Do You Use Hand Cream?
When we asked this question to ladies in our social circle, we found that the majority of them did not use hand cream on a regular basis. Your hands are involved in almost everything you do and take a right old battering. Last month we gave you some top tips on how to stop your hands ageing fast than the rest of your skin and using hand cream regularly was one of them.
Unlike a lot of your skin, hands are rarely protected by layers of clothing, which is why we recommend gloves for washing the dishes and doing household chores, and even when out and about in cold or wet weather. Washing our hands is essential as they are always touching things that could be dirty or carry germs, but this process only serves to dry out the skin. It becomes a catch 22, as it is obviously essential that you do wash your hands, but at the same time, you want to avoid damaging them. Applying hand cream after you have washed and dried your hands can help combat the damage and then we suggest once more before you turn out the light at night.
How to Choose a Handcream
Choosing a hand cream is something of a personal choice, and depends a lot on your skin type. Sometimes you will need to experiment by trying more than one. Some people are keen to avoid using harsh chemicals on their skin and therefore only use natural products. An excellent choice, if you are of this mindset, is coconut oil. Organic coconut oil is solid at room temperature but soon melts, so this is one of the best entirely natural moisturisers. It smells somewhat delicious, and all you need to do is scrap some out of the jar, hold it in your hands until it starts to melt and then work into your hands as usual. When using hand cream be sure to work it into your hands, wrists and fingers. Be sure to pay attention to your nails and nail beds. Nails can be moisturised just as well as hands, and you want to rub the cream into the cuticles too.
Shea butter is another popular choice for those who want to avoid man-made chemicals, and again this is quite solid at room temperature. If you are hunting for Shea butter be sure to bag an organic one that is still raw as this holds the maximum benefits. This is a thicker and creamer oil than coconut so may impede work immediately afterwards. However, this is a perfect bedtime moisturiser. You can increase the benefits by adding the Shea butter and then wearing a pair of pure cotton gloves to sleep in. This will help to make sure all the butter is absorbed into the skin and not wiped off into your bedding. It also has a pleasant smell and offers some good moisturising and skin repairing properties. If you prefer you will find a wide selection of hand creams on the shelf of any chemist or supermarket, it is all about finding one that works for you.
