In the winter, my hands can become as chapped as my lips. Even though I apply facial serum and moisturiser to my hands on a daily basis (just what’s left on my palms), when the mercury drops and the air gets drier, I need to pay special attention to maintain softness. Particularly as rough hands make for a less than enjoyable treatment for my clients.
If your hands aren’t quite ready for holding, here are my top tips.
Apply hand cream after washing your hands, every time. This is the obvious one, right? Historically, my big challenge has been finding the right hand cream. I am easily frustrated by hand cream that’s slow to absorb. And I need one that comes in a handbag-friendly size. Here's what keeps my frequent application on track: 30 ml-sized tubes from The Body Shop size (ahhh, the Moringa scent) and L’Occitane. I also love this gem from Dr Jart.
Slough off dry skin. As with our faces, exfoliation is important to remove dead skin cells that prevent moisturiser from being absorbed. To make as easy start of this, when you are exfoliating your face, use your regular facial exfoliant on your hands as well.
Or if you want something specially made for hands, I love this formulation from Crabtree & Evelyn, which cleans, exfoliates and moisturises, all in one product. I particularly love having this sinkside when I’m doing lots of festive season washing up!
Get extra protection at night. My evening ritual includes the application of a rich hand cream after lip balm and before I turn the lights out. Because I’ve got nothing but sleep ahead of me, I'm not focused on fast absorption. A thicker cream also encourages me to spend a bit of extra time on the tips of my fingers as I find these dry out most quickly, particularly my thumbs.
My preferred night time hand creams are Kate Somerville’s Dry Skin Savior and Lancome’s Nutrix, which my grandmother, Audrey, introduced to me. I’ve recently discovered that Nutrix has a version just for hands, which I need to try!
Don’t forget your gloves. To maximise your hand cream, consider sleeping with gloves. While people swear by this, I have to admit that I am often searching for the gloves in my bed linen come morning as I take them off while sleeping, apparently. Same goes for sleeping with socks. Beneficial for retaining moisture; at least one of mine is off by morning.
Luckily, I’ve discovered that there is a short-term disposable glove. Basically, a hand version of a sheet mask. I can wear them for a specified period of time and then remove them, while I’m still awake.
There’s a foot equivalent as well and I’ve even found one that will remove all the hard skin in between pedicures. I have them in the treatment room, if you’re interested.
That's my way to look after hands. What’s your favourite way to pamper them?