4 Rules to Live By for Lovely Soft Hands

[By Selena Kwok Mei Mei]

The lines on your palms might not reveal your true destiny but the appearance of your hands can certainly be a dead giveaway to a woman’s true age. Being constantly exposed to environmental factors such as water, sun, wind as well as irritants in household cleaning agents and such, our hands definitely deserve an extra dose of TLC to keep them in tip top condition. What’s the point of spending top dollar for a lovely manicure if your hands appear rough and neglected? Before the situation get out of hand, (pun intended!), take heed of these 4 simple rules which go a long way in helping to keep your paws soft and lovely.

Wash right

Washing our hands is an activity that we do so frequently that its little wonder that we don’t give much thought to it. It’s something that you probably do very unconsciously but do start taking note of your hand washing habits and make the necessary tweaks. To start off with, be aware of the water temperature. Don’t just plunge them regularly into extremely hot or cold water as over time, this damages the skin. Lukewarm or water at room temperature is the most forgiving, and if possible, don’t just reach for any old bar of soap. Cream cleansers especially those with moisturizing components such as olive oil and jojoba are great options. While it comes to drying your hands after washing, pat dry gently with a soft towel and don’t rub them roughly and pull the skin about to minimize fine lines caused by excessive friction.

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Glove up

Gloves may be purely decorative and serve to add a finishing touch to a stylist’s dream for the likes of Lady Gaga and the late Michael Jackson, but ultimately, their main purpose in life is really to protect one’s hands.This includes any given situation when there’s a risk of exposing your hands to harsh elements such as cold, heat, chemicals and any other form of irritants. So learn to glove up when necessary, be it at work or at play, and while you are at it, there’s really no harm in choosing a pretty pair that screams your unique personality!

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Sun protection

Everybody enjoys a spot of sunshine but we got to be aware of its toll on our bodies, hands not spared. Applying adequate sunscreen goes a long way in “sun-proofing” ourselves from photo damage, not just during the hotter months of summer but all throughout the year. Age spots, or sun spots, otherwise known as solar keratoses are caused by the formation of excess pigment accumulated over many years of excessive, unprotected sun exposure which are repulsive and can make the skin look older than it really is.

“All is not lost with the approved use of medical technologies first developed for facial treatment on off-face sites such as limbs and hands.” Explains Dr. Low Chai Ling, medical director of the SW1 Clinic, a one stop destination for medical spa, cosmetics dermatology and cutting edge aesthetics surgery inSingapore. “The Pico Pigment Laser is equally effective in spot removal of targeted lesions and addresses uneven skin discoloration at the same time while the Fraxel Dual non-ablative laser system provides the ultimate skin rejuvenation, erasing unsightly signs of ‘age-graffiti’ to help restore some youthfulness to a pair of crepey, sun damaged hands.”

Not only are the hands a vital and visible part of your body, it is also one of the first areas to show signs of aging, thanks to unprotected sun exposure and general neglect. Because the skin over the hands is thinner and lacks elasticity or resilience, it is prone to fine lines, wrinkling. Fraxel Dual Laser brings about total skin renewal to stubborn dark spots and reverse years of sun damage to the hands, with the state-of-the -art Thulium 1927nm wavelength working remarkably well against targeted superficial brown pigmentation. Improving the texture, tone and color of your paws by affecting only a fraction of your skin at a time with thousands of tiny microscopic laser spots just like a photographic image that’s being restored, pixel by pixel, Fraxel Dual brings about overall rejuvenating benefits that refreshes the skin so that it looks younger, softer and smoother. A series of five sessions spaced four to six weeks apart is recommended to produce a gradual remodeling of the dermal matrix components collagen and elastin, leading to nothing short of a total skin rebirth.

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Moisturize religiously

Combating the aging hand syndrome may take more than a dollop of hand cream but something as simple as that does make a fair bit of difference. Because the skin over our hands is thinner with fewer oil glands to begin with, they can quickly become dry and this will only worsen with age. The American National Skin Cancer Foundation recommends the regular use of a hand lotion rich in emollients like lanolin and humectants such as glycerin. Besides these two, other ingredients such as lactic acid and shea butter will also help hydrate, nourish and smoothen skin.

For shriveled, aged hands desperately seeking out an oasis, Revitalift is a state of the art injection technique whereby minute quantities of deeply nourishing hyaluronic acid fillers are carefully placed beneath the skin over the dorsum of hands to provide deep tissue hydration and to raise the skin level so that tendons, joints and veins lose their prominence. Before you strap on your diamond tennis bracelet and put on your Bvglari cocktail ring, make sure you book an appointment for Revitalift hands, to re-plump and replenish volume for an enviable youthful pair of paws to better showcase your sparklies!

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