Fresh out of the can, New Skin Liquid Bandage smells like rubber cement and low-key hallucinations. And I’ll be honest, the idea of a can of liquid skin gives me the absolute heebee jeebees. BUT…this stuff is far superior, in many applications, to your conventional, adhesive bandage.
For those of us who sometimes fall off, on asphalt (road rash) or dirt (loam rash?), the type of wound that ensues is a sort of scattered, pus-y mess that doesn’t submit to the shapes of bandages that come in most variety packs. New Skin solves that by just bonding to your skin wherever you spray it.
Once I stuck the end of my finger back on with New Skin, and it held the gross skin flap in place long enough for the underlying flesh to heal, although, admittedly, I don’t have a ton of feeling in that fingertip anymore. It’s a liquid bandage, not a hand surgeon, after all.
New Skin goes on clear, which can make it hard to know just how much to spray, but actually, more than you think is usually how much you need. It also has a subtle anesthetic and anti-bacterial component that makes it better than a stick-on cloth strip alone.
I don’t know how much you bleed. Maybe you’re better at keeping the rubber side down than I am, but if you’re not, if you’re constantly wondering where that red stain on your shirt or pants came from, then having a can of New Skin around is an ok idea. If you’ve sustained enough damage, you’ll end up spraying enough of this stuff to actually become the rubber side, so there’s that.
This stuff along with Tegaderm dressings are the basics of cycling first aid kit for the skin rashes, etc.