Hand and Nail Care
Hand and Nail Care |
|
|
|
If folks can't tell your age by your face, they may still be able to
guess it by your hands. This isn't the only reason that caring for
them is important though. We use our hands to work, to express ourselves
in gestures, and to nurture other people.
Some say that you should take as good care of your hands as you do of your face, but the actual methods should be different. The skin on your hands differs significally from the face. The hands may also need attending to more often because topical treatments wear off more rapidly. Day CreamYour hand cream for day wear should have sun screen. If it doesn't then mix it with a little zinc oxide cream. A 3% zinc oxide mix is enough for most dark skinned people. You can use more or less depending on your needs, but bear in mind that the more you add, the streakier it will be. Apply your hand cream to all areas of the hands and arms that will be exposed to the sunlight.Night CreamYour hand cream for night wear should be very moisturizing and somewhat greasy. You should also apply this to the arms, but pay special attention to your knuckles and elbows. If you have particularly dry elbows, you should add an additional coating of aloe vera gel.Rough ElbowsIt may be tempting, if you have tough elbows, to reach for the peeling treatment. Don't do this. Exfoliating the elbows too much will cause the skin to react by thickenning. Instead, try softenning first with something mildly acidic, like the aloe vera gel is. The citric or lactic acids in most regular softenning creams is quite enough. You don't really need a serious alpha hydroxy treatment. Just be patient, and let the oils and time do their work.CuticlesIf you're keeping your skin properly moisturized, you shouldn't have a cuticle problem. What this usually comes from is playing with them too much, or a habit of pushing them back or picking at them.If you have any of these problems, the solution is not to go overboard by cutting them or pushing them too far down. You can fix it by simply drinking enough water, and keeping them moisturized. Brittle Nails Brittle nails are often caused by a lack of moisture, but there can also be a problem of vitamin deficiency. Taking a multivitamin is a good way of preventing and solving a brittle nails problem. Thin NailsThe thickness of one's nails is usually genetic, so there isn't much to do about it. What can improve their appearance however, is keeping them neatly clipped to a reasonable length. Wearing them too long can lead to splitting or bending, which can affect more than just the tip of the nail.A good base coat with fibers can also be helpful in allowing them to grow a little longer, and still look nice. Yellow NailsNails get discolored for a variety of reasons. Smoking, handling food, and styling chemicals can change the color of your nails. There isn't much you can do about these but wear protective gloves when handling skin staining or discoloring items, and keeping your hands clean.You can however, prevent some yellowing for these reasons by making your nails less porous. Keeping the hands moisturized with a protective cream works better for this than regular creams. Fungus can also cause yellowing of the nails. If you have a nail fungus, it might be because it has spread to them from your having athletes foot, or handling people's laundry on a regular basis, who are infected. Frequent hand washing can help to prevent this, but once you've got it, it's very hard to get rid of. Some people treat nail fungus well enough with anti fungal/anti microbial drops, tea tree oil, or iodine. This often helps to get it down to a manageable level. To get rid of it completely though, may require oral anti fungal treatments. |
Coming soon...
|
You are at http://darkcomplexions.com
or http://makeupfordarkskin.com
Syndicate
our news at http://darkcomplexions.com/news/backend.php
Thank you for visiting, and please don't forget to add us to your favorites!
© 2007 Nicole Lasher