Take a look at your hands right now – those hands made your breakfast this morning, drove you to work, high-fived your friends, and embraced your loved ones. And consider how often other people look at your hands - body language and hand gestures account for up to 70% of communication! They do so much for us, so how do we show them some love so they can continue to radiate health, do the heavy lifting, speak for us, and show affection?
Here are some tips to keep your hands looking and working their best:
Protect your hands against chemicals
Sometimes we forget how chemicals such as intense soaps, bleach and other things can truly irritate our hands. It is recommended to use gloves while doing dishes, yard work and any cleaning that requires harsh formulas.
Be conscious about how you cleanse your hands
Handwashing is obviously so important to our health, with 80% of communicable diseases passed through to touch, we need to protect ourselves with an effective yet safe cleanser. Check the ingredients in your hand wash – don’t opt for products with triclosan, microbeads, parabens, SLS, BHA/BHT and perfumes or fragrances that aren’t natural as these ingredients are potentially harmful to your health and the environment, and aren’t necessary for clean hands. Products like our Garden Mint & Bergamot Hand Wash are organic, cruelty-free, and vegan, but most importantly, effective at protecting our health!
Use the right moisturiser
Finding the perfect hand lotion can be a challenge! You don’t want greasy hands, and yet you need a product that’s effective enough to hydrate and smooth your skin so you don’t experience dryness, cracking or discomfort. Humectant ingredients retain moisture while emollient ingredients soften the skin and help seal in the moisture. Look for products with shea butter, hyaluronic acid, beeswax, and/or safely-derived glycerin. Don’t forget to show some love for your cuticles! Our Wild Rose Hand Cream nourishes, softens and protects your hands with organic ingredients, no harmful chemicals, and uplifting essential oils.
Serums to keep the hands youthful and soft
While there are so many products out there that help our faces stay youthful and vibrant, we sometimes forget that our hands can show age too! This is why we created our new clinically-proven Frankincense Intense Hand Treatment Serum, it firms and hydrates skin and reduces the appearance of lines, wrinkles and age spots. Mindfulness is vital to our wellbeing, so we designed the Hand Serum to help you take a moment for yourself – when applying the Hand Serum, massage the backs of your hands to ease strained hand muscles, and take a moment to bring your hands to your face and inhale the frankincense essential oils that are proven to reduce stress and tension. Smooth hands, warm heart!
Take good care of your hands and nails with regular home manicures
While it feels great to go to a manicurist to revive your tired nail polish and manage your cuticles, the health risks that have been revealed are high. Breathing in the harmful vapours from polish removers and polishes has been linked to asthma, rashes, and potential damage to the reproductive system in nail salon employees, so it’s best to avoid these risks and try an at-home manicure!
Begin by shaping your nails – clip and file. Soak your hands in warm water, then after a few relaxing minutes, dry your hands and gently push back your cuticles. Next, buff your nails to a nice shine, and finally massage some moisturiser into your hands.
Important note – your cuticle is the thin, ragged layer of tissue riding directly on your nail, NOT the ridge on your skin *pushes up nerd glasses* known as the proximal fold of the eponychium! You should never cut or trim that ridge, even though it’s regularly trimmed at nail salons, as it will lead to redness, inflammation and painful hangnails, but most importantly, because its function is to form a seal between the nail and your skin to prevent pathogens from entering the body – who knew?!
If you need to have some colour on your fingernails be sure to use “5 free” nail polish which is free of five known carcinogens (formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, toluene, formaldehyde resin and camphor), and always use acetone-free polish remover.
And if you just can’t live without a visit to the nail salon, bring your own polish and remover, and remember not to let them cut your nail ridge!
Keeping your hands healthy and hydrated lets your hands continue to do the talking for you, and when they’re looking and feeling great, they speak volumes.
