Best Way to Take Care of Your Hands

Your hands are permanently on show, and while well-groomed, smooth hands with manicured nails are a prized asset, dry, wrinkled hands with chewed stumps for nails are one of the most noticeable signs of age and neglect.

• If you are washing up or handling detergent or any other chemical substance, wear rubber gloves (models wear gloves even when shampooing their hair).
• Always apply hand cream after washing your hands and whenever they look dry. Keep a tub of hand cream by your kitchen sink and bathroom basin to remind you to do this, and carry a tube in your handbag. Good hand creams include L’Occitane’s Shea Butter, Jurlique’s Lavender Hand Cream, Neutrogena’s Norwegian Formula, Nivea’s Hand Age Control Lotion and Vaseline’s Intensive Care Hand Cream.

• For parched hands that are in desperate need of attention, try this overnight treatment and witness the difference in the morning. Massage your hands with a little warm olive or almond oil and pop them into cotton gloves that have been warmed on a radiator; a moisturising face mask or even hand cream will also do the trick. For a real treat, try Borghese’s Moisture Restoring Gloves or Mavela’s Night Cream For Hands.
• Exfoliate your hands regularly, using either a mixture of finely-ground sea salt and glycerine, your body or face exfoliator or a tailor-made product for hands, such as Philosophy’s Time On Your Hands – a cream and exfoliator in one.
• If your hands have brown marks (caused by the sun or ageing), RoC’s Retinol Anti-ageing Hand Cream and Cellex-C’s Salacia Lotion can help these spots to fade away. The more stuborn ones respond well to laser treatment.
• Wear a sunscreen to protect your hands.

Talon

The condition of your nails is affected by your health and lifestyle. If your nails are healthy, they should be pink, strong and flexible, whereas unhealthy nails are brittle, yellow in color, often have ridges, and flake, split and break easily. Many nail problems are caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, so start by taking a good multi-vitamin-and-mineral supplement and eat a well-balanced diet.

• Shorter nails are more fashionable at the moment and, as well as being easier to maintain, are less likely to split than long talons.
• If you can’t be bothered with nail varnish, or prefer wearing your nails nude, use a nail buffer to smooth the surface of you nails, even out any ridges and give your nails a natural gloss.
• In order to boost your nails’ blood circulation and encourage healthy growth, using your thumb, massage the nail bed daily with a little olive oil, nail oil or a nail-strengthening cream.

• Prevent your nails from tearing by being extra careful when handling or opening zips, buttons, doors, cans and so on. If a nail does tear or split don’t rip it off: repair kits and nail bandages are now available that can patch up or glue the nail back together again.

• Wear gloves to protect your nails while washing up or using detergents.
• If you nibble your nails, the only way in which to get them to look halfway decent is to wear false ones. You can have tips built onto them by a manicurist, or build your own using one of the false-nail kits available like Elegant Touch’s Ultra-quick Gel Nail Kit or Nailene’s Acrylic Kit Salon Sculpting System.