How to make your hands soft, and keep them young

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We all want soft, smooth, young-looking hands. We don’t fully appreciate them until we start getting older and start seeing some sunspots, some wrinkles, and some loose skin. Hey, even when we are young sometimes our hands look a little damaged and may start to age prematurely.

We all age, it’s part of nature, although we should embrace and enjoy the process, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything to make us look younger or at least not look older than we are.

If you take really great care of your face that is awesome, but if you desert your hands then you need to up your game. If your face looks 25, but your hands look 45, it looks a bit… odd.

We like our hands to look pretty so we get a manicure, accessorize them with rings and bracelets, but what about the actual skin? Do you just apply lotion when they start to look a bit dry or ashy? We must do more! We will do more!

Our hands do so much for us, and they are truly under-appreciated. Our hands feed us, they allow us to hold our phones, to do house chores, and to do the work that pays our bills. Let’s pamper them!

You might be asking yourself “why are my hands so rough.”. Well, a lot goes into play. Sun, cold air, wind, dirt, chemicals, too much water, labor, and many other things can be distributing factors for the robbing of your skin’s moisture.

So what can we do to achieve healthy-looking hands? Quite a few things actually.

1. Preventing and treating dry hands

Moisturize! Duh! Moisturize at least two times a day, but especially after you just washed your hands. The moisture allows for the lotion applied to your hands to be absorbed faster and therefor have softer hands.  Just be careful to not over moisturize. Have you ever heard too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing? Yea, this applies here too.

The reason for it is because if you apply lotion just as soon as the skin absorbed the last slather of lotion then your skin will become lazy and not produce moisture on its own. Instead of moisturizing your skin you will actually be drying it!

Often times we don’t worry about something until it happens, one being dry hands. If you only remember to put lotion on when your hands are dry, it will take a while for them to be moisturized again.

Try keeping up with putting lotion on so you don’t have to deal with the embarrassing and sometimes painful times of having dry hands. I am currently loving lotions Eucerin offers, they have different types of lotions for different needs,

2. Exfoliating your hands can make your hands look younger

Another big tip would be to exfoliate! We know we must exfoliate our face, but how often do we exfoliate on hands? If you put lotion on top of those dead skin cells you are only prolonging the softening process. After you do exfoliate you guessed it, put lotion on.

This is such an easy way to make your hands soft like a baby since all that dry, dead skin cells have been taking of your skin, exposing a new and soft layer. Allure recommends the Herbivore Crushed Amethyst Exfoliating Body Polish or Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub in Moroccan Rose.

3. How to make your hands super soft

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We all put on a face mask occasionally, but did you know there is one for your hands as well? I would recommend looking for some hand masks that have jojoba oil as it plays the role of sebum and moisturizes our skin.

Also, look for a hand mask with Aloe Vera as it is not only cooling, but it also provides a protective layer to the skin and helps retain moisture, hydrates, clarifies, nourishes and revitalizes.

Shea butter is really good at softening skin and it also has anti-inflammatory and healing properties.

Green tea extract also has some anti-aging properties and since it’s an antioxidant it helps protect your skin from environmental pollutants.

4. How to get younger-looking hands overnight

If your hands are extremely dry I would recommend lathering on some lotion and putting on some cotton gloves and call it a night. This will lock in the moisture and it will speed up the process in making your hands soft.

Just a warning, it will be hard to fall asleep as it won’t be comfortable. If your hands are extremely damaged there is nothing you can do to rewind that damage in one night.

However, slathering a generous amount of lotion on your hands does help A Lot! Personally, the difference has been night and day.

Back in the day, I would suffer from extremely dry hands in the winter. Like, extremely dry that they would bleed. I would put a thick layer of lotion and let it sit on my skin.

Or I would put a thick layer of lotion and put gloves on while a slept. Although personally, I didn’t prefer this method as it does feel a little weird, my hands were human again the next day.

5. Why you should avoid air dryers

Avoid air dryers! First of all, they are disgusting! Sure they are better for the environment than paper towels but they are disgusting. They are blowing air everywhere causing germs to spread everywhere.

In a study using a petri dish for three minutes in a restroom and then seeing what grew over the next 24 hours, none of the Petri dishes came back clean. Besides not using the hot-air dryers for sanitary reasons, the hot hair can dry your hands too.

Have you ever used one that had so much pressure that your skin was moving around? Yea, especially stay away from those.

If you want to be environmentally friendly then gently squeeze the excess water out of your hands, give them a little shake and air dry them. Your hands will be a little moist, but most of the water will be left on the sink. just don’t pat it on your clothes if you want your hands to stay clean.

6. The proper way to dry your hands

Whether you use paper towels in public restroom or hand towels in your own restroom, be very cautious with how you dry your hands. If you are young, your hands are nice and plump and tight because of your youth but take a look at much older hands and you will notice the skin is much looser.

If you want to avoid this happening prematurely, then I suggest patting the towel on your hands as opposed to wiping. By wiping you are stretching your skin, and although you may not notice a difference in your skin now, you will. Maybe it’s just me, but the tugging of my skin when wiping kinda hurts and it just feels plain uncomfortable.

7. Water is your best friend

I know I know, you are probably tired of hearing water for the solution for everything but there is a reason why you do. While exposing our hands to too much water is bad for your skin, drinking it is a GOOD thing!

We are made of mostly water, if we don’t drink it then we are going to dry up! Keep your hands youthful looking by drinking plenty of water and keeping them plump. You don’t want your hands looking like that one SpongeBob episode where he visits Sandy’s home.

8. How to protect my hands when washing dishes

You may be thinking “there’s no way I can keep my hands looking soft and smooth even if I exfoliate because I am constantly wetting my hands by washing dishes, and am constantly using cleaning products.” Although you are absolutely correct, there are things you can buy that can prevent your hands from looking rough and dry. If your hands feel like sandpaper, then get these items asap!

When it comes to washing dishes I suggest using a sponge with a handle. You are still washing the dishes but avoiding having your hands be constantly wet. Or better yet have someone else do them! Ha! Kidding. Well… actually… there are dishwashers, so you can do just that. Unless you are like me and prefer to wash them yourself for some strange reason.

Second would be buying rubber gloves! Just don’t use vinyl as they can cause more drying. These gloves will serve as a shield from the water and soap.

There are also rubber gloves with bristles built in it that makes it easier to wash dishes all day. Although it isn’t fun, no damage will be done to your hands, well maybe some cramping.

Don’t just limit wearing rubber gloves to washing dishes, using them while cleaning around the house when using harsh chemicals.

A while back my sister was constantly washing her hands, and although she was keeping her hands clean, she was suffering some consequences. Her hands were extremely dry that she had cracks all over them making her hands look 20 years older!

Since then she has changed her routine helping her hands look her age again.  I am not saying to not wash your hands but try not to excessively wash your hands if you don’t have to and if you do take some preventive measures.

Also, make sure to wash your hands with cool water instead of hot water since hot water can irritate our skin. The hot water won’t kill the germs any better than cool water, it would have to be boiling for it to do that, so just stick with cook water, k?

9. How to protect my hands during winter?

Besides using gloves to wash dishes and clean the house, there are other gloves you can wear that can also be fashionable … well only when the weather is on the cooler side. Now that winter is here, don’t leave the house without gloves like these!

I used to think wearing gloves in the winter was just to keep your hands warm. For that reason I didn’t wear gloves because whether I had gloves on or not, my hands remained cold!

Trust me, holding my hand in the winter is torture! Gloves can also be used to protect your hands from the cold dry hair! You can be trendy while protecting your beautiful hands!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have any tips down below! As I mentioned before, our hands do so much for us, let’s show them a little appreciation.

10. How to keep your hands young and wrinkle-free

We are all told to always put sunscreen on your face when we go out, and when its summer you probably remember at least a few more times to put some on your body, but what about your hands?!

Our hands need protection from the sun too! In case you need other reasons to wear sunscreen, besides avoiding skin cancer, prolonged exposure to the sun can bring wrinkles, dark spots, and leathery skin to your hands! Not sure which sunscreen you should buy, you can check this post out. If you want some that are coral reef safe then check out these great options.

 I like to have a long sleeve cardigan, something like this. Or even just a long sleeve in my car to put on when I am driving.

Yes, I am hot, but I am protecting my skin. Try wearing some gloves or pull down that long sleeve to cover your hands. Blast the AC and don’t look at the cars next to you as they might be giving you a weird look.

Even better drive with your head held high (although you should anyway since you are driving) and be proud of yourself for taking care of your body. Not only should sunspots be a concern, but most importantly cancer, so cover up and/ or put sunscreen on!

If you don’t want to be all covered up then I suggest tinting your car windows. If you do decide to tint or laminate your windows make sure that you are following the regulations, there is also clear window film if you don’t want to risk having dark windows.  One study found a 93 percent reduction in skin cell death when having tinted windows.

Takeaways

1. Always use sunscreen to avoid sunspots and wrinkles.
2. Don’t forget to moisturize! Eucerin has different types of lotion, depending on your needs.
3. Exfoliate your hands to get all the dead skin cells off.
4. Apply some hand masks, they are not just for your face!
5. Get soft hands fast by applying a thick layer of lotion and going to sleep with some gloves on.
6. Avoid drying your hands with an air dryer since they stretch your skin, as well as spread germs.
7. Always pat dry your hands, don’t wipe your hands with a towel since it will only stretch your skin.
8. Drink lots of water to keeps your skin hydrated
9. When you wash your hands, wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from the water. Wear rubber gloves when you clean as well to avoid being in contact with harsh chemicals.
10. Lastly, wear gloves in the winter to protect your hands from the cold air which can lead to dry hands