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Page 54
| Natural Hand Care |
| The skin on the backs of the hands is especially thin and also most likely to show age. Protect the hands from chemicals by wearing gloves when doing house-cleaning. Before gardening, scratch your nails into a bar of soap to help keep the dirt out. Wash the hands in warm water rather than hot, which can damage growing cells. Be sure to dry the hands thoroughly, even between the fingers, where fungi and chapping can occur. Keep a bottle of natural lotion next to the sink as a reminder to use it after washing and drying the hands. During the cold months, wear gloves or mittens to prevent chapping. Avoid using your nails as tools. |
| Massage the hands as well as exercising them. Shake the hands vigorously to increase circulation and bring nutrients to the nails. Make a tight fist and then gradually open the hands, stretching the fingers out wide. Consider buying a set of Chinese hand balls available at many health food stores to squeeze into the palms. Another exercise is to press the hands together as if praying, only harder. Relax. Repeat 10 times. Separate and stretch the fingers 10 times. Take a rubber band and take turns placing it around the thumb and each individual finger as you stretch the fingers wide. |
| You can exfoliate the hands by massaging them with sugar and a bit of almond oil or some powdered oatmeal (run through the blender). Rinse well. On occasion, soak your hands in warm herbal tea such as calendula, chamomile or fennel. |
| See also Liver Spots, page 29. |
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