How to keep hands looking youthful: how to protect and care for your hands and nails, plus the best hand creams out there.
If you know your way around skincare, then it won’t majorly surprise you that the way to younger-looking hands is the same as if your face was concerned.
How to keep hands looking youthful
UVA-rays are responsible for nearly 90% of visible signs of aging, so sunscreen is your first line of defence. I often use sunscreens I don’t like on my face on my hands instead. Then, protection: your hands are getting a beating EVERY DAY (housework, cleaning dishes, typing and everything else you can think of). Wear gloves for housework and cleaning, and wear driving gloves in the car.
Hand Moisturiser
Moisturise regularly, especially nowadays when we regularly wash and disinfect our hands. Choose a hand cream along the same lines as you’d choose a moisturiser – look for gentle formulas without sensitising ingredients like fragrance, essential oils and drying alcohols. Great ingredients are ceramides and hyaluronic acid that plump up the skin temporarily. Also, obviously, use one with a lot of humectants and antioxidants.
Anti-aging hand care routine
If you want to treat issues like wrinkles, age spots and lost elasticity, it’s really easy to immediately jump to AHAs, BHAs and retinols. Sure, you’ll likely see results, but think about sun protection ALWAYS when using those ingredients. (And I think a good hand cream with SPF is hard to find.)
Beauty tips for hands
You also can treat your hands to a hand mask (there’re sheet masks out there, but due to environmental concerns with sheet masks why not using an overnight mask? You can wear thin cotton gloves in winter to let the mask sink in overnight.). And there’s honestly no greater way to get rid off unwanted samples of serums and whatnots than using them on your hands.
Hand and nail care tips
Nails often get more brittle with age and start to turn either yellow or grey. Always care for our cuticles (here’s how!), and use a nail balm to keep them moisturised and non-frazzled looking. If you want to, use a nail polish – nude and red polishes look chic and polished at any age!
Beautiful hands: best hand creams
(I still loving Lush’s Helping Hands and Lemony Flutter, but have written about them so much on this blog, and there’s more!)
For dry hands
Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve & The Body Shop Hemp Hard-Working Hand Protector
I love both due to one simple fact: they’re ultra moisturising, don’t take ages to sink in and you’re not left with a weird film on your hands. They’re both heavy on the humectants (Glycerin, Caprylic Triglyceride) and also on emollients like oils and squalane. Both include some antioxidants, but also fragrance. (While TBS’s Hemp Hand Protector smells weirdly green, Kiehl’s has a more medicinal fragrance due to Eucalyptus Oil.)
For sensitive skin
Eucerin Urea Repair Plus
No fragrance, no drying alcohol, but urea, ceramides, natural moisturising factors and hyaluronic acid: Eucerin’s Urea Repair Plus with 5% Urea might be a solution of you’ve got sensitive, itchy skin. I find it moisturising enough to combat dry hands, but quickly absorbing, so you don’t leave greasy fingerprints everywhere.
With SPF
Nivea Anti-Age Q10 Hand Creme
Remember I said it’s difficult to find a hand cream with SPF? What’s even more difficult is to find a hand cream with SPF and without photosensitizing essential oils and fragrance. L’Occitane apparently does one with SPF15 now, and I’m interested in German pharmacy brand’s Eubos’ offering. French pharmacy brand Ducray intrigues me as well, as their hand cream comes with a whopping SPF of 50.
Nivea’s Q10 is the one I’m using right now. What can I say? The SPF is too small to be added on the packaging, it has fragrance and essential oils, and still: it performs really well as a lightweight hand cream, especially in summer. I don’t mind applying it after every time I wash my hands, thus proving the old adage that the best sunscreen is the one you like using. If you can find it in the drugstore, I recommend it (it’s better than nothing).
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
