well i don't put very much on, i work it in with an absorbent paper towel and do it twice or thrice. seems to mop up all the finger schmutz as well. as i said, the weather here is so dry, the wood just soaks it up.
btw my hands suffer the same malady from this dry air, i get these fissures in my skin at the finger tips that i have to close up with locktite gel. i've tried everything under the sun (lotion, band-aids, medicine). an old time construction guy turned me on to the lock-tite trick, nothing else works. don't wanna let my fingerboards suffer the same fate...