Is There A Way To Avoid Guitar Calluses? YES! Here’s What I Did Unintentionally

Yes, the picture above is me….and no, it is not edited or filtered at all. I’ve been playing guitar for 2 years, but you wouldn’t know that just by looking at my fingertips.

Recently in some Facebook guitar beginner groups, a couple people have asked about avoiding or getting rid of calluses. Those who responded asked ‘why would you want to do that?’, and how they should wear it as a ‘badge of honor’.

Many people love to show them off online…I’m kind enough to not show you the worse (best?) of them cause they are an unsightly view…

As I did more research on Google, avoiding calluses seems to be a common question. I probably asked the same thing when I was starting off.

When you have nice soft finger tips, and you see the rough, dry, calluses more experienced guitarists have, some may even second guess learning guitar because, not everyone wants hands like that! And that is your right!

Now, when I first picked up guitar, I was playing every single day for months. My fingertips were in pain and I did develop calluses. That is unavoidable. But maybe a couple months later, they kind peeled off and my fingers look normal.

You can tell my left hand is still harder than my right if you feel it or push down on it, but if you were looking at it up close, you wouldn’t know I played guitar as it doesn’t look any different than my right guitar.

I didn’t intend to get rid of my calluses, nor was I purposely doing anything to get rid of them, so I figured they just went away on their own.

But after reading some comments and seeing how most people have them for years and decades, I had to think deeply about this. Only then did I realized why my calluses didn’t stay for long.

So what did I do that many players don’t?

Skincare & Exfoliants

Before I ever picked up guitar, I was big on skincare. I do suffer with uneven skin tone and dark acne scars that take years to fade if I don’t work on it. You can still see mosquitoe bite and chicken pox scars on my legs from when I was 8 years old. Hyperpigmentation is a real thing many black people suffer from. Our scars won’t go away on their own, and may even get worse due to the sun.

Thus, every morning and every night, I was very diligent with my skincare. I would wash, use a peel/scrub/mask, a toner, serum, moisturizer etc. I was especially serious about the exfoliants as these are what breaks done the cells and speeds up new growth.

Because I would use my fingertips to apply these products everyday, they were benefitting from the treatments just as much.

Now, you don’t need to use the strength of peels and exfoliants like I did, so feel free to check out your local drug store. You can find both skin care and body/hand treatments that include acids (lactic, salicylic, glycolic, citric etc), and find scrubs, exfoliating masks/gloves and so on.

You don’t have to worry about them damaging your hands. Anything sold over the counter will not be strong or fast enough to see results right away, but with time and consistent use, you’ll see it’s benefits.

Moisturization

Secondly, it’s a normal thing for black people to moisturize. We have dryer skin (and hair) so we use products to avoid looking ashy.

When I picked up guitar in 2017, I was working as a secretary, so I was interacting with coworkers and clients daily, transferring files, sharing computers etc. I also lived in a building (doors, elevators) and took public transit, so I was exposed to a lot of germs.

I’m not a germaphobe, but I was very aware of this, and I would wash my hands at least 12 times a day or more. When I wake up, when I used the washroom, before I cook, when I arrived at work, before I eat, after I arrive home, before and during skincare, etc.

This also meant that my hands would regularly feel dry, so I would moisturize after if I wasn’t cooking or doing something that required squeaky clean hands.

So if you have never used cream before or you have dryer hands, it’s time to adopt moisturization into your daily routine. I get that having soft hands may not be convenient at all times, but at the very least, you can put a thicker/stronger cream on your hands before bed, as it won’t get in your way and it would have hours to do it’s work.

Can I Just Do One Or the other?

This would depend on the stage of your current calluses. If you have years of hard, rough calluses, moisturizer will probably not be strong enough to break through the dry skin and actually soften your hands. You’ll just be wasting product on dead skin. So if you have hard calluses, you would definitely need an exfoliator to get rid of that first.

As another point of reference, I also had calluses in my palms from doing the monkey bars everyday as a child. I got a lot of blisters at the base of each finger, and not long after it healed, I would be on them again and get more. Thus, that area of my hand was always really thick and rough.

As I said above, I always moisturized as a kid, so my calluses didn’t look dry or rough, but it was still thick and rough. When I later got into skincare, it didn’t make much of a difference because I didn’t use that area of my hands to exfoliate or apply products to my face.

So even to this day, 20 years later, while they aren’t nearly as visible if you aren’t looking close, the evidence of them is still there. Skin does peel naturally with time, but point is, calluses aren’t easy to get rid of or soften if you aren’t making an effort.

So if you can do both (and again, it doesn’t have to be pricey either), you would get better results.

What About Filing?

I’ve read some other threads where people have suggested filing/shaving the dead skin off. What do I think about that?

Well, if your finger tips are really really rough like the bottom of a thick dry foot that really needs a pumice stone or shaver, it may be a good way to kick start softening them. However, filing too deep or doing this continuously will only create sensitive fingers and erase all the work you did to develop calluses.

It’s hard to tell where the callus ends and where your real skin begins. If you end up shaving a little too deep, you will end up with micro scars, and your fingers will work hard to heal and protect itself….thus creating more calluses. You also risk irreversible damage if you do cut into your nerves.

Thus, I would definitely recommend the chemical exfoliation route. Even now, most dermatologists speak against physical scrubs due to the damage it causes. A chemical peel is more gentle, it works more evenly, and it has way more benefits for your skin.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you hope. Despite the community being loud and proud about their calluses, you have every right to feel the way you do. Not everyone is going to be ecstatic about having rough, dry, fingertips for the rest of your life.

If you are new to guitar, feel free to start using these products right away, but do not rush it. As I said about my own experience, I still developed rough fingertips for a couple months even though I was using products throughout. Your fingers aren’t used to the torture of thin strings yet, and they are going to react harshly to it. That is unavoidable.

If you have calluses and would like to soften or get rid of them, feel free to use a stronger exfoliant or scrub as you have more layers of dead skin, but don’t torture your skin. DO NOT attempt to get rid of it asap. Have patience.

All over the counter products work, but they do take time as they work with your natural skin cycle. Rushing results will only cause harm and lengthen the process.

If you are new to skin care products, I would suggest starting off with something softer. Some chemical peels and exfoliants will start at 0.5% to 2%. It may not sound like a lot, but it is enough to see results with time, especially if you haven’t used exfoliants before.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, put a strong 30%+ chemical exfoliant off of the internet. Do not buy or use pure acids on your skin. People like me had to use products for years to build up the skin and tolerance for something that strong. I’ve been to an esthetician many times before attempting it at home. If your skin isn’t used to it, you risk burning your own skin and causing irreversible damage.

Even if your hands are stronger than your face, do not take the risk. Start off with over the counter products. You may feel a little tingle if it’s new, but you may also feel nothing. Just because you feel nothing doesn’t mean it’s not working. Stick to 1 to 3 times a week or whatever the instruction says. If it says 10 minutes max, do not keep it on for longer. Exfoliants work over time, so just be patient.

Be sure to moisturize often and especially after an exfoliation treatment to further protect your hands and promote soft skin growth.

Happy guitar playing!