My hands are being overtaken by something?

I'm not sure if what I have is the same thing you have but it looks very similar. I'm 25 too and when I was a little boy I use to get the dry, red, cracking skin on the top of my hands, knuckles, and thumbs. They also would cling onto anything wool and would bleed sometimes. As I got older it went away but it came back in high school. This time it was not on my hands but on small areas of my arms and legs. I am also like you when it comes to the lack of insurance and money to spend on a doctor's visit but I had enough and decided to go to a dermatologist. He looked at my skin and said that I had eczema, something that I had suspected for a while but didn't want to accept it. He gave me a some ointments and told me to prevent excessive drying of my skin. He also said try not to take hot showers and to try Dove White bar soap. I also am a little obsessive about washing my hands through out the day so they get very dry very fast. I try to use lotion for very sensitive skin (Curiel is pretty good)... If I were you I would go to a dermatologist to get it checked out just to be sure because skin problems can become quite a tremendous nuisance, trust me. I hoped this helped you in some way, good luck dude.