Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Things Beauty and Such - Hand Care

I became religious about hand lotion while I was a freshman in high school. I'd made the mistake of leaving home on a chilly day without packing hand lotion in my backpack and was forced to walk around with stiff, rough, dry hands. The cold weather and the fact that I was my mom’s very own personal dishwasher at the time did not help the condition of my hands. If you don't wear gloves, cleaning products will also harden the skin on the palms of your hands. So after years of cleaning product abuse, I wasn't happy with the near ‘man hand’ feel of my hands; so I went on a mission to make my hands soft and feminine again.

My first step was to have hand lotion on me at all times. At first I would just use any lotion, but then a coworker gave me Crabtree & Evelyn’s La Source Hand Therapy Lotion one Christmas, and along with falling in love with Crabtree & Evelyn, I became a hand lotion snob.

Crabtree & Evelyn’s La Source Hand Therapy is my number one hand lotion. It's not sticky or greasy and the moisture penetrates your skin enough that even after you wash your hands, they aren't as dry. The original, La Source, which has a light, mild scent, is my favorite, but the LaSource might have some competition with the Lavender Hand Therapy. The Gardeners Hand Therapy is also a favorite of mine. They all have the signature scent of the La Source, but the scents are tweaked a little to accommodate each variety.

Some of my other favorite hand lotions are AVON’s Silicone Glove, SSS Soft & Sensual Hand Lotion, which I give out every year as my Christmas party favor; and Bath and Body Work’s Look Ma New Hands.


Another step I took to soften my hands was by using Mary Kay’s Satin Hands. I didn’t expect Mary Kay’s Satin Hands to make a difference, but it did. This set is especially great in the wintertime. It hydrates and exfoliates leaving you with very soft hands.


HAND SOAP:


I bought Method’s Olive Leaf Natural Hand Soap mainly because I liked the soap dispenser, which I kept and refilled. The soap also smelled great and I thought that I would refill the bottle with the other soaps from Method’s Natural Selections, but by the time I went looking for it, it had been discontinued and is only available in the UK. So I refilled the bottle with Krasdale’s dishwashing liquid thinking that soap is soap, but you get what you pay for. Krasdale’s dishwashing liquid just dried out my hands. Once that finished, I bought Target’s Milk and Honey Hand Soap. (LOVE!!) I asked my mom to buy me a 64oz bottle for Christmas. Don’t judge me, I’m easy to please. It smells just like the Soft Soap's Milk and Honey hand soap, but you get more for your money with the Target brand. And as I said in my Body Lotion Blog, I keep Bath and Body Work’s Aromatherapy Sleep Lavender Vanilla Hand Soap on my bathroom sink.



I didn’t think it was possible, but rough, dry hands can be repaired. I don’t think I’ll ever achieve that pillowy softness of hands that were just meant to be soft, but along with my devotion to hand lotion and Satin Hand Pampering, I no longer consider my hands ‘man hands’.

~Louise C.

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