Nail Care Tips

Your nails form a very important part of your hands and they too need to be well taken care of. Well-kept hands, with neat, clean and healthy nails, are a pleasure to behold. On the other hand, dirty and poorly kept nails will make your hands look ugly, even though the latter are healthy and well cared for. In other words, we can say that for your hands to look beautiful, your nails need to be strong and healthy. For the purpose, you need to undertake certain steps, such as cleaning your nails on a regular basis, treating the cuticles properly and keeping the nails well moisturized. Go through the hand nail care tips given below and know more on keeping you nails well nurtured and full of healthy shine.

Nail Care Tips

• To harden soft nails, soak them in warm olive oil for about 20 minutes, on alternate days.
• To remove stains from your nails, mix one tablespoon of lemon juice in a cup of water and soak your nails in this liquid for a few minutes. Then, wash off with warm water and apply a hand moisturizer.
• It is not a good idea to remove the cuticles from your nails, as it will make the nail susceptible to infection. Rather, you should make use of good quality cuticle oil and gently push back the cuticles, with the help of an orangewood stick.
• Try to stay away from acetone polish removers as much as you can and stick to the one that make use of acetate. Still, try not to use a polish remover more than once a week.
• In case you wear nail polish, make sure to give your nails a break from time to time. In other words leave them without polish for a few days, every now and then. Otherwise, they will develop an ugly, yellow tint.
• If you want to give a natural sheen to your nails, just like the colorless base coat, rub petroleum jelly on your nails and then buff them, with the help of a soft cloth.
• If you have brittle nails or split or dull nails, then increasing your consumption of Organic Silica, Vitamin B (especially B5) and MSM (Methyl-Sulfonyl-Methane) will surely help.
• Never ever resort to nail biting, as it is extremely destructive for the nails as well as the cuticles. If you are in the habit of biting your nails, drop it as soon as possible.
• Whenever you wash your hands, while bathing as well as otherwise, make sure to dry the nails properly and apply a hand cream or lotion, using it on the nails as well. This is because soap makes the nails dry and brittle.
• The best time to file your nails is when you are already wearing a polish. This will prevent splitting or breaking of nails.
• If you have brittle nails, it is advisable to wear a nail polish, or at least the colorless base coat, as much as you can.

Hand Care Recipies

Our hands have a very few oil glands, with the result that they tend to get dry easily and very often as well. As they come in contact with chemicals, detergents, garden dirt, and so on, when you undertake cleaning works, they are exposed to further damage. Therefore, it is necessary to take special care of your hands. You should exfoliate them and moisturize them on a regular basis. In order to help you with task, we have provided a few hand care recipes in the following lines, which you can make at home, to take special care of your hands.

Easy Homemade Manicure Recipes

Hand Sugar Exfoliant
Mix two tablespoons of oil (vegetable, olive, baby or safflower oil) with three tablespoons of sugar (using coarse sugar will be better) and form a paste. Gently rub the paste on your hands and continue doing so for 2-3 minutes. Wash off with warm water and dry thoroughly.

Hand Softener
For coarse and dry hands, mix one tablespoon of lemon juice with a teaspoon of sugar and a little water. Apply this mixture on your hands and let it sit for 5 minutes. Wash off with warm water and dry thoroughly.

Tomato-Lime Softener
If you have rough skin on your hands, this recipe will surely prove to be handy. Take out the juice of one tomato and one lime and mix well. Add 2-3 tbsp glycerin to it and massage your hand with the mixture, for 3-4 minutes. Wash off with warm water and dry thoroughly.

Honey-Egg Softener
In a bowl, put an ounce of honey, the white portion of an egg, one tsp of glycerin and some barley powder. Mix the ingredients well and apply on clean hands. Let the paste sit on your hands for a few minutes and then wash off with water.

Nourishing Hand Cream
Mix 1/3 cup of glycerin and 2/3 cups of rose water. Put the mixture in a bottle and shake it well. Store it in a cool and dry place .Massage your hands with the mixture as often as possible.

Cuticle Softener
Warm olive oil can go a long way in softening your cuticles. Just after you have taken a bath, push your cuticles back and massage warm olive oil into them. Use the tips of the fingers for the purpose.

Homemade Manicure Tips

• Before using any homemade manicure recipe on your hands, make sure to remove the nail polish, if you have put on any.
• Always make sure to apply a hand moisturizer after your manicure in complete. It will help give extra moisture to your hands.

Hand Care

We often forget to take care of our hands. Through we use our hands to do all the work in and outside the house we seem to pay very little attention to taking care of them. Our hands come in contact with water, chemicals, is subject to heat and cold, we work with our hands in the garden etc. all this puts stress on the skin of our hands. The first signs of aging are visible on our hands. Here are a few ways in which you can take care of the skin of your hand.

* Moisturize your hands as many times as you can in a day. Dry skin looks wrinkled and can easily be damaged.
* Wear gloves while washing dishes, dealing with chemicals and while gardening.
* Protect the skin on your hands from the sun.
* Ensure that your hands are dry. If you have water on your hands it will evaporate drying your skin.
* Take special care of your hands once a week. Give your hands a herbal oil massage once a week.

Here are a few hand treatment ideas:

* Herbal Hand Bath: Boil one quarter of water and add one tablespoon of herbs (use one or all of these: chamomile, nettle, sage, coltsfoot, calendula). Let this mixture cool and soak your hands in it for 15-20 minutes. Dry your hands thoroughly and apply nourishing moisturizer.
* Homemade Nourishing Hand Cream: Mix one teaspoon of honey with 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Add one tablespoon of strong herbal mixture. This will make a very rich cream, that will take a while to absorb, but will make your hands soft and smooth.
* For dry skin: Mix one tablespoon glycerin, one egg yolk, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, juice of one lemon, 3 to 4 ounces of herbal infusion or rose water. Apply this once or twice a week.
* Mashed potatoes with milk make a great hand mask.
* After cooking with eggs, before you throw the eggshells away, scrape out the remaining egg white and massage it into your hands.
* Rub a piece of lemon on your hands to give your skin a more even tone.
* After washing dishes with detergents wash your hands with sour milk or with a vinegar and water solution (1 tablespoon of vinegar per 2quaters of water). This will restore the pH balance of the skin.
* Keep your hands warm as colds often start as a result of cold hands.