How to Moisturise Your Hands | Tips for Smooth Hands
How to keep your hands moisturised
We use our hands for so many day-to-day activities – cooking dinner, cleaning the house, washing the dishes, wiping mucky faces, the list goes on. In the winter – and at a time when we’re all washing our hands a lot – the skin on our hands can become dry, cracked and chapped. So, it’s really important to keep your hands well moisturised. Here’s how.
Use specialist hand cream
It might sound obvious, but many of us don’t bother with a cream that’s specifically designed for our hands. We might reach for the body lotion, which isn’t as nourishing, or not moisturise our hands at all. But our hands certainly need help, and specialist help that’s designed with them in mind.
A moisturising hand cream will have been made taking into consideration the specific needs of that part of your body. It’ll help restore your skin and soothe any dry, rough or chapped patches – click here to find out more.
Try overnight deep moisturising
In addition to smoothing on cream during the day, you can give your hands a deep treatment by slathering on the cream thickly and leaving it on overnight. This allows all that nourishing goodness to really sink in slowly and do its work, at a time when we’re not washing it off every 5 minutes!
Of course, you’ll need to pop on a pair of gloves to prevent your bed sheets/hair/partner from getting covered in the stuff. Avoid woolly gloves and go for a silky cotton pair, or even a pair of clean cotton socks will do the job.
Protect with gloves
Speaking of gloves, it’s a good idea to cover up your hands whenever they’re facing a challenging situation. That might be the cold air, when you’re out on a walk. This is where your thick, woolly pair comes in. But it might also be hot water, when you’re washing up. Or chemicals, when you’re cleaning the bathroom/floor/surfaces/you get the idea.
Gloves will help give your hands greater protection from the elements, the cleaning products, and the hot water that they can face on a daily basis.
Dry carefully
We’re washing our hands very thoroughly at the moment, and that will no doubt become our new long-term habit – good hygiene isn’t just for a pandemic, after all. But it’s not just the constant washing that can strip our hands of moisture, it’s also the way we dry them.
The temptation is to dry our hands for ages too. And you’re right to think that you don’t want to leave your hands damp – that can encourage fungal issues. But you don’t need to vigorously rub your hands with the towel. It’s far gentler on your skin to gently pat dry. Sure, it takes more time, and that’s a commodity that tends to be in short supply, but it’s time well spent.
Ditch the extra-hot water
On the subject of hand washing, it’s also tempting to turn the temperature up as high as possible. The higher the heat, the more hygienic it’ll be, right? Well, you can actually get a good, thorough clean at a warm temperature.
Very hot water can not only scald our hands, at the worse case scenario level, it can also strip our skin of its natural oils more quickly, leaving hands more prone to cracking. It’s more about how long you spend washing, how thorough you are with cleaning every part of your hands, and what you use to wash your hands with, rather than using very, very hot water.
Add these tips to your family skincare goals for 2021 and your hands will thank you!
Meta title: How to Moisturise Your Hands | Tips for Smooth Hands
Meta description: Keep your hands moisturised with these tips, from specialist hand cream and overnight treatments to protecting your hands from the cold, hot and chemicals.
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