In reply to bouldery bits:
Apart from winter walking and climbing, I used to work out on the hill stock-fencing, and the mixture of constant cold, wet, and acidic soil cracked my skin on my hands terribly.
All of the advice above is good, particularly the 'be bothered and do something about it before it gets a lot worse) sentiments.
One other really good recommendation that works for me is Snowfire (google it). It used to be pretty much pure parafin wax, but has now been changed to be more environmentally friendly, but applied regularly and timely, it's brillian stuff, (even the new, watered down version).