Ever since becoming a mom I’ve become aware of my, well, old hands.

It’s not that my hands are aging faster than I am elsewhere, it’s just that when you have a baby you’re constantly washing your hands (CONSTANTLY), and as a result, drying them out daily. Just like dry skin shows age, so too do dry hands. But no matter the reason, your anti-aging routine should include your entire body. So don’t disregard your hands.

What Causes Your Hands to Look Old and What Can You Do About It?

There are a number of reasons why it looks like you have old hands. Some are within your control and others are not. But at least once you know the reason you can do something about it.

1. Veiny hands

If the veins on your hands seem large and in charge, they can make your hands look older than your years. The blueish tint is likely the most apparent during the winter months when your skin is so pale that they appear even more prominent. The bad news is that you can’t get rid of the veins without having them surgically removed, which seems a bit extreme unless you’re a hand model. The good news is that you can use hand and leg concealers like Dermablend to hide the veins.

Another tip for brightening up your hands and hiding bluish veins is choosing the right nail color. A pop of color, especially orange and reddish tones, can make your hands look younger, while blueish tones can actually make the veins on your hands stand out more. If you’re uncomfortable with bright tones, choose a nude color with a red or orange undertone so your hands don’t look gray and dull.

2. Scaliness

If your hands look like the scales of an alligator, take steps to bring back the soft and supple hands of your youth. This moisturizing hand soak may be just the thing:

Homemade Milk Hand Soak

Ingredients

1 cup oats
1 Tbsp. fine sea salt
2 Tbsp. whole milk

Directions

Whisk ingredients together. Massage the combination into your hands and let sit for ten minutes. Rinse with warm water.

Further moisturize your hands with coconut oil.

This hand soak is not only deeply moisturizing, it also exfoliates the skin, which is really important to making flaky and dull skin look vibrant.

3. Brittle Nails

A deficiency of biotin, as well as exposure to certain chemicals, can cause brittle nails. Take a 2.5 mcg dosage of biotin daily to combat brittle nails. Additionally, if you want to strengthen your nails, make sure to avoid alcohol-based hand sanitizers. And take a holiday from using nail polish all the time, which can suffocate your nail surface making it thin and unhealthy.

4. Sun spots

If you forgot to spread the UVA/UVB love to your hands, you could end up with age spots that make your hands look older than they should. Use creams that contain naturally active ingredients for lightening dark spots like citrus ushiu peel extract, licorice extract, and niacinamide. And then ensure that you avoid any further damage by wearing a broad spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreen on your hands.

5. Generally dry hands

This is especially true if you wash your hands often. In the winter time, the hands can also get extremely dry because there’s not as much moisture in the air. Keep a deep moisturizer by the soap in the bathroom and at the kitchen sink. That way you’re replenishing moisture every time you remove it. Great moisturizers include Cleure Body Lotion, Better Botanicals Kohum Butter Body Balm, and Andalou Naturals Cooling Aloe Mint Body Lotion.

You could also use organic coconut oil as mentioned above. It’s inexpensive, deeply moisturizing, and you know exactly what’s in the product. Generally speaking, moisturizers with ingredients like shea butter, vitamin E, olive oil, and macadamia nut oil are good natural ingredients that are deeply moisturizing to your hands.

Additionally, protect your hands whenever possible. When you’re cleaning the house or washing dishes, wear gloves to protect your hands. In the winter time, when it’s cold and gusts of dry air can damage your skin, make sure you wear gloves or mittens to protect them.

How do you keep your hands in tip-top condition? What are your favorite tips for keeping your hands looking young? We want to know! Drop us a line via Twitter @EcoSalon.

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The post Do You Have Old Hands? (And What to Do About It) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Winter is coming right up. This means cozy fires, hot cocoa, and playing in the snow. It also means extremely dry skin and cracked hands.

Why do our digits seem to get hit the hardest in winter? Sandpaper skin and gnarly cracks are not only unsightly, but painful too.

Once we turn on the indoor heating and the air brings a bit more chill, our face shows extra dryness right away. And we adjust our skincare routine accordingly. We turn to a more emollient moisturizer, or add an oil or balm to our skincare regimen, and our facial skin issues are usually resolved. But the skin on our hands is thicker than elsewhere on the body, and doesn’t show signs of dryness and irritation as quickly. We often don’t notice our dry hands until we have redness, scratchy skin, and deep cuts.

Preemptive care is essential in staving off extremely dry skin this winter, and keeping hands soft, smooth, and pretty straight through to spring. The key is to start now.

Stock up on hand cream and start using it even before your hands show the signs of winter drying. Keep one near each sink in your home, one in your purse or gym bag, and another on your nightstand for easy access. At nighttime, the glove trick works like a charm to give hands an infusion of moisture. Don’t be afraid to slather it on before bed and don gloves (or a pair of socks) for deep hydration.

Exfoliate, if you are already to the cracked skin stage, wait until your skin has healed to do any exfoliating. To keep skin smooth and ready to soak up moisture, use a scrub twice weekly to slough away dry skin. This sugar and honey lip scrub (honey is great for softening skin!) does double duty as a hand polish.

Soap and water is drying. Yes, it is a good idea to keep hands clean any time of year, especially in cold and flu season. But washing with a soap made with harsh surfactants is ultra drying. Opt for an organic hand wash, like SKIN Naked Foam unscented shave cream and wash, made with natural oils, and remember to apply hand cream afterward. And unless hands truly need washing, substitute a nontoxic hand sanitizer. EO is the pro at making safe sanitizers and offers a wide variety.

Protecting skin from wind and cold also helps to keep them from becoming dry. Score a pair of glam gloves to, you know, go with your ear muffs.

Choosing the best hand cream for extremely dry skin is super important. Certain natural ingredients are better than others at protecting skin and warding off dryness. Olive, avocado, and coconut oils are all beneficial to dry skin. Shea butter helps to seal in moisture and protect hands.

To heal deep cracks and callouses, apply a salve to affected areas. SKIN Healing Calendula Salve and Laurel – Healing Balm are both good options.

Best Hand Creams for Extremely Dry Skin

1. SKIN Lemon Mousse Extra Dry Hand Cream

2. Pai Fragonia Sea Buckthorn Hand Cream

3. Amala Hydrating Hand Cream

4. Lavera Basis Hand Cream

5. Cocovít – Coconut Oil

6. 100% Pure Coconut Hand Buttercream

*Disclaimer: Help support EcoSalon! Our site is dedicated to helping people live a conscious lifestyle. We’ve provided some affiliate links above in case you wish to purchase any of these products.

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Image of woman holding tea in winter via Shutterstock

The post The 6 Best Hand Creams to Combat Extremely Dry Skin appeared first on EcoSalon.

Got milk? You don’t have to just drink it. 

Love it or hate it, milk has a place not only in your diet but also in your tool box and cleaning closet as well as among your toiletries. Raw goat milk, in its unadulterated and probiotic-heavy state, is the best to use. But seeing that unpasteurized milk is outlawed for sale almost everywhere in the U.S., pasteurized goat milk is second best. While not all milks are created equally, you can use any animal milk to successfully benefit from these tips. From curing a hangover to tending to those stained linens, milk has got your back.

Appetite Suppressant

To prevent overeating at mealtime, drink a glass of milk 15 minutes beforehand. Milk fills you up and gives you enough protein – 1 cup of non-fat milk contains 8.26 grams of protein – to keep you feeling fuller and less inclined to go overboard when food is served.

Hair Conditioner and Mask

With its vitamin and mineral content, milk works great on smoothing and shining your hair. Rinse your hair with fresh milk and let it sit wet for a few minutes before rinsing with water. You could also mix powdered milk with water to form a paste and then comb through hair, letting it to sit for at least 5 minutes before washing out.

Hangover Cure

Milk helps to settle the stomach, rehydrate the system, and raise blood sugar levels. These make it a great morning-after hangover cure. Additionally, milk contains the amino acid cysteine, which is known to neutralize a lethal dose of acetaldehyde, which is an alcohol metabolite.

Fish Freshener

Place frozen fish in a milk bath and let sit until the fish thaws. The milk makes the fish taste fresher.

Make-Up Remover

Mix powdered milk with water until a paste forms. Apply the paste to skin to remove make up. Rinse thoroughly.

Crack Eliminator

Before you toss Grandma’s beloved china, enlist milk to the rescue! The protein in milk reacts with the mineral kaolin in china to close cracks. All you have to do is place china in a pan, cover it with milk, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer for up to an hour.

Silverware Polisher

For glistening silverware, take advantage of milk gone sour. Simply soak silverware in sour milk, cover it completely, and let it soak over night. The next day, wash the silverware as you normally would. If the milk isn’t sour already and you want to make your own, for every cup of milk, mix in one tablespoon of lemon juice and one tablespoon of vinegar and let it sit for five minutes before use.

Bug Bite Soother

Mix milk powder with enough water until it resembles a paste. Apply the paste to the area affected by the insect bite to relieve pain. The enzymes in the milk will neutralize the venom.

Facial Cleanser and Mask

Milk is a natural cleanser. It contains vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12. The alpha-hydroxy acids in milk exfoliate the skin, reducing the appearance of wrinkles and discoloration. Use a cotton ball to dab milk all across your face. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wash with water before moisturizing. For a mask, take 1/4 cup powdered milk and add enough water until it becomes a paste. Mix thoroughly and apply to the face. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before rinsing.

Ink Remover

To remove ink from clothing, take the affected garment and soak it in a milk bath overnight. The next day, wash the garment as usual. The stain should be gone. To boost the milk’s effectiveness, mix two parts milk with one part vinegar as the soaking solution.

Body Skin Moisturizer

The butterfat in milk moisturizes the skin. And because the pH of milk is close to the skin’s natural pH, the skin is more receptive to the moisturizing effects of the milk. Pour a few cups of fresh milk or 1/2 cup powdered milk into your bathtub, Cleopatra style.

Dry Hands Softener

To relieve dry and chafed hands, rinse them in milk a few times a day. Over the course of a week or two, your hands will begin to feel softer and less Winter rough.

Leather Cleaner

Dab worn or dirty leather with milk and buff until clean. The milk removes debris and leaves the leather shiny and looking brand new.

Corn on the Cob Flavor Booster

Boil corn with some milk in the water – about 1/2 cup – and the corn’s sweetness will heighten and its flavors will become more developed.

Shaving Cream Replacement

Run out of shaving cream? Nothing powdered milk and water can’t fix. Mix enough water with powdered sugar to produce a paste. Apply the paste to your face, underarms, and legs and shave. This simple concoction is smooth enough to resemble the real thing.

Poison Ivy Soother

To reduce the itch from an unintended stroll through a poison ivy bush, dab fresh milk or a powdered milk and water paste on the affected area. The milk will reduce the itchiness, redness, and irritation.

Sunburn Soother

Delicately pat sunburned skin with fresh milk. The milk cools the burn and the enzymes in the milk help to offset the pain.

Fertilizer

A tip from farmers and seasoned gardeners themselves – use milk as a fertilizer. Milk has been used as an organic fungicide and fertilizer without harming the plant.

Furniture Polisher

Sour milk makes for a great furniture polisher. Apply sour milk to furniture surfaces through a disposable spray bottle and wipe clean. You can also make your own sour milk, outlined above.

Milk Carton Bird Feeder

No, we didn’t forget about offering you a way to re-use the milk carton! Here is a tutorial on how to turn the carton into a bird feeder.

Images: Muffet, Striatic, Sshreeves, Jenny Downing, Gagstreet, Markusram, Robert Benner, The Living Room

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