Everything About Beautiful Skin

Everyone who has ever had dry hands knows how uncomfortable and how frustrating and often painful it may be. It seems like no matter how much hand cream you put on your hands – nothing would help.

There are several reasons why we can get dry hands:

• It can be genetics – some people have this tendency to the dry hands in their genes.
• Climate: too hot or too cold, dry weather
• Heating (in the room)
• Sunburn or windburn
• Washing hands too often that could be a job requirement
• Allergies (eczema)
• Diet
• Stress

Allergies can be trigged by external and internal factors. You may have allergies on some chemicals (always wear protective gloves, if you have allergy on latex – wear gloves that are latex free), paints (even those that are used to colour fabrics) or you may have allergy on some food – such as wheat or diary (identify and eliminate these foods).

Always wear sunscreen –even on your hands. This will help to avoid excess dryness but also protects you from age spots and wrinkles. Remember hands (the same as neck) would show woman’s real age. Often we take care of our face and forget about our neck, décolleté and hands.

Use a good moisturising cream and also have a protective cream if you leave in a cold climate.

Make sure you have plenty of fruit and vegetables in your diet. Drink plenty of water. Cut on your alcohol and coffee intake. Alcohol and coffee dehydrate our organism.

What can be done to cure dry hands?

There are a few recipes to make your dry hands feel smooth and soft again.

· Apply Vaseline on your hands and put on gloves (or even socks) and leave them ideally overnight (do you remember Miranda from Sex and the City? J).

· This is a variation of the first recipe: mix equal amounts of Vaseline and beeswax (NB! Some people have allergy on beeswax, please test this first to find out that you are not one of them), melt in a small pot over boiling water (or you can use microwave. Use a safe container to do so). Be very careful as a mix is very hot. Pour the melted mix into a container to harden. Before you go to bed put some of the Vaseline&beeswax mix into your palms and warm it up. Rub it into your skin. Be generous. Put gloves (socks) on and leave it overnight. Wash it off with some soap and warm water. Apply moisturising cream.

· Use very mild soap to wash your hands.

· Try to use Eucerin Cream. Many found it to be very helpful when they have dry hands.

· Drink plenty of water

· Make sure that you have adequate intake of vitamin C, B and E (if you are pregnant consult with your doctor prior of taking internally vitamin E). Vegetable oils (such as canola, rice bran, sunflower etc) are all rich in vitamin E. Another well knows source of vitamin E is wheat germ oil or wheat germs. Nuts, seeds lentils, corn, barley, chickpeas and oats are also rich in vitamin E.

· Look at you Fish Oil intake. Rich in Omega 3 – great for making your skin smooth. Try to eat fish 2-3 serves (one serve is 150gm) a week. Pregnant ladies should avoid Marlin, Swordfish and Shark (or if you have this type of fish – you only should have 1 serve (which is 150gm) per fortnight and NO any other fish that fortnight) also if you have Deep Sea Perch (Orange Roughy) – you can only have one serve a week and no any other fish that week. This is due to higher content of mercury in these types of fish. (source: Sydney Fish Market). You can consider taking fish oil as a supplement if you don’t eat fish that often.

· Avoid stress. Stress is one the worst enemies of our skin and it will contribute to dry hands as well. Practice some relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga.

If you have any other recipes to cure dry hands please post it in comments.

For more useful information on how to keep your skin beautiful please click here.