Hand care 101: Easy tips to get smooth hands

Vikas Pathak
2021-07-26T17:56:20+05:30

Hand care? Is that a thing?
Do you REALLY need a regime for your hands?

Take a minute or two to think about how many times you’ve used your hands today. Made your morning cup of coffee, typed endless emails, scrolled through social media and probably even cooked somethin’ yum? AND, you’re probably using them right now too! Truth be told, we tend to terribly neglect our hands and quite often forget to make room for them in our body care regime.

Dry hands? Can’t HANDLE!
The skin on our hands is usually more dry than the rest of our body parts. Hands are the most exposed parts of our body as they are in constant contact with surfaces in the environment, leading to rough, prematurely-aged & dry hands. Of late, our hands are more vulnerable to dryness because over-washing/sanitizing strips away moisture; making it very important to stock up on hand creams. Sun exposure too, is a reason for the skin on our hands to get damaged & age faster. So don’t cut back on taking care of your hands and give ‘em the extra TLC that they deserve!

How, you ask?
Read on. We’ve got a handful of FAB tips for you! :)

1. Cleanse, cleanse, cleanse. But with a non-drying hand wash/sanitizer
Wash your hands regularly using a gentle, sulphate & soap free hand wash—something that won’t strip the natural oils from your skin. Sometimes overly-washed/sanitized hands can lead to rough & dry hands. The temperature of water also plays a key role here; make sure you use cold or lukewarm, and not hot water, as that dries out hands, leaving them parched!

2. Exfoliate, mate ;)
HANDS DOWN (pun intended) one of the most important steps of a hand care regime that a lot of us tend to skip. Get scrub-a-dubbin’ those hands weekly or bi-weekly with a gentle yet effective body scrub that’ll buff away dry skin & dead cells and leave your hands smooth & polished. Freshly exfoliated skin also allows moisturizers to penetrate better and lock in moisture for hours!

3. It’s moisture o’clock.. ALL DAY!
Cleansing & moisturizing go hand-in-hand (see what we did there?). Everytime you wash your hands, you MUST moisturize them with a hand cream to make up for the moisture loss! The perfect time to do this is after bathing, exfoliating, washing dishes, sanitizing & before going to bed. Why only hand creams, though, you ask? Won’t a regular moisturizer cut it? Well, different parts of your body have different types of skin & needs, making it imperative for each body part to have targeted care. Every product is formulated according to where it has to be applied. For eg. Hands need a more emollient & heavy duty moisturizer with ingredients like shea butter & natural oils that’ll give a moisture boost, as they tend to be more dry than the rest of the body.

4. Pamper ‘em cuticles & nails!
Your cuticles & nails also require a whole lot of loving! Slather on some nourishing hand cream or body oil (or a mix of both—trust us, you can’t go wrong with this!) onto your hands and massage gently, focusing on your cuticles & nails. Moisturizing them will make them softer & stronger than ever :)

So folks, don’t let dry hands get out of hand! :P Follow these easy steps and get ready for hands that are smooth & baby-soft. Say bye to dry!