Our hands and nails, together with our faces are almost always exposed to the world, no matter the situation. That is why it is important to pay closer attention to your hands and nails.
I can remember times when I have been in a meeting and glancing down at my hands and being appalled. Nail polish chipped, or worse peeling, or my cuticles being in an ugly mess.
Neglecting your hands and nails is a beauty no-no. Having your hands and nails taken care of and looking on point will make you feel more feminine.
Sure, you can hide your hands demurely in your lap, but with beautiful nails you don’t need to.
I believe that hand cream should be one of your skincare essentials. Carry a tube in your purse/handbag so that you can apply some throughout the day. That’s what I do.
Here are 16 nail care routine tips for you to add to your regular skincare routine. Start using them today.
1. Moisturize Daily
We have all been taught that we should moisturize our complexion twice a day. It is just as essential to keep our hands hydrated too.
Remember, we wash our hands constantly throughout the day. This can dry out our skin over time.
If you don’t consistently moisturize, you will soon start experiencing dry skin and ragged cuticles.
Stock up on some small tubes of hand cream. One will be in your purse/handbag. Keep one in your car, and put one on your bedside table so that you are never far away from your moisturizer. I keep a tube on my desk, to the right of my laptop where I sit to write these blog posts.
When you can, apply the moisturizer onto damp skin, wash your hands or get out of the shower. That helps to lock in hydration.
2. Protect Your Hands
I am sure you have also noticed how cold, dry air makes the skin on your face feel a lot drier very quickly. The same thing happens to your hands.
Therefore, when the weather is cold and dry, you will do well to wear gloves in order to limit your exposure to the frigid elements.
3. Avoid Showers That Are Too Hot
If the weather is cold, a nice long, hot shower is probably something you will have been looking forward to for hours.
The problem is that scaldingly hot water can strip your skin of essential moisture.
Instead, turn the dial down and rinse off with cooler water at the end of your shower. It is a massive circulation booster besides helping to retain skin moisture.
The same applies to washing your hands too. Too hot and you will strip away the moisture.
4. Never Skimp On The SPF
When your skin is exposed to sunlight you need to be wearing sunscreen or taking other protective measures, even on cloudy days. UV radiation causes skin damage that will show up as dark spots and wrinkles down the line.
According to the Food & Drug Administration, you should wear a broad-spectrum SPF of 15 or higher every day. By every day, I mean cloudy days too.
I apply sunscreen 15 minutes before I go outside, and you should too. Remember to reapply sunscreen every two hours. To make it easier, I carry a tube of hand cream with me that has an SPF factor of 15.
5. You Need Cuticle Oil
Dry cuticles can ruin the otherwise femme look of your fingers. I rub on a little bit of cuticle oil each day and that takes care of dry cuticles.
6. Keep Your Nails Short
I know this may sound like a scary statement to make and night even be a little triggering, but hear me out.
If you have been growing your nails and your long nails tend to break easily it means that you have let them grow a little too long.
The best solution is to keep your nails trimmed and filed just shorter than the length where your nails are at risk of breaking.
A broken nail is annoying because it makes your nail length uneven for all those weeks it takes to grow back and sometimes the break can be extremely painful too.
By filing your nails regularly you will also catch any small tears and chips before they can progress to become a broken nail.
7. Remember To Buff
You may think that this only applies to manicures, but buffing will keep your nails femme even you are keeping them bare, without polish.
Invest in a nail buffing tool and use it about once a week to help keep your nails smooth.
Most of the time girls only buff their nails just before applying nail polish to keep the application nice and smooth. But if you keep your nails buffed smooth, not only will your nails look beautiful, it will save you time when you have the opportunity to put on polish.
Remember, smooth buffed nails feel more feminine even if you are not “showing” with nail polish.
8. Use Nail Primer
To get the absolute best out of your nail polish, the first step is applying a primer to help create a smooth canvas on which to apply your polish. Think of it the same way that you use a makeup primer before you apply your foundation.
After you buff, it’s time to use your nail primer. There are different types of nail primers that have been formulated to addresses specific nail issues, be it ridges, breakage, or yellowing nails. If you have one of those issues then be sure to pick the primer for your specific nail condition.
9. Follow Up With A Base Coat
Now that you’ve primed your nails, it’s time to add a base coat. A good manicure is a process that takes a lot of time. You will want your nails to stay looking good for as long as possible.
The primary purpose of applying a base coat is to extend the life of a manicure.
However, there is a trick to your base coat that many girls don’t know about. Your nail polish base coat is a kind of sealant layer between your nails and the top coat of nail polish.
The most common practice with nail polish is that you use the same color nail polish for both the base coat and the top coat.
But really dark shades of nail polish can permanently stain your nails, leaving your nail color selections limited for the many months it will take for the stain to grow out.
So, if you plan to wear a really dramatically dark shade of nail polish, then make your base coat a lighter shade that won’t stain your nails. That lighter shade of base coat will be a protective layer preventing your nails from getting stained by the darker top coat.
10. Time To Polish
Once your base coat is properly dry, you can start getting to work with the process of actually painting your nails.
First, apply a thin coat of polish. Once that is dry, then apply a second coat. You need patience for this part of the process.
If you rush the drying process you may end up regretting it. This is especially true if your base coat is a different shade to your final nail color. Not only will this make your nails uneven and maybe even lumpy, but the color of your topcoat of polish will mix with the base coat, potentially staining your nails.
11. Finish With An Extra Top Coat
Just when you thought it was all over and you can go back to what you were doing before you spontaneously decided to polish your nails. Now it’s time to seal everything with a layer of top coat to help protect your gorgeous manicure from chipping.
That additional topcoat of nail polish will also help to add extra shine.
Wait until the first two coats of color are semi-dry before applying your topcoat. Then, and this is important, wait until your final topcoat is completely dry before you touch anything. It takes just a single touch to ruin potentially hours of manicure work.
One final side note that will hopefully save you a lot of heartache. Use the bathroom before you start polishing your nails and don’t drink a lot during the process. You don’t want to need the bathroom before your nails are fully dry. Wet nail polish is a toilet paper magnet. So an early trip to the bathroom will mean that you will need restart your nails from scratch.
12. Wear Gloves In The Kitchen
After all the time you have spent creating your perfect manicure, The last thing you want to see is it getting chipped or damaged while you do your household chores.
If you get your nails wet, you will shorten the lifespan of your manicure. Doing the dishes is worse with the strong detergent and the scourers you use.
So save yourself the frustration and get a pair of kitchen gloves. What’s more, remember to use them next time you’re cleaning your frying pan or rinsing dishes. It only adds about five seconds to your clean-up routine and it’s well worth it.
The same does for handling laundry out of the washer or when you hand wash lingerie and hose. Here is the step by step article I wrote about how to hand-wash your hose.
13. Exfoliate Regularly
We already know that your whole body can benefit from regular exfoliation. However, we often forget to give our hands the same treatment.
You use your hands constantly throughout the day and they take quite a bit of wear and tear.
So, about once a week, use a sugar scrub to give your hands a quick exfoliation to help keep them smooth and soft. Just remember to moisturize afterward.
14. Give Your Nails A Polish Break
We all love a beautiful manicure. But the truth is that fresh air and sunlight strengthen your nails.
If you notice your nails feeling a bit brittle or looking a little yellow-tinted or pale in between your polish changes, it’s time to give them some air.
Our nails will benefit from having a polish break occasionally. I usually try to go polish-free for about one week every month, or until my nails start feeling like their normal selves.
15. File Your Nails In One Direction
This is something that most of us learn the hard way. Especially when we are in a rush our natural inclination is often to file our nails back and forth, back and forth.
I have done this when I am in a hurry and I have a sharp or jagged edge to a nail that I know will ruin my hose as I put them on.
If you do this, you will just leave the edges rough and frayed. Instead, file in just one direction, picking the file back up in between each swipe of the nail file.
16. Don’t Peel Off Gel Nails
This final tip is one that I learned through painful experience. I share it here so that you don’t have to suffer as I did.
If you have had a gel manicure and you notice your gels starting to chip, never ever peel the gel polish off of your nails.
Gel nails are strongly bonded to your nails. Peeling them off will literally delaminate and strip your nail. You will be left with extremely weak and fragile nails.
What you should do instead is dissolve your gels in acetone and use a cotton round to gently wipe off the color.
Gel nails are fab