I’m a newbie who was suffering finger pain like us all. Then I remembered a tube of cream I’d bought for a small tattoo I’d had done a while back. In Australia, it’s called Emla but comes in various generic names. It’s essentially used in hospitals to help with children, big and small, having needles/cannulas. Numbs the skin so I grabbed mine, applied to very tips only then waited an hour to practice. Within a few days, I was the proud owner of rock solid callouses.
Just a tip
Hi Cate,
Welcome here and i wish you a lot of fun,… 
And I don’t know anything about this tube that you recommend, so maybe it works super well,and totally harmless… but I do know that pain usually has a function, does it hurt your fingertips way too much than take some extra rest if you can’t handle it,. …everyone can gets through this phase without aids (with the exception of medical oddities),…Good luck
Greetings,Rogier
Now that’s a good idea, me, just take the easy way out…… Amazon is your friend 
Well Bass strings (my latest toy) are vicious
I believe “Elma” cream is just a lidocaine ointment. That is a local anesthetic. Lidocaine is one of the things you might have injected in an emergency room before getting stitches for example.
There are several similar medications you may have heard of, prilocaine (also in Emla cream), xylocaine and Novocain (dentistry). Subtly different.
Probably harmless in this use, but anytime you diminish sensation, you run some small risk of overdoing it and injuring yourself. Use with care.
Hey Roger, sorry, couldn’t reply earlier on. I’d used up my quota or something. Anyway, the cream isn’t so much a full anaesthetic as it is just gentle numbing so you do still feel it, just not as painful which enabled me to practice for longer than a couple of minutes. Having said that, I realise the callouses have become too hard which is making my fingers slide a bit so I’ll be putting the cream away for now and just letting the natural progression take place instead. Thank you so much
Cate
Yes, it’s Emla. I only thought of it a few days in and when I did use it, it did help so I kept using but unfortunately I think I overdid. When they were really numb, I began pressing down on the strings too hard which has now created rock hard callouses, making my fingers slide a bit on the strings so I’ve stopped and doing what everyone has suggested as allow the natural progression. Thank you
Well, they’re novel. Never seen those before
