Does your beauty routine include your hands?
We tend to spend so much time looking after and caring for the skin on our face, and we’re determined to find the best tricks to help us stay looking youthful for longer. We even pamper our legs, making sure they’re looking smooth and shiny for those days when the sun is shining and the summer dresses come out. But what about our hands? They’re often missed out of our beauty routines because we just don’t understand the importance of giving our hands some TLC.
If there’s one fact that is going to make you want to look after your hands, it’s this - our hands give away signs of aging before our faces do!
Our hands are one of the parts of our body that are always exposed to the sun, and most of us don’t remember to apply SPF on a daily basis. Over time, this can lead to pigmentation, the depletion of collagen, and thinned, fragile skin - which can make us look older than we really are. Adding to this, as we get older, the natural fat cushion in our hands starts to decrease. This loss of fat padding can be very noticeable, because the skin on the back of our hands is already very thin. This leads to the structures of our hands (the bones, veins and tendons) becoming more visible, resulting in a ‘bony’ look.
Surely if we take so many precautions to protect our skin elsewhere, we should be doing the same thing for our hands. After all, what’s the point in having glowing, nourished skin on our face if we let our hands suffer with a dry, fragile appearance?
We’ve put together a list of simple ways you can start protecting your hands. After all, we do everything with them - they deserve a little pamper!
Invest in a moisturising handwash
We learnt from a young age that washing our hands frequently is one of the most important things we can do - and it’s true! We do need to keep those pesky germs and bacteria away. But all the harsh chemicals and ingredients found in washing up liquid and strong hand washes can take its toll on our hands. Washing away all the natural oils will mean our hands can’t retain enough moisture and will struggle to stay supple. So when you can, wash with just warm water or a gentle, moisturising hand wash. Leave the washing up liquid and antibacterial washes alone unless you really need them.
Use gloves when using strong cleaning products
Simple day to day tasks like washing up the dirty dishes and cleaning around the house can lead to suffering from your hands. Cleaning products are made to do the job on your floors and furniture, but they aren’t ideal when coming into contact with your sensitive skin. Of course, these jobs need to get done - so picking up a pair of gloves to carry out these tasks will make your hands a lot happier.
Apply a sunscreen daily
You will have heard about the damaging effects of sun exposure to your skin in general, but you might not have thought about including your hands in your regime. They’re in the sun all the time, but don’t benefit from the protection of SPF in our moisturisers and makeup like our faces do. So, you know what’s coming next - just apply some SPF to your hands before you leave the house! It’ll take you a few seconds and is probably the most effective preventative step you can take to keep your hands looking youthful.
Regularly apply moisturising products
Treat your hands to moisturising products, just like you do with your skin! It doesn’t have to be expensive - you can probably find some products that you already have to nourish your parched hands. Do you use oils on your hair and skin? When you’re using them as a hair treatment or facial moisturiser, just rub the excess into your hands. They’ll feel smooth, supple and best of all - doing this regularly will help protect against future damage.
Take care of your overall diet and health
You’ve heard it all before, but what you eat and how you take care of yourself really does have an impact on your outward appearance, and this means your hands too. If you want to keep your hands glowy and youthful, try and lead a healthier lifestyle. Research has found that eating food with plenty of vitamin C and limited saturated fats and carbohydrates can help skin look younger. The average human is 50 - 65% water - so it makes sense that drinking plenty of water will help your skin stay moisturised. Just making small changes to your diet will make a difference to your outer glow, and you’ll feel better for it, too.
We all want to stay looking youthful for as long as possible, and now that you know that your hands are a huge age-giveaway, you can start implementing some small changes to help protect them. Pop them into your daily routine for younger looking hands in no time.