Our hands can take one heck of a beating during the course of a normal workday. Regardless of what kind of work you do, the skin of you hands is exposed to bacteria, dirt, and chemicals. Properly caring for your hands can help to prevent premature skin aging and help to keep you healthy.
Our parents had it right when they would remind us to wash our hands. The first rule of thumb when it comes to caring for your hands is to keep them clean. The skin is a waterproof organ so getting it wet will not damage it in any way. Regular hand washing can reduce our exposure to many types of communicable health problems like the flu and the common cold. Using soap helps to break down the natural surface tension of water and aids in removing dirt and bacteria. Antibacterial soaps can be effective but any good hand soap will do since the trick is to wash your hands for at least twenty seconds. Dry your hands thoroughly with a clean cloth or paper towel or, if you prefer, use a warm air hand dryer.
If preventing dry skin and keeping your hands soft and supple is important, the time to use a moisturizer is right after you wash them. Some harsh hand soaps and cleaners can dry out the skin and hand creams and lotions do little to add moisture to the skin. What these products are good for is keeping moisture in the skin by slowing down the rate of evaporation of sweat and retaining the skin natural moisture. Whether you prefer an expensive hand lotion or use the bargain brand really does not matter since even a light application of good old fashioned petroleum jelly will do the trick just as well as the pricey hand cream.
Washing dishes is always a chore and washing dishes by hand can be hard on your skin. The degreasing ingredients in many dishwashing liquids can really dry out your hands by washing away the oils in the skin. Some dishwashing liquids are less harsh than others but if you notice that your hands are dried and cracked after doing dishes, you might consider wearing rubber gloves. Gloves may take some getting used to but they do offer the best protection. Whether or not you use gloves, always wash your hands with a mild soap and apply some hand cream after your chore is complete.
Whether working in the garden or doing other types work around the house, garden gloves can save lots of wear and tear on your hands. Gloves can be especially important and are definitely required if you are working with any type insecticide or pesticide. Not only can these chemicals be hard on the skin but may cause adverse skin reactions. Even if you wear gloves, always wash your hands thoroughly to remove any traces of chemical residue. There are protective creams available that will help prevent chemicals from contacting the skin but these creams can be messy, especially in hot weather so gloves are still the best way to protect your skin.
Working on the family car or garden equipment like mowers and trimmers can leave you with grease on your hands. Never use solvents or petrochemical solutions to degrease your hands as these chemicals will de-fat the skin be flushing away the skins natural oils, and these chemicals can be very hazardous to your health. Instead, use a mild hand degreaser and then apply a moisturizing cream.
Many of us take time to care for our face and for the same reasons taking the time to care for your hands will pay off by helping to reduce the signs of premature skin aging.
Article Source: www.articlesbase.com
Skin Care For The Hands
Hand Rub - How to apply hand cream
Review Use : I love this hand cream!. This super-creamy balm penetrates quickly to protect, nourish and moisturize the skin. Honey, almond and coconut oil are blended with Shea Butter to create this unique and extremely effective moisturizer. With a very high content of shea butter, this hand treatment protects, nourishes and softens your hands.
Do Your Hands Make You Look Older?
When you hear about wrinkles and skin aging, your first thoughts are about face and neck. But the earliest signs of aging will show on your hands.
Often neglected, hands need to be regularly taken care of. Frequent contacts with water and chemicals, sun, cold weather, gardening - all put your skin under a big stress. While hands do not have many oil glands, they will give away your age earlier than your pampered face.
In the meantime, it has been noticed that after making eye contact, the next thing people pay attention to is your hands.
What can you do to keep your hands beautiful?
- Moisturize! Several times a day. Dry skin is easily injured and looks wrinkled.
- Protect your hands - wear gloves when gardening, washing dishes, or dealing with chemicals
- Use sun protection
- Keep your hands dry. Any water left on your hands will evaporate and dry out the skin.
- Give your hands a special treatment - herbal or oil bath - once in a while.
Here are a few suggestions for your next hand spa:
* Herbal hand bath
Bring 1 qt of water to boil and pour over 1 tbsp of herbs (you can use all of these or just one: chamomile, nettle, sage, coltsfoot, calendula). Let the infusion cool to 100-110F and soak your hands in it for about 15-20 minutes. Dry your hands thoroughly and apply a rich moisturizer.
* You can make your own nourishing hand cream.
Thoroughly mix 1 teaspoon of honey and 3 tbsp of unsalted butter. Add 1 tbsp of strong herbal infusion. This will make a very rich cream. It will take a while to absorb, but leave your hands silky and smooth.
* For dry skin use this hand treatment 1-2 times a week:
# 1 tbsp Glycerin
# 1 Egg yolk
# 2 tbsp vegetable oil (olive, almond, or another oil of your choice)
# Lemon Juice of 1 lemon
# 3 1/2 - 4 oz of an herbal infusion (for example: chamomile, calendula, elderflower) or rose water.
Other tips:
* Mashed potatoes (with milk) will make a great hand mask.
* When cooking with eggs, don't throw the eggshells away. Scrape out the remaining egg white and spread it over your hands.
* Rubbing your skin with a piece of lemon will give the skin a more even tone.
* After washing dishes or dealing with other alkali detergents, rinse your hands with sour milk or with vinegar-in-water solution (1 tbsp. vinegar per 2qt of water). This will help to restore pH balance of the skin.
* Keep your hands warm. Not only for the sake of better skin, but for your overall health. Flue and colds often start with cold hands.
Tip for gardeners:
- Before digging in the dirt, scratch a bar of soap with your nails. When you are done working, cleaning your hands will be so much easier!
Nails.
Just like your skin and hair, your nails need moisture and conditioning too.
Here are few tips for better nails:
* If you use nail polish, do not use acetone polish removers.
* From time to time give your nails a break - let them be "naked" for a few days.
* For stronger nails, soak them in horsetail infusion.
* Olive oil that you probably have in your pantry will make a perfect strengthening nail bath (warm it first).
* Cuticles. Removing them is not always a good idea because it makes your nails more vulnerable to infections.
Yet, if you decide to do the procedure, prepare the nails first:
apply a rich cream to the cuticle area. soak your nails in warm soapy water for 5-6 minutes. After drying your hands, push the cuticles back and then carefully cut them off with small scissors.
As always, topical measures are not always enough, especially if you have brittle, split or dull nails.
There are vitamins that will help:
* Organic Silica - to speed up the growth, avoid brittle and split nails.
* Essential Fatty Acids - Omega 3-6, Primrose Oil, Borage Oil, Fish Oil - for healthy and strong nails.
* Vitamin B (particularly B5) - for healthy nails and skin.
* Chelated Iron - to avoid vertical ridges and spoon nails.
* MSM (Methyl-Sulfonyl-Methane) - provides building material for healthy cells.
For better absorption of vitamins and minerals, take digestive enzymes or bitters to stimulate digestion and help your body clean itself of toxins.
Whichever way you choose to care for your hands, even if it is just a hand lotion from your local grocery store, use it regularly. After all, doing so many things, your hands deserve care and attention.
The Author
(C) Natalie Katsman, 2003.
Learn skin care secrets, find out how to protect your skin and preserve its youthful and healthy appearance. Visit us at: http://www.Natural-Aid.com
Physical Beauty - Care Of The Hands
NO hands, as one authority on female beauty has declared, "reveal every hidden secret of the soul .... in their shape, texture and color" ? We doubt it. But they reveal themselves quickly enough as beautiful or the reverse. What is beauty of hand ? It is not so much the shape, just as in hair it is not the color, which counts here. Texture, skin quality and skin tint, the manner in which the hands are used, the nails, these determine their beauty. Nothing will give away your age quicker than the condition of your hands. Let’s take a look at some tips to try and hold off the ravages of time.
Care is what produces beautiful hands. If you are not your own manicurist then visit a professional one every week. Protect your hands against water by using gloves, rubber or canvas. Always have a cut of lemon handy to the sink. Whether you have a "psychic" or a merely plebeian hand, lemon juice removes stains, whitens the skin and cleans the nails. Vaseline, which keeps the nails from growing brittle, also makes up for the drying effect of hot dishwater.
Dish washing should always be followed by a vaseline or cold cream application. Always wear gloves when gardening, and use vanishing cream on them before you expose them to the bright sunshine or cold. A cold cream application before retiring and cotton gloves should accompany chapped hands into bed.
Red Hands.—When red hands are not caused by some trouble which calls for a doctor's care, use a good rich, cream massage, for it will help circulation if bad circulation is the reason. A mere surface redness may be treated by rubbing in some standard skin food, after washing with hot water and soap, and leaving it overnight.
The Ideal Hand.—The ideal hand has smooth, tapering fingers. If you have square or knotty fingers give them treatment for pressing out the ends. A soft, white skin, a firm palm, firm and supple wrists and well-kept nails and fingers are all possible of attainment by manicuring, massage and constant cleanliness. Hands should be neither too fat nor too thin. Regular diet in the first place, then massage and special exercises are correctives. This applies as well to fat wrists. Remember that, like the ideal face and figure, the ideal hand is only relatively so. There is a different style of hand for nearly every style of being, and there are as many different hands as there are face beauties.
Gloves.—Tight gloves will make your palms perspire, give your hands a pudgy look, and, if you wear them right along, will turn the hands red and mottled. Red hands often result from continual wearing of tight-fitting gloves. And—if you do not chemically clean your gloves after each wearing—your hands will grow dirty as soon as you put them on. Gloves which are not perfectly clean chap and coarsen the skin texture of the hand, and at times cause infections
A narrow palm is supposed to be a sign of a feeble temperament, one lacking imagination. A fairly generous palm shows imagination and a nature capable of greatly enjoying physical pleasures. Too large, broad and pronounced a palm denotes egoism and sensuality. Hard, thick palms, out of proportion to the rest of the hand, show an animal nature, void of intelligence. Knotty fingers mean originality, imagination and a scientific trend. Smooth, tapering fingers hint at aptitude in art and sentiment predominating over reason. Square fingers mean a sense of method and order. Spatulate fingers are a sign of ability, activity, tact and knowledge.
THE NAILS
A woman's nails should have home attention, but this should be supplemented by occasional visits to the manicurist. Else it is impossible to keep them in perfect condition. You may use an orange stick or an ivory pusher to push back the cuticle from the nails (after it has been softened by cold cream or vaseline), but do not cut the cuticle yourself. This had far better be left to the professional. If you use the professional cutting tools you may easily cut and scar the surface of the nail, and weeks may elapse before the scar disappears. If the cuticle be cut constantly the edges grow hard and thick.
Manicuring.—Always see to it that your orange stick is well covered with absorbent cotton or a bit of silk. When you have shaped the external edge of the nails with a fine pair of scissors, finish with emery or a steel nail file. And always, before beginning to manicure your nails, soak them in hot soap water and cleanse with the nail brush. When you polish the nails, use paste first, and do not apply the powder till afterward. As a buffer you can use the palm of the other hand. A thorough "home" manicuring should be undertaken at least once a week.
There are many very satisfactory nail pastes and polishes on the market. A liquid polish is usually best for the nails, all the more if there is no paste foundation. Carmine, which gives a pleasing pink tint, should be the paste used. Never use the liquid varnishes which produce a sheen without the aid of the buffer. They have a deteriorating action on the nails themselves. You brush your teeth every night. It is just as easy to devote a few minutes to your nail cuticles as well.
The Nail Bleach —A good and simple nail bleach for use beneath the free edges of the nails is made by mixing an ounce of hydrogen peroxide with a quarterounce, respectively, of ammonia and lemon juice. Before polishing the nails wash out the bleach with hot water. Keep your manicuring tools in good condition, and throw away your orange stick as soon as it roughens. For a buffer, if you do not care to use your palm, buy a buffer frame and renew the chamois skin.
Bruised Nails —A hot water dip, with an overnight application of antiphlogiston, is good for bruised nails. The white nail spots which often result from a bruise will fade out slowly of themselves as a rule. Their departure can be hastened, however, by application of refined pitch and myrrh in equal parts.
Nail-Bite —The only real cure for nail biting is not to bite the nails. The application of tincture of myrrh is merely a reminder not to do so.
The Author
Michael Fortomas is a teacher of Biology and his Free Guide "151 Beauty Tips" is a look at specific tips, old and new, to help women meet the current perception of our societal definition of beauty. Visit http://1source-body-health.
Article Source: www.isnare.com
8 Tips: The Truth About Hand Care
Look at your hands now and tell yourself what you see?
Beautifull and gorgeous hands are so important.
Hands tells everything about yourself, how you live your life and love your body. They say that hands give a woman's age away, well so what! But gorgeous hands are the carriers of your personality, no matter in what situation and age you are.
You wear fancy designer clothes, imagine the negative effects if you combine these fancy clothes with abbandonded hands.
Look around you and see how hands are the centre of communication. At a party, or even a job interview, your hands are your business card.
Your hands are the ultimate tool invented ever, but you don’t realize how importants these tools are. You just use them all day; Shaking hands, cooking, doing your hair, feel, touch, work, write. Endless, think about this for a second.
And decide now, no matter what your age is, to treat them as your treasure.
* The skin of the hand is so thin, protect the skin.
* Pamper your hands with your personal hand lotion, 4 times a day.
* Exfoliate once a week with a face exfoliater.
* Use once a week your face night cream also on your hands before you go to sleep.
* Get accustomed to using rubber gloves whenever you do housework.
* Prevent your hands from aging or abusing.
* Protect your hands from dry weather as well as protecing them from the sun.
* Use daily a protective barrier.
With other words: The best way to take care of your hands is to protect them.
Credit By : www.pioneerthinking.com
Rose Hand Cream
Jurlique Rose Hand Cream A rich protective hand cream, rich in the living energy of rose, calendula and viola, to deeply moisturise and restore smoothness, leaving hands feeling soft and supple.
Dr.Hunter's Rosewater and Gllycerine Hand Cream
An enriched version of our classic formula of glycerine and rosewater that ranks among the best for conditioning hands, keeping them smooth and supple. 2.5 oz. metal tube, boxed.
L'occitance rose hand cream
This cream, enriched in Shea Butter and vitamin E, repairs, nourished and protects hands from daily aggressions. The hands are moisturized* and delicately perfumed with the fresh and slightly fruity fragrance of the Grasse rose, the Bulgarian rose, the Moroccan rose, and the Turkish rose.
Shea butter hand cream
L'occitane - Shea butter hand cream
A super-smoothing--and best-selling--synergy of 20% Shea Butter, honey and sweet almond extract, blended with the light and alluring aromas of jasmine and ylang-ylang essences. Texturally pleasing balm glides on and absorbs to help heal and protect dry or dehydrated skin. Anti-oxidizing vitamin E helps nourish. Invites even the most hard-working hands to a fresh beginning.
Mistral - Milk Shea Butter Hand cream
Mistral Milk Hand Cream with Shea Butter. Like fresh sprinkled baby powder, this delicate and comforting fragrance carries you back to innocence. This blend of mimosa, white musk and cedarwood is enriched with milk proteins, making it excellent for extra dry and even sensitive skin. This soothing scent is added to Mistral Shea Butter which is enriched with calendula flower extract, a plant that soothes skin irritation and promotes healing. Shea butter treats chapped lips, problem cuticles, sunburn, dry hands and even hair. Enjoy the benefits of Mistral Milk Shea Butter and experience softer, more supple skin.
- Enriched with 10% pure shea butter and 10% pure olive oil
- Intensive treatment for dry or chapped hands
- Fast-absorbing, non-greasy formula
- Shea butter cream leaves the skin noticeably smoother and softer
PRE de PROVENCE- shea butter hand cream
With a hearty 20% shea butter, this thick, rich hand cream is an everyday luxury. Very moisturizing and nourishing to keep your hands soft. Each package contains a full 2.5 fluid ounces in a nice metal tube.
Choose from three soothing fragrances: Floral, beautiful and subtle, redolent with essential oils from African flowers and fruits; Lavender, infused with classic, calming lavender essential oil; or Verbena, lightly scented with verbena perfume.
LoLLiA Shea Butter Hand Cream
Botanically lush hand creme with rich ingredients.
Macadamia Nut and Avocado Oils are blended to comfort and soothe skin. Beneficial hydrating extracts of Aloe and Shea Butter lightly moisturize while delicate floral infusions of peony and white lily leave skin deliciously soft and fresh.