Hand Care Routine & Tips – How to Take Care of Your Hands At Home

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• • The skin on your hands takes a lot of beating every single day, which is why it needs some help to stay soft and smooth;
  • Try to be gentle to your hands by using non-drying soaps and gentle exfoliants;
  • Replenish the hand skin regularly by using moisturizing hand creams, residue facial actives and occasionally special hand treatments.
    

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Whether you are aware of it or not, people often judge you by your hands. And they are right to do so – the state of your hands and nails can reveal a lot about someone’s hobbies or profession, relationship status, personal taste and how much they invest in themselves.

But the delicate, often mistreated skin on your hands also tells a tale about your age and how important self-care is to you. Manicured, soft, well-nourished hands are sure to attract attention… but so are neglected ones.

And your hands certainly need some help to stay smooth, youthful and beautiful. Just think of everything you put them through every single day. It is only fair to make it up to them.

But, your hand care routine doesn’t need to involve complicated, time-consuming steps or way too expensive products. It is more about using what you probably would anyway, but in a way your hands can benefit most from. And then occasionally you can treat them to something really special.

So, here are 10 hand care tips to get rid of dryness, banish dark spots for good and keep your hands soft, smooth and youthful for decades to come…

10 Tips on How to Take Care of Your Hands At Home

Hand care tip 1 – Use gentle non-drying soaps

This first one is pretty obvious but let’s quickly mention it anyway. Since you wash your hands several times a day, the quality of the soap you use is one of the crucial points that can make or break your hand care routine.

Moisturizing hand wash or a mild glycerin soap should be non-irritating and could help prevent drying out. Using homemade soap is also a great option, as it gives you options to customize everything until it suits you perfectly.

Also, too hot or too cold water could mess up your skin’s barrier function, so try to use lukewarm water wherever possible.

Hand care tip 2 – Exfoliate, but gently

Regular exfoliation can help you a lot in maintaining your skin soft, smooth and even-toned. Exfoliating your hands twice a week will remove the dry dead skin layer and reveal the young, healthy skin underneath.

Just be careful not to overdo it. Though the skin on your palms can take quite a bit, the tops of your hands are too gentle for anything rough. You can simply mix some brown sugar with a bit of olive or coconut oil and gently rub your hands with the mixture for a few minutes, then rinse off.

Hand care tip 3 – Moisturize often

Hand creams are amongst the products I try to save on when possible. Though the cheapest hand creams on the market… well, let’s just say there’s a reason why they are so cheap, I also never feel the need to invest in some luxury hand cream.

This works quite well for me since the hand skin is not as demanding as facial skin, plus I apply a hand cream more often than any other product. But I do try to make myself apply it several times a day and especially after washing my hands. Which is why a single pack of hand cream somewhere in my beauty bag simply won’t do.

Small tubes and relatively affordable prices allow you to buy multiple hand creams and keep them in all the places you may have the most use of them. I personally like to keep one jar of my homemade hand cream in my bathroom and one in the kitchen, and then tubes of store-bought hand creams in my purse, car, office and on my nightstand.

When it comes to the ingredients I like to see in my hand cream, I always look for glycerin, alpha-hydroxy acids, urea, vitamin E and all sorts of nourishing carrier oils and butters.

Hand care tip 4 – Protect your hands

Wearing gloves can actually help a lot in maintaining your hands soft and youthful, both during the cold months or while doing activities such as gardening or cleaning. Gloves can prevent a lot of damage and make your hand care routine so much easier!

In winter, the cold temperatures can cause our skin to become dry, cracked, and even painful. When gardening, gloves provide a barrier between our hands and sharp objects, preventing cuts and scrapes. And when using harsh cleaning products, some chemicals can cause skin irritation, burns, or even allergic reactions. Wearing gloves can provide a barrier between our hands and these chemicals, protecting our skin from harm.

Overall, wearing gloves can help protect our hands from a range of potential hazards, keeping them healthy and safe. It’s important to choose the right type of gloves for the task at hand and to make sure they fit properly to ensure maximum protection.

Hand care tip 5 – Use residue facial products

I don’t know about you, but with me the less is more principle works only in theory. I always apply a little more facial products than my skin really needs, then end up removing the excess product.

So, I just apply all the excess serums and moisturizers to my hands. The amounts are usually pretty small, but they do make a difference long-term. Better quality ingredients are especially important on the tops of the hands, where the skin is very thin and sensitive and dark aging spots easily develop.

Also, if you’ve made a mistake and bought this amazing brightening face serum or moisturizer that for some reason just doesn’t work for your facial skin, don’t throw it away. There’s a good chance the skin on your hands will be more than happy with it. That’s another great way to add all those more expensive ingredients to your hand cream.

Hand care tip 6 – Don’t cut your cuticles

Dry, cracked cuticles are no fun, but cutting them off really won’t help at all. It can only make them more jagged and rough. Plus, the health of your cuticles directly affects the state of your nails.

That is why it is a much better option to occasionally push back the cuticles and that way maintain their shape. Plus, although hand creams contain tons of goodies for your cuticles as well, adding cuticle oil to the game can really help treat even more stubborn cuticle problems.

Hand care tip 7 – Always wear sunscreen

We have all learned so far just how important wearing sunscreen is. But do you always remember to apply it to your hands as well?

Your hands too need sun protection, and the tops of your hands are especially prone to the formation of premature aging signs. Apply SPF 20 or higher sunscreen to your hands every day. And don’t forget to reapply it every two hours, plus every time you wash your hands.

Hand care tip 8 – Overnight treatments

When your hand skin decides to act up or before an important event, saturate your hands with tons of moisture overnight and you are sure to wake up to the softest hands ever. You can mix a thick, sticky hand salve with a serum, or mix your hand cream with some rich natural oil and throw in some vitamin E oil as well.

Whatever you use, apply as much of the product as possible. Slip on cotton overnight gloves and let your hands soak in the gooey goodness all night.

Hand care tip 9 – Paraffin wax

During the winter, when the harsh cold weather seems to be sucking the life out of your hands, paraffin wax hand treatment is one of the best things you can use. It will restore moisture levels in your hands, prevent drying out, repair damage and help the skin to heal and recover.

Paraffin wax treatment combines warmth which helps the skin to absorb oils better with the ability of paraffin wax to trap moisture in your skin. You can find here a full tutorial on how to do paraffin wax hand treatment at home.

Hand care tip 10 – Retinol for discolorations

And if your hands are starting to show dark spots and other aging signs, a retinol cream can help with that. Retinol is one of the most praised anti-aging ingredients because of its ability to fade discolorations, refine and retexturize the skin and make it smoother and suppler.

Some other ingredients that can help brighten the skin on your hands include glycolic and other alpha hydroxy acids, vitamin C and niacinamide. However, they are much better at preventing premature aging signs than at treating already existing issues.

A Few More Quick Hand Care Tips:

• Use a hand mask: Treat your hands to a pampering hand mask once a week. You can use a store-bought hand mask or make your own by mixing together mashed avocado and honey. Apply the mixture to your hands and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before rinsing off.
• Massage your hands: Regularly massaging your hands can help improve circulation and keep your hands looking youthful. Use a moisturizing cream or oil and massage your hands and fingers in circular motions.
• Keep your nails trimmed and clean: Keeping your nails short and clean can help prevent the buildup of bacteria and dirt.
• Stay hydrated: Drinking enough water is important for keeping your skin hydrated, including the skin on your hands. Aim to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day.