Hi Jason,

I consider you to be one of the finest lecturers around. Your lectures are full of solid, real world advice, coming from someone who really loves and knows the art of magic. My question concerns hand care. While you are still young enough where you needn’t be concerned, is there any preventative measures that you use to ensure that your hands remain fine tuned? For example, do you recommend certain hand exercises, lotions, etc?

Best regards,

Tom Gagnon

Hi Tom,

I'm not Jason but I want to chime in that I ice my left thumb regularly. A hand physiotherapist diagnosed me with "Game Keepers Thumb" from repetitive strain. Farmers used to get it by repeatedly breaking fowl necks. For me it's repetitive dealing, pinking counting, etc.

http://twinboro.com/body/hand/conditions......-nj.html

Shaun

Tom,

Thank you very much for your kind words. Although I didn't have dry hands in my 20s, as I got into my mid-30s I did begin to have issues with dry hands. Part of the problem is probably my diet; I drink a lot of caffeine via Diet Coke and caffeine is a diuretic. Switching to pure water would probably help me in the long run but so far I haven't been able to break the soda addiction for longer than a month or two at a time.

A bigger issue is probably the fact that I lift weights and use gym chalk to help me grip the bar. Although that's great for lifting weights, it's terrible for my hands, at least as far as drying them out is concerned. I've tried to use gloves but I don't like the way they feel. Consequently, I'm constantly fighting this battle between having tough, gym-ready hands in the weight room, and then immediately washing them and putting lotion on them in the evenings.

Although I can get by with just about any high-quality lotion, for the past 10 or so years I've been using simple Neutrogena hand creme. Here is a link to Amazon that shows you exactly what I buy: http://www.amazon.com/Neutrogena-Norwegi......YG91RKBR

The size I've linked to on that page is the 0.5 oz size. That's what I have with me most of the time. It flies right through airport security and isn't much larger than a tube of lip balm so it fits in your pocket or close-up case with no problems. I find them at my local Albertson's grocery store or Target for about 99 cents a tube and buy 2 dozen at a time. There's always one in the car, one in my close-up stuff, one in the office, etc.

I've tried things like golden touch which works fine for me, but I don't like traveling with an actual liquid no matter how "secure" the container seems. If it ever leaked, it would ruin everything. I have 2 large bottles here at the house, that I use from time to time, but I typically stick with the Neutrogena.

I also use the bank-teller's hand moistener for my right thumb and fingertips when I'm going to be doing a lot of false-dealing demonstrations. You can find "Sortkwik" gel at office supply stores. Again, I buy dozens of containers at once and have them everywhere.

http://www.officemax.com/office-supplies......ARS25388

Incidentally, although lifting weights is bad for the skin on my hands, I do think that having strong hands is a tremendous asset for certain sleights. Things like the pinky count are obvious, but having strong hands also helps the classic pass (and other shifts) as well as bottom and center deals. I don't think you need to deadlift 550 lbs like me to get those benefits, but a simple pair of hand exercisers from the sporting goods store will do nicely to strengthen your hands to the point that it's beneficial, but without going overboard.

Hope this helps!

Jason

PS: Martin Nash used to keep Sortkwik behind his right ear. If he needed to load up his thumb, he simply touched behind his ear and was all set. I do the same thing, but I put the excess on the fleshy pad on the back of my left hand between the base of my index finger and the base of my thumb. It's invisible, but if I need to load up my right thumb, I can bring my hands together for a brief second and I'm all set.

Hi Jason,

I appreciate the "sortkwik" tip!

Shaun