For those of you who meticulously care for your hands, look away now. For the rest of us,  just how often have our poor old hands been used, abused and ignored until we finally sit down on Christmas eve to raggedy cuticles, scratches and scrapes and just a whiff of what’s left of the nail polish! If that’s you, don’t despair.  Here are our top hints and tricks to  have them ship shape in time for Christmas:

• If you don’t do it already, ALWAYS pull on those gloves to wash the dishes or when using cleaning solutions.
• Keep a pair of hygiene gloves close to the sink which are small enough to wear under the usual marigolds. Before washing up, slather your hands in a little almond oil then slip into both pairs of gloves. The warm water will help absorption helping to nourish and strengthen those nails and leaving your skin super smooth and your cuticles ready to surrender back a little! Just a couple of nights with your hands in the sink will work wonders so there’s no need to volunteer for extra dish washing duties!
• If you wash your hands a lot, keep a tube of deliciously fragranced, super rich hand cream next to the sink or in your pocket or bag and apply after every wash. If you use hand soap, rinse thoroughly to avoid residue which can dry out skin further.
• Keep an orange stick, hand cream or almond oil plus a pair of cotton gloves or clean socks by your bed.  Take just a couple of minutes each night this week to apply a good dose of cream or oil to your hands, massaging well into the cuticles. Use the orange stick to gently push cuticles back into place then slip your hands into the gloves or socks for an overnight treatment.
• Trim nails a couple of days before Christmas remembering to follow the natural curve without cutting away the corners. File gently in one direction to avoid snags and weakened nails. Finish up with a little almond oil or apply a specially purchased nail strengthener.
• If you plan to apply nail polish, do so a day or two beforehand and put aside at least an hour to complete the job properly and so helping prolong the look through to the New Year.
• Invest in good base coat, clear quick dry top coat and fast drying finishing spray. Allow the base coat to fully dry prior to applying the colour coat, starting from the middle, apply in three even stripes until the whole nail is coated. Reapply colour coats as required, leaving enough drying time in between each coat. Finish with an even covering of top coat, allowing to dry for a few minutes before spritzing with the fast drying spray. Your nails will be touch dry super quick so you can get on with other things but they will not be completely dry for around an hour so beware of sticky tape, wrapping and the like!
• For quick touch-ups of those minor chips or knocks, keep your top coat and colour handy. Touch-up the colour only where chipped then apply top coat to the whole nail for a flawless look.

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About the author

Naomi
Hello. I am the letter tamer, word shaper and idea knitter for the wonderful folk at The Jersey Company. As well as writing generally kinda helpful stuff here on the blog every week or so, I can also be found regularly wrestling with all those wordy bits which let you know what JC and JC folk are really all about. If it’s in written form and has the Jersey name on it, then it was most probably, almost certainly written by me. I can be found more often than not writing at home from an old school desk where I can think and scribble in equal measure. I love to write with a proper pencil, always drink tea from a mug and make hot buttery toast the size of doorsteps. More than occasionally, I can be found enjoying all these things at the same time. I sometimes tame words for other lovely and interesting clients too via Creative Avoidance, a small but perfectly formed scribbling service.

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