The secret to keeping hands soft this winter
Looking after your hands all year round is essential to keep them looking and feeling soft, supple and beautiful. With Valentine's Day around the corner, our SOS guide to gorgeous hands will leave them ready for holding — or maybe even slipping on a ring!
Get your gloves
The first absolute rule for soft and supple hands is to keep them out of water as much as possible. Water is largely responsible for dry feeling hands as we are dipping them in and out all day without really noticing. Obviously, hand washing is important, but ensure you use a pH balanced or ultra mild soap. A pH level refers to how acidic or alkaline your skin is and a healthy skin level should be around 5.5. Commercial soaps tend to have too strong an alkaline balance that upsets skin, leaving it feeling dry and irritated, so using gentle soaps, such as Dr Bronners (approx £3.50), with a high natural ingredient content is less likely to upset the balance. The same applies for any liquid hand-washes you may be using as well as regular soap bars. Wearing rubber gloves to do the washing up and any wet chores will not only stop your hands from drying out, but it will help protect your nails, too, which can become flaky and weak from too much water.
Hydrate those hands
If your hands are already sore and chapped, investing in a barrier cream will stop any more moisture being lost and preserve the skin's moisture content — Invisible Gloves, £8.09, creates an invisible, non-sticky shield which is perfect if you work outdoors or are exposed to the elements, but it does need reapplying every time you wash. To moisturise hands that aren't sore and sensitive but just feel dry and slightly tight, an instantly relieving cream is Neutrogena Concentrated Hand Cream, £3.69, that contains glycerine — a natural humectant that draws moisture to the hands as well as preventing it leaving. Hand creams can be incredibly expensive, but in fact, all your skin needs is an emollient to soften, protect and re-moisturise — any other ingredients, such as essential oils, fragrances or anti-ageing elements are icing on the cake rather than an essential element. However, if you are interested in keeping hands looking young, always look for a hand cream with an SPF and use it every day, even in winter. A great tip for very dry hands is to slather them in hand cream at night and wear cotton gloves as you sleep so your skin gets all the nourishment, not your sheets!
Nailed it
Whether or not you like to use polish on your nails, a once weekly intensive treatment will help to keep nails strong and healthy. Certain oils are able to penetrate the nail more easily, so opt for oils such as sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil and neem oil that you can buy cheaply at the chemist. You can heat the oil very gently (don't use a microwave) and apply the warm oil all over the hand and nail area to soften cuticles and moisturise skin and hands. If you suffer from stiff hands or fingers, this is a perfect opportunity to massage out any knots or stiffness. Massaging encourages blood flow to the nails helping to strengthen from the inside out.
