These 3 Things Mean Your Hands Are Desperate For A Hand Cream
No. 1 is a major sign.
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mbg Beauty Director
mbg Beauty Director
Alexandra Engler is the beauty director at mindbodygreen and host of the beauty podcast Clean Beauty School. Previously, she's held beauty roles at Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, SELF, and Cosmopolitan; her byline has appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Allure.com.
Image by Addictive Creatives / Stocksy
April 16, 2023
To me, hand creams are equal parts necessity and luxury. They’re a necessity because without my little tube of moisturizer, my hands become a wreck. The skin gets dry and irritated. The cuticles become frayed and battered. The fine lines and paper-thin skin appear 10-times worse. But it’s also a mini indulgence of sorts—taking a second out of the day to rub it in and massage my hands is like a temporary escape from whatever I’m dealing with. After, my skin feels silky, smooth, and nurtured—like I just got a HydraFacial for my hands.
So if you haven’t added a hand cream to your daily arsenal, I really encourage you to do so. Not only can it help your skin appear more vibrant and healthy, it just feels oh-so-good. My personal favorite is mindbodygreen’s postbiotic hand cream, as the robust formula is made with loads of skin-supporting ingredients that not only improve the health of the hands, but their appearance too.
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Here, three major signs your skin is begging for a hand cream.
The backs of the hands appear crepey.
Crepey skin—or delicate skin with fine lines resembling crepe paper—is caused by the thinning of the skin with age. We can credit collagen and elastin decline to its appearance, as well as lack of moisture. One of the most common areas folks experience crepey skin is on the backs of their hands.
One of the most important steps to take for improving the appearance of crepey skin? Hydration. Flooding the skin with moisture can plump up the skin. So instead of a crepey appearance, it'll appear supple, soft, and smooth. Look for hand creams with plumping hydrators like aloe vera, shea butter, squalane, and peptides.
Other than hydration, you should also protect your collagen layer with antioxidants. Antioxidants ease inflammation and free radical damage that depletes your collagen. We like coenzyme Q10, vitamin C, vitamin E, or plant oils and extracts.
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The cuticles and nails are worn and ragged.
More than just an aesthetic issue, frayed and damaged cuticles can be a cry for help that your hands need some TLC. The cuticles are a protective barrier around the nail bed and skin, keeping your fingers safe. And when the skin or nail becomes dry or damaged, it can lead to bigger issues down the road.
Regular and nail hydration is the easiest way to stop this process in its tracks. If you’re not one for a cuticle oil, a hand cream can double as cuticle care. Just make sure the tips of your fingers get a bit of the massaging action when you apply the cream.
The skin is easily irritated.
Are your hands sensitive to the touch? Or feel tight and itchy after washing? Or otherwise uncomfortable? That’s an indication that your skin barrier has been compromised. A lot of things can trigger a compromised skin barrier, such as using harsh topical ingredients, stress, external stressors, or skin conditions.
The good news is that the skin is a resilient thing. And if you incorporate a hydrating hand cream made with barrier supporting ingredients, it’ll likely be able to bounce back. To calm the skin, look for soothing ingredients such as aloe and oat oil. You should also look for lipids to support the moisture layer of the skin, like from squalane, shea butter, and plant oils. Finally, biotic ingredients such as pre- and postbiotics can help balance and nurture the skin microbiome.
The takeaway
The cool thing about the skin is that it’s pretty good at telling us exactly what it wants. And in the case of your hands, you should pay especially close attention to them—they do a lot for you, so you should take extra care of them. My favorite way is with mindbodygreen’s postbiotic hand cream.
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