AGEING HANDS

Hands are often the first to give away your age. Retard the effects of ageing with regular sunscreen.

Hand care should be an integral part o every woman's beauty regime, but women who spend a fortune on age-retarding face creams often seem to forget about their hands. At 40 your face might look 10 years younger, but your hands never lie - age spots begin to appear and one of the first signs of a fading youth is the loose, crepy skin on the backs of your hands.

In many ways your hands mirror and chronicle your life experience. More than any other area of the body, hands are exposed to all sorts of damage; abuse them and they will give away your age.

The age of your skin is partially determined by its content of water-soluble collagen, a protein needed to form connective tissue. It gives skin its flexibility and ability to absorb moisture. As the skin thins and ages, collagen and elastin fibres - the skin's structural support - degenerate. Collagen molecules start to oxidize, becoming stiffer and less able to absorb moisture. This results in the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Sun damage also becomes more visible. Usually, these signs of ageing are first seen around the eyes, on the neck and the backs of your hands as this is where the skin is thinnest. These areas are also the most vulnerable to the cumulative effect of the sun's rays, which speed up the cellular deterioration of the skin.

As you grow older and abuse your hands, your skin loses its elasticity and your hands become more susceptible to brown spots; bruises and black-and-blue marks; calluses; dry, fragile skin; poor bone health; cold hands; and dilated veins. Brown spots (often incorrectly called 'liver spots') on the back of the hands are the result of the cumulative effects of sunlight or chronic bruising of the skin. These can be retarded, and often prevented, by meticulous use of a full-spectrum sunscreen.

Nail suffer, too. As you age, they become thinner and rougher, often developing ridges due to the natural changes in the matrix, which is responsible for growth.

Maintaining healthy, natural nails is not as complicated, as many may think. They only require regular applications of hand cream to act as moisturizer.



Healthy nails
Maintaining healthy, natural nails is not as complicated as many may think. As with hair, nails are usually their healthiest in their natural state, requiring a bit of nail polish for protection and regular applications of hand cream to act as a moisturizer.

Frequent nail splitting can indicate dehydration. In such cases, drink more fluids and use an oil designed to penetrate the nail plate. Follow up regular use of cuticle cream. It will take six months to see results.

Remember that regular long-term use of nail polish can cause a yellowing discoloration of the nails. Although this is not considered damaging, it is useful to know that it can be minimized by always using a basecoat to protect the nails.