Do you feel like you desperately need a manicure for your cold, grey shrivelled-up hands in this weather? Ask yourself - are you neglecting your hands?
I recently went for a Shellac job on my hands to get them looking neat and tidy for an event. As I sat there with my jagged nails, disgraceful cuticles and grey-looking hands, the nail technician asked me had I been neglecting my hands. I had to think about it. She asked when had I last had a manicure and to my horror, it had been nearly a year.
I'm not one for beauty treatments on a regular basis. Not because I don't enjoy them, in fact, I love them. I simply don't have time. A lot of working mums would probably have the same excuse. So yes, I have absolutely been neglecting my hands. I think a lot of us are guilty of taking care when we choose products for our faces and then failing miserably to pay attention to the rest of our bodies. I have an extensive skincare regimen and more lotions and potions than I would like to admit. However, when it comes to my hands I have nothing! You would be hard pushed to find an old hand cream in my house.
The funny thing is, you don't have to do very much to take care of your hard working paws. Hands get so much wear and tear and definitely not enough attention. They are the one place, besides your head, that gets the most sun exposure on a yearly basis. So when you think about it, they deserve quite a bit of love and attention. They are active more than any other part of us and exposed all the time. Think about how often they are immersed in water, exposed to detergents, banged and pranged off things while they are in action. They really do get a lot of wear and tear.
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Two steps
To step up your hand care routine, I'm going to recommend you do two things that will make a world of a difference to them. Firstly, get a good hand cream with sun protection in it. Keep it in your handbag or at your desk in work or in your car, wherever you spend most of your time and apply it regularly. Wearing SPF is the single most anti-ageing thing you can do for any part of your body. You will thank your younger self for taking this step when you are older. It will prevent you from getting tell-tale age spots or pigmentation on your hands from the sun.
The second thing to do is get a nail oil and rub it into your cuticles each night before you go to bed. This quick little step will look after your cuticles and the nail bed. If the oily residue bothers you, night time is a good time to do it because you won't need to use your oily hands for anything. You can just let it soak in and work it's magic overnight.
Have you been neglecting your poor paws?
