers for sorting money. Works like a charm.
dobber

Interesting, I hadn't even considered something like Take Hold. For a beginner, would it be better not to use any products as such and get used to doing the sleights without the extra grip? Just seems like then later when you add the product it will be like a revelation rather than the norm

Some might consider lotions and sticky stuff to be a crutch you may become dependent on.
Personally, I didn't use anything when I started. As I got older, and my hands dryer, I resorted to Corn Husker's Lotion and Sort Quik but only when I really needed to.