Holland & Barrett
Your hands and nails are a little bit like your face, in the sense that they are regularly exposed to the elements.
While we cover up most of the rest of our body, our face and hands get the full brunt of wind, UV rays, rain, pollution, and more.
We can also place added stress on our hands and nails by typing all day, and using them to lift and manipulate rough materials like wood, cleaning products, and plastics.
Our hands are also regularly exposed to a variety of bacteria, and then we touch our face and other body parts with our hands.
Hence, hand care has an aesthetic and self-care aspect, but it has a health aspect as well.
Likewise, the maintenance of fingernails is also important for both cosmetic and health reasons.
Taking good care of your nails can help prevent fungal infections, ingrown nails, and infections of nearby skin.
You can look after your nails by keeping them fairly short, clean, and trying not to bite them. You can also keep them strong and radiant using some hand and nail creams.
Most of the world has been given a strong lesson in the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of viruses.
We now know that not only should we wash our hands after using the bathroom and before eating, but after touching office equipment, after using public transport, after using someone else’s computer or devices, and even after a trip to the supermarket.
Hand sanitisers are often the best way to wash our hands when we are on the go.
The higher the alcohol concentration, the more effective a hand sanitiser is, and many come with glycerol as well to prevent drying of the skin.
For full impact, take care not to wipe the sanitiser off before it has dried.
Choose from a wide variety of hand sanitisers, including the I Love Hand Sanitiser.
It contains 70% alcohol, glycerin, and vitamin E for skin health. To use it, rub a thumbnail-sized amount all over your hands, including between the fingers and thumbs and on the wrists, until dry.
In contrast to hand sanitisers, hand washes are a more gentle kind of liquid soap that are typically designed specifically for the skin on our hands, taking into account that this is a part of our body that we wash much more often.
Hand washes are just as effective as sanitisers at keeping the hands clean, but aren’t as portable. To use hand washes, lather for 20 seconds at least, then rinse under a tap.
While germs can live on wet bars of soap, hand wash is dispensed from a container, and therefore avoids that issue.
Try Dr Organic Aloe Vera Hand Wash for example, which both kills bacteria, and uses polysaccharides to soothe and protect the hand skin.
Hand cream can be applied after you wash your hands (that is, multiple times a day), or whenever your hands feel dry.
You can also use hand creams with sun cream before you go out, as well as before going to bed.
Focus on the top of your hands, as this skin is thinner and has less sebaceous glands. It becomes dry quickly and needs more moisture than the bottom of your hands.
Likewise, the tops of your hands are the parts that need sun cream as they tend to face the sun a lot more than your palms.
Massage from the wrists right up to the finger tips.
If you use a hand cream regularly, it can help reduce the appearance of fine wrinkles and also support skin elasticity.
Products such as Dr Organic Royal Jelly Anti-Aging Hand & Nail Cream provide benefits for your hands and nails.
They are hydrating and improve the radiance of your skin, while also strengthening nails against splitting.
This product can be used as often as you need, and it includes some useful natural ingredients like lemon, sandalwood oil, beeswax, and clover flower extract.
Alternatively, Scence Cool Rose Hand Balm is a great product that comes in 100% paper packaging.
It works as a hand moisturiser and is especially helpful for dry hands and cracked nails. It includes organic jojoba and borage oils to regenerate and provide smoothness.