Hand Care: The Best Products to Repair and Prevent Damaged Hands
Baby its cold outside – and my hands are dry!
Article by The Pretty Feed creator Suzanne Moore
10.6 carrot diamond from Harry Winston (read about it here)
Hand models will know exactly how important this article is. Don't let your hands age before the rest of you ladies! Women used to wear gloves to prevent skin damage but since that trend has come and gone, society needs some reminding! These are hand creams that will reverse signs of aging almost instantly (tightening, rehydrating, and brightening imperfections). Your face isn't the only skin on your body that deserves skin 'CARE'. If you have ever seen your hands in a picture and been taken a back...well you aren't alone!
At this time of year, with the frigid temperatures of winter and the dry heat in our homes, our skin tends to be drier than at any other time of the year. Add to that the additional cooking and baking that we do over the holidays when we are washing our hands ALL the time and our hands suffer (when I am baking I must wash my hands between 20-25 times).
We always pay attention to our faces but it is our hands that we tend to neglect. When I was in my 30’s I sat next to the President of a European skin care line on a flight from Paris and we were talking about aging and the signs of aging. He told me, and I have never forgotten this, that you can always tell a woman's true age by looking at her hands. Women's faces can be altered through surgery but there is no such thing for hands. Since that time I have religiously paid attention to my hands with the same diligence that I have to my face. We often forgot to apply sunscreen to our hands as well which is why they tend to have the most sun damage (they are always exposed!).
There are several new hand creams that have come to market in the last few years. They have SPF, hyaluronic acid, vitamins, and more. We have tried many creams and below you will find our favorites as well as some of our tips to youthful hands! We do not like thick paste like creams, as they tend to sit on the surface of your hands. Creams made with coconut oils, palm oil and other oils are not as easily absorbed as the ones we describe below. While coconut oil might be good for makeup removal we find it less than ideal for hands.
No. 7 Protect and Perfect Hand Cream
No7
20 CAD
This is a wonderful cream for anti-aging, reversing wrinkles and restoring moisture. It has an SPF of 15 and it is unscented. We like all our creams to be unscented as perfume is used to mask the smell of creams as they age. With this hand cream you will notice a younger, smoother hand within a few days. We use it twice a day. It is easily absorbed into the skin. It is not heavy or thick. It is hypoallergenic. It is made by a British skin care line and as such it is subject to the very strict ingredient laws of the EU. We tend to favour European brands of makeup or skin care as there are 1500 ingredients that are forbidden in Europe that are used in the United States.
Put about a quarter size dollop in the middle of your hand and rub your hands together. Massage the cream into your cuticles and the area between your thumb and index finger.
It is available on Amazon.com in 2.5 ounce format. One tube of the hand cream will last at least four months. It has a four out of five star rating on Amazon.
Extreme Hydration Concentrate Hand Cream
The Chemistry Brand is a relatively new brand developed in Canada by Deciem and it's probably one of our favorite brands of late.
The Chemistry Brand
20 CAD - 100 mL
This cream is an intense and ultra-concentrated repair lotion for your hands. You will see immediate results with this cream and only need to use it for ten days applying day and night and then once a week. It is like a face mask for your hands. It delivers not only surface hydration but below the surface hydration. This is produced by a Canadian company and follows the ingredient guidelines of the EU.
Hand Chemistry – Pro-Repair Skincare for Hands
The Chemistry Brand
20 CAD - 100mL
This is a hand cream that will reverse signs of aging on your hands almost instantly (I mean come on-look at that before and after!). This cream targets elasticity, density, and texture as well as the brightness of your skin. It should be use for 11 days morning and night to see optimal results. We have used both and it really depends on what your needs are. The major difference between this cream and the extreme hydration one is the brightness factor. The Pro repair cream really targets more visible signs of aging (like dark spots).
Apply a dime size amount in the palm of your hand and massage until fully absorbed.
HA3 Hand Hydrator
The Chemistry Brand
9 CAD - 60 mL
This is a cream to be used daily and it is made with Hyaluronic acid (which retains 1000 times it's weight in water), butters of mango, Brazilian acai and Inca inchi. Essentially it's packed with antioxidants and hydrating ingredients. Most creams with hyaluronic acid are short term results driven. However, This cream has hyaluronic acid that contains both low and high weight molecular forms for both short and long term results. This means that they are different densities and can absorb into deeper layers of your skin. Because of its hyaluronic properties, this cream retains moisture better than most other hand creams. You can also use this cream on your décolleté and your neck. This is also an excellent cream to take on an airplane.
Place a dime-sized amount of cream in the middle of one hand and massage hands together. Massage the area between your thumb and index finger. Again, this one is quick to absorb so you can apply and go!
A Big Tub of Hyaluronic Acid Concentrate
The Chemistry Brand
30 CAD - 240 mL
This is exactly what it sounds like. We would have a bath in this stuff if we could. It's a gel texture and just feels so nice and cooling to put on!
What is hyaluronic acid? Well for one thing it is the new ingredient that everyone has been talking about the last few years. It is a natural substance found in the skin that attracts and holds moisture. Not only is it used in skin care but also it is used as filler in lips, as a cushion for knee joints and certain eye surgeries. As we age our skin, because of the thinning out of the collagen, loses its ability to retain moisture and thus our skin looks saggy, craggy and old. Commercially available hyaluronic acid replenishes the moisture in our skin that makes us look younger and gives our skin the plumpness and firmness of youth. Face serums have been adding this to their formula for years but hand creams lag behind. There are several molecular compositions for hyaluronic acid – that are high and low weight – and it is by using both that the skin gets optimal result. One sits on the surface and the other penetrates the surface. When buying a product with hyaluronic acid you should research which kind is in the product.
We use this hyaluronic acid as the final application to our hands as well as to our face regimen (we will discuss this in another post). This brand of hyaluronic acid is 99.5% pure and is well absorbed. Place a quarter-sized amount in the middle of one hand and massage into both hands until fully absorbed. Do not wash your hands after putting the concentrate on for at least 30 minutes to allow it to penetrate the skin completely.
After we put on our hand cream we put this on as the last barrier to prevent moisture loss. Because it has both high and low weight it really penetrates the skin and makes our hands feel supple and soft throughout the day with normal washing of our hands. We also apply it to our ear lobes and neck before going out. It is not greasy at all and it absorbs very quickly.
It is unscented and since it comes in such a large bottle I have bought little bottles on amazon and filled them for my carry on luggage.
We hope you have found a cream in the above products that will fulfill all your hand cream dreams. Once you realize how neglected your hands are you will be moisturizing 24/7!