This was honestly a review I was trying to put off for as long as I could. To review this product, would mean I’d have to rip/tear my hands. No one likes to rip or tear their hands; personally I just stop working out all together when I do. Okay, I’m just being dramatic…but still it sucks to have to do any kind of workouts with ripped up hands. Everyone’s got their own special recipes for dealing with rips, and more power to you if you’ve got one that works. I know my “let it dry out and put nothing on it” technique only just lead to the rip cracking and opening up again didn’t work all that great (luckily I don’t rip often). Winnie’s Rip Fix is a pre-made remedy that you can buy that uses an age old recipe from owner, Robin Stewart-Ribeiro’s family. So does it work?
I always stress hand care to my athletes. The best way to take care of rips is by not ripping in the first place. If you feel one coming or you get a blister, cut it open and let it dry out. Get a pumice stone and go to town on your hands every night when you shower. The magic of Winnie’s Rip Fix starts with the awesome pumice stone they sell. I used to think that there really couldn’t be too much of a difference between pumice stones, and I was wrong. Previously, I was using a stone that I purchased elsewhere and it would take me a lot of hard scrubbing to get rid of my calluses because it was much too coarse of a stone. Winnie’s stone take half the effort and costs less than half of the cost. For two bucks, you might as well try it. Make sure you take care of your hands at least every other night!
If/when you do rip, make sure you cut off as much of the excess skin around the rip as possible. You really don’t want the excess to pull off even more and created a bigger rip. Proceed to clean the wound with some hydrogen peroxide, then dry and apply Winnie’s Rip Fix. They recommend a generous serving of the rip fix, but honestly a little bit goes a long way. I never needed any more than about a millimeters worth on my nail to cover my rip. As far as effectiveness goes, I haven’t tried out anything that calms the pain as fast as Winnie’s does.
When I got home and took a shower, I could still feel that I ripped, but the pain was almost non-existent. Following the directions, I applied more and put a bandage on it for when I went to bed. Following this pattern for the next couple days, by day 3 I was already back on the bar doing chest to bar pull-ups and toes to bar without much thought of my hand being ripped. I didn’t even have to apply anymore throughout the weekend. I ripped on a Monday and was good to go fully by Wednesday, that’s unheard of! It usually takes at least a week for me to be ready to go.
I’ve always been skeptical about the rip/tear fixes that are out there. I’m glad that I got to try Winnie’s Rip Fix out because other than the most awesome pumice stone in the world, it actually works pretty damn well. I’ve heard some of the other brands out there work pretty well, but I’ve never tried them out. So take that with a grain of salt. Winnie’s Rip Fix is the real deal. At $15 for both the balm and $5 the pumice stone, it’s totally worth it to try this stuff out if you find yourself ripping often. Take care of those hands!!!
