Skin prep & prevention · Ten boring minutes
The best skin problem is the one that never shows up.
Most of the splits, flappers, and slick-off days we've had were coming for a week before they happened. We just didn't do the ten boring minutes that would've stopped them.
10 mina week of prep is the difference between a flapper and a send
2 wksof Tip Juice before a trip and day one feels like day four
0aluminum in Performance. Dry hands that still feel like hands
Redmond, ORmade in our own 100% solar-powered facility
You already train fingers. Train the skin too.
Skin is the only piece of gear you can't replace mid-trip, and it's the one most people never maintain. Tip Juice toughens it so it holds under load. The file keeps calluses flat so they can't roll and rip. Performance keeps the sweat off before it costs you a grip. Hydrate keeps dry, glassy skin flexible so it bends instead of cracking.
Do it after sessions, the night before, and whenever you remember. You'll spend a lot less time taped up and sitting out.
The fix, start to finish
Months out to the night after. Then you do it again.
Prevention is cheaper than repair, and repair sets up the next round of prevention. The loop looks like this.
- 1Months out
Make the ten minutes a habit. File weekly, Repair after sessions, Hydrate when skin feels like plastic. This is where most problems are prevented.
- 2Weeks out
Tip Juice nightly for ten days before a trip. Keep calluses flat. Check the thin spots and tape them before they open.
- 3Night before
Performance for dry hands. Repair for flexible skin. File anything standing proud.
- 4During
Brush the holds, chalk lightly, Hydrate between burns. Tape a thin spot the moment it looks pink.
- 5After
Wash, file the edges, Repair. Rest days get Tip Juice in the morning and Repair at night.
- 6Start again
Back to weekly maintenance. The goal is a season where you never think about your hands.
The routine
4 steps. Pick a size, hit Add, keep reading.
It goes straight to your cart and the page stays put.
01Two weeks out
Step 1
Toughen the tips before they're tested.
Tip Juice is a tanning solution for skin. Once a night for ten days before a trip or a hard block of training, and the top layer firms and thickens so it takes longer to wear through. Keep it going on rest days.
02Weekly
Step 2
Keep calluses flat.
Ten minutes with the 80/100 file once a week and your calluses never get tall enough to roll. File the edges, not the pad. Then you're not deciding between a flapper and a send.
03The night before
Step 3
Dry hands that still feel like hands.
Performance goes on before bed, with no aluminum, and your hands show up dry the next morning. Less chalk, more friction, and skin that stays firm instead of going soft and sliding.
04Between sessions
Step 4
Keep it flexible.
Skin that's too dry cracks the first time it bends. Hydrate is aloe and hyaluronic acid in a spray that puts the water back without softening you up. Tape backs up any spot that's thin.
Find your way in
Tell us what happens. We'll point.
No score and no wrong answers. Pick what sounds like you, and every answer opens another door: a fix, a page, a longer read.
Skin Prep & Prevention
The science of tough skin
Skin adapts to load. Just slower than you'd like.
Skin responds to friction the same way muscle responds to weight: it thickens. Repeated pressure tells the cells at the base of the epidermis to divide faster, and the outer layer stacks up into a callus. Left alone, that callus keeps growing until it stands proud of the surrounding skin, and anything that stands proud catches. That's the flapper: a callus that lifted at the edge and took healthy skin with it.
Tanning agents are the other half of the story. Tannins, the compounds that turn hide into leather, cross-link the proteins in the stratum corneum and make it firmer and more resistant to abrasion. Tip Juice is that idea for fingertips. The tips don't get thicker so much as tougher, which is what you want on sharp rock. Too much and skin goes brittle, so it's a pre-trip and rest-day tool, not a forever one.
The prevention routine climbers run now came out of the gyms and the competition circuit in the 2000s, where athletes climbing six days a week needed skin that would hold up to the volume. File, toughen, keep it dry, keep it flexible. It's ten minutes, and almost nobody does it until after the first flapper.
1950sChalk comes to climbing from gymnastics. Dry hands become a thing
1970sClimbers start filing calluses. Sandpaper and emery boards
2000sGym and competition climbing make weekly skin maintenance standard
2010sTanning-style fingertip toughening products arrive
10 minA week. File, toughen, dry, hydrate
2 weeksTip Juice before a trip. Day one feels like day four
Why it happens
Three ways it goes wrong. Three fixes.
Soft skin tears.
Tips that haven't been loaded in a while are thin. The first hard day on rock, bars, or a paddle takes the top layer off before you've warmed up.
Fix: Tip Juice, two weeks out →Calluses roll.
A callus that's allowed to build up lifts at the edge, catches on a hold, and comes off as a flapper with healthy skin attached.
Fix: file it flat weekly →Sweat softens.
Wet skin is weak skin. Sweat soaks the pads and turns a solid callus into something that slides off.
Fix: Performance the night before →
What prevention looks like in practice.
Sunday night, after the session. Wash the chalk off. Ten strokes with the 80 side of the file across any callus that's starting to stand up, then the 100 side to smooth it. Tip Juice on the pads if a trip is coming. Performance if tomorrow is a session. Hydrate if the skin feels like plastic.
That's it. The payoff is a trip where you never once think about your hands, which is the whole point of having them.
Build the kitThe kit
Bottle by bottle.
What each one does, when it goes on, and a button that puts it in your cart.
Two weeks outTip Juice
Firms and thickens the top layer of skin. Nightly before a trip, mornings on rest days.
$12.95The night beforePerformance
Aluminum-free sweat control that soaks in overnight. Dry, firm skin the next day.
$8.95Between sessionsHydrate
Light aloe and hyaluronic spray. Keeps skin flexible so it bends instead of cracking.
$8.95A clean baseImpact Chalk
Pure chalk that lays down a thin, even layer. Less of it, more friction.
$19.95Thin spotsRhinos' Own Adhesive tape
Cotton tape that stays on sweaty hands. Cover a thin spot before it opens.
$3.95
Field notes
Things we learned the hard way.
1
Prep after, not just before
The best time to do skin work is right after the session, while you're already thinking about it.
2
File dry, moisturize wet
Sand in the morning when skin is firm. Put product on at night when it absorbs.
3
Don't over-toughen
Tip Juice every night forever makes skin brittle. Pre-trip and rest days, then let it ride.
4
Watch the first day
Day one of a trip is when prep pays off or doesn't. Climb easy and let the skin settle in.
Made inRedmond, Oregon, in our own facility
Powered by100% on-site solar
Formulated bya pharmacist, built by a chef
Plant basedNo parabens, phthalates, or BPA
Tested byclimbers, riders, fighters, and working hands
Skin Prep & PreventionBuild the kit
The Rhino Deep Dive
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