Sadly we often pay little attention to the skin of our hands. But they need skin care no less than the thin and sensitive skin of our face. Nowadays, a good hand cream is an almost indispensable thing for us. Unfortunately, we often think of it only on very cold days or after working with chemicals. And our hands – those faithful assistants – deserve (and need) much more attention and skin care.
The skin on women’s hands is by nature thin and almost completely devoid of hair, which makes it particularly vulnerable. The sebaceous glands, which are inextricably linked with the hair follicles and are responsible for the production of skin nutrients and protective sebum are also few in number. On the other hand, the factors that have a negative everyday effect on the skin of our hands are numerous – cold, sun, wind, dust, chemicals, mechanical stress and many others. As a result, we get thinned, dried, roughened and wrinkled skin and varicose veins. How can we improve the skin care of our hands?
Keep your hands clean
Use liquid soap instead of soap bar – the liquid soap usually contains more moisturizing ingredients and cleanses the skin more gently. If your skin is too dry and irritated, you can use a shampoo for dry hair, which contains the most moisturizing and nourishing ingredients.
Manicurists with many years of experience advise to end each hand wash with cold water. This will preserve skin elasticity, improve blood circulation and make varicose veins less visible. However, this does not mean first scalding your hands with hot water and then dousing them with ice cold water. The temperature difference between the warmer and cooler water should be within 15-20°C (60-70°F).
It is good to include peeling procedures once or twice a week in the skin care routine of the hands, which will soften and smooth the skin of the hands and improve its complexion. Hand peels have very small granules and a high concentration of nutritional and wound-healing components. If there is no special product at hand you can use a body scrub mixed with moisturizing milk.
Hydrate them
Some of the skin on the hands contains five times less moisture than the skin elsewhere on our body. And this reserve of moisture is quickly depleted under the negative influence of the factors mentioned above. Christina Fitzgerald, the creator of a successful hand skincare brand, says she has a tube of hand cream in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in her purse, and in the office.
Even if you don’t have five or ten tubes of specialized cosmetics on hand, you can use whatever you have. The skin of the hands is not pretentious, and since the mechanisms of exhaustion, aging and regeneration are the same as in other parts of the skin, you will have a decent effect from the face cream, for example.
Photo by Towfiqu Barbhuiya on Unsplash
Watch them
Pigmentation is one of the most basic signs of skin aging. Even a small dark spot can spoil the impression of an otherwise excellent skin tone. Ever since the ancient East, the perception has prevailed that young skin has a perfectly even complexion, while skin color and softness are not so important.
Nowadays, a similar perception has spread in the west and we accordingly do not welcome the pigment spots either. Modern technology and cosmetics can cover them up and even completely eliminate them – brightening serums, chemical peels, photo and laser procedures and more.
Correct if needed
Aesthetic surgery for hands is still not widespread. However, if necessary, you can count on surgical skin tightening and some medical aesthetic procedures to support the skin care of your hands. Over time the veins become more and more visible and prominent due to various reasons – sudden weight loss, overloading of the hands, thinning of the skin, etc. – this can be corrected with the subcutaneous injection of hyaluronic acid solutions. It increases the density of the skin and tightens it, thus making the veins less visible. According to some plastic surgeons, lipofilling is the best anti-aging technique. This in other words is injecting one’s own adipose tissue (it is taken from the area above the knees). This not only makes the hands look beautiful, but also stimulates the rejuvenating processes in hand skin.
Strengthen the nails
Brittle nails are an extremely unpleasant affliction. It seemed that with the advent of extension gels, the problem of brittle nails should no longer bother anyone. But not everyone likes gel manicures. There are many people who prefer the more natural look of the manicure and they must not forget to take care of the strengthening of the nails and the area around them with the relevant specialized cosmetic products – oils, bases and creams.
As you can see, the skin care for your hands is not limited to smearing them with cream from time to time in the winter or after you have cleaned something with an aggressive household detergent. It is good to start taking care of it systematically so that you can longer enjoy beautiful and healthy hands without the need for medical aesthetics and aesthetic surgery.
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