Why looking after your hands is important
The sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays beat down on our hands as well as our faces. Then there’s the cold, wind and rain. We also plunge hands into bowls of hot or cold water, buckets full of detergents and all manner of chemical products. Living in a hard water area (a place where water has a high mineral content, such as London) can also spell trouble. Washing hands in hard water will strip their moisture.
How to read the signs of neglected hands
- Hands may be rough, dry, cracked or sore
- Hands may appear wrinkled •
- Your nails may be ragged around the edges
- Your nail plate appears with ridges
- The skin on the back of your hands once pinched stays pinched
- Sun spots or hyper-pigmentation appears on hands
- Nails become brittle and snap
People tend to abandon caring for their nails when times are busy. When stressed we bite them, and we use them in the absence of sharp tools for all manner of tasks. It’s so easy for them to become damaged. Nails are built from the protein keratin, and are ideally strong – in order for us to protect the soft tissue in our fingers and toes. The condition of our nails has long been used by doctors to help diagnose medical problems, including iron deficiency. You can help maintain healthy nails by having regular manicures and using conditioning products on them.
Saintly Solutions – your guide to healthy hands and nails
• Moisturise using an intense, non-greasy hand cream – make it one that targets your nails, too. Hand cream should always be applied after each time you wash your hands.
• Banish the effects of UVA and UVB rays by ensuring your hand cream contains a Sun Protection Factor 15 (SPF15), so important to preventing ageing of the hands.
• When you drive, the reflection of the sun through the windscreen makes your hands a target for UV light just as if you weren’t in the car.
• Look out for protective ingredients, such as Vitamin C, which will help to reduce the appearance of hyper pigmentation (freckles and so-called age spots). Vitamin E will also shield your hands from environmental assault.
• Suffer from rough hands? Always wear gloves when washing up, gardening or using any chemicals.
• There are several treatments now available targeting the hands, such as microdermabrasion and the Dermalogica Multivitamin Hand and Nail Treatment.
Time of Life Recommends… Dermalogica Multivitamin Hand and Nail Treatment
This intensive, non-greasy treatment is packed with goodies including Algae Extract, Grapefruit Peel, Grape Seed Extract, Ginko Biloba plus Vitamins C and E.
A combination of botanicals and vitamins helps to nourish skin, strengthen fingernails, and soothes dry, rough hands. Vitamin E protects hands against environmental assault. The anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties of licorice root help to play down hyperpigmentation.
Apply to hands and nails with a light massaging motion. Use after washing hands or as necessary.
******* As well as the Multivitamn hand and nail treatment, you can buy Dermalogica cleanser, toner and moisturiser online at Time of Life – visit www.time-of-life.co.uk for beauty tips and advice too, plus free next day delivery on orders.
DON’T MISS... the final chapter of the Skin Care Sins series – Sin 7, Not having enough Me Time. Available soon!