The Secret Of Hands To Die For

I have a particular friend whose hands I love to shake, not only shake them but also hold on to them for longer than necessary, and no, it's not about a crush, it's because his hands are soft like a baby's. I really don't know how he does it, and if we weren't so close, I would feel embarrassed about letting him touch my hands at all since mine feel so hard compared to his. I figured it should be the other way round, what's a guy doing with hands so soft anyway? (I think it's just his genes anyway, considering all the hard work he does with those hands!)

In my quest to get the hands of my dreams, I did a research on how to get them and these 6 rules to soft hands are the result of that research.

1. Hydration

Good hydration is the key element to having nice and smooth skin. They say that you should drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. To achieve this,just make sure you always carry a bottle of water around with you, it also helps you eat less and lose weight faster anyway.

2. Avoid hot water like a plague

You have to have heard how hot water is not really that good for your skin. It makes it dry, and craving for extra moisturizing. The same goes for the skin on your hands.Wash your hands only with warm water, never with hot. Hot water in combination with strong soaps really does a lot of damage to your skin and you’ll need extra effort to make it soft.

3. Use mild soap

Soaps are the biggest enemies to the softness of your hands, believe it or not. That’s why it’s very important to choose a good soap.

This greatly depends on your skin type and tolerance towards some of the ingredients of soaps. Try a couple of different ones, and choose the one that’s best for you. mild toilet soaps are better. In any case, avoid strong and antibacterial soaps. Choose those that are labeled, either as moisturizing or as for sensitive skin.

4. Moisturize - again and again!

Outer hydration is just as important as inner is. This is where moisturizers come into the first plan. Lots of women carry a hand cream with them all the time, and apply it a million times a day. It would be ideal if you used the hand cream two times a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. Of course, if you’ve been doing some chores, and your hands need extra moisturizing, don’t neglect that.

The reason for lowering the amount of hand cream is, that after a while your hands will get used to all the extra moisturizing you’re providing them with. That means that your skin will stop protecting itself. The result is that you basically have to apply the hand cream 30 times a day, because your hands get extremely rough as soon as they soak up the cream you already applied.

5. Gloves are your friends

Do not EVER try to clean your house without wearing protective rubber gloves. The cleaning products can not only make your skin rough, they can also cause some serious burns. Same goes for doing dishes, Morning Fresh is not as hand friendly as they claim, get yourself rubber gloves. Also try to get mild, skin friendly detergent and washing soaps for your laundry if you do a lot of hand washing (since washing with gloves might be awkward).

Gloves are also a great idea when you are handling some food. It's a good idea to wear them cooking something with chili peppers. They protect your hands from the hotness and prevent you from burning your eyes if you touch them by mistake after handling hot and spicy stuff.

6. Be sure to exfoliate often 

Exfoliants are used to remove dead skin from your hands before and after moisturizing. You can buy exfoliants or make some for yourself. Consider using a mix of sugar and olive oil mixed into a paste, coffee grounds and milk mixed into a paste. or baking soda and water mixed in a paste. To exfoliate, wet your hands with water and rub some exfoliant into your hands thoroughly for about 3-5 minutes. Rinse off, dry your hands completely and rub in some moisturizer.

7. Deep moisturizing overnight rocks

Deep moisturizing your hands with petroleum jelly, coconut oil or Shea butter daily before going to bed and leaving it overnight will keep your dry, chapped hands soft and smooth.

Another thing: Ever since the Ebola scare happened, I have joined the increasing number of people who carry hand sanitizer about and use it every now and then. I discovered however that sanitizers make my hands really dry, so I always make sure to rub in some hand cream every time I use the sanitizer.

You don't have hand cream? A small container of vaseline or even your regular body cream will do! All you need is to keep the moisture in.

The thought of my hands getting even softer than his hands in no time excites me!

Did I mention that I love my hands?


Cover image via youne.com