Pamper your hands and feet with these simple beauty aids.
The face may be the window to our soul and thus, deserving of all the special care that we lavish on it but our hands do a lot for us and those around us and our feet do the important task of carrying our weight to all places imaginable and sometimes, unimaginable. Considering that, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we don’t always give them the kind of care and attention that they deserve. Anyway, it’s still not too late to make amends. There are loads of things that you can do to pamper your hands and feet without going to a salon.
Taking care of your hands and nails
As far as your hands are concerned, taking care of your nails are a must. For starters, you can rub petroleum jelly, coconut oil or even castor oil on your nails and then buff with a soft cloth. That should render an amazing shine and look of health to them. Massaging them every two days will help those with soft nails that break easily.
Another way to harden soft nails would be to soak them in warm olive for 20 minutes every second day.
There’s stuff you can do even during your regular chores. Making the dough for rotis? Don’t just wash off the atta – just mix some milk and a drop or two of lemon and leave it on your hands for a few minutes. The kind of cleansing and softening this can do for your hands can be rather hard to beat by a lot of cosmetics.
To soften coarse and dry hands, mix one tablespoon of lemon juice mixed with a teaspoon of sugar and water. Rinse hands after a minute or so. You can also mix 1/3 of a cup of glycerine and 2/3 of a cup of rosewater, mix them well in a bottle by shaking them. Store in a cool place and massage into your hands regularly.
For exfoliation, mix two tablespoons of oil (baby, safflower, vegetable, olive) with three tablespoons of sugar, preferably coarse. Make a paste out of it and gently rub it into your hands. Rinse with warm water.
For cuticle care, you can use a teaspoon of warmed olive oil or two drops of eucalyptus essential oil and a teaspoon of Jojoba oil and push back your cuticles and massage the oil into it.
Besides, always keep a moisturizer handy at work. Using some moisturizer once in a while is a good idea.
Foot care
For starters, while you are doing your washing chores, you can let the soap stay on your foot and brush it off once your chores are over. You could try the milk and atta (whole wheat flour) combination on your feet as well. Believe it or not, toothpaste is known to be great for cleaning and softening the feet. You can round off with a short massage with a cream or a moisturiser.
You can also mix half a bowl of water with half a bowl of lemon juice. Then gently dip paper towels into the mixture and apply to your feet. This should soften, smoothen and even help remove odours from your feet.
You can make your own foot lotion if you don’t want to invest in any of the lotions available across the counter. You will require a tablespoon of almond oil, a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of of wheat germ oil and 12 drops of eucalyptus essential or fragrance oil. Mix all the ingredients well, store in a dark colored bottle and rub into your feet. Store it in a cool place.
Need some exfoliation for the hardened skin on your feet and soles? You could take some warm water; mix one of your favorite shampoos or that which you are trying very hard to finish off. Use a foot file to clean and soften the skin and finish off with a moisturiser. You could also use foot scrubs that are available in the market, for effective exfoliation.
Or else, you could make your own strawberry exfoliant. Mix eight strawberries with two tablespoons of olive oil (or sun flower oil) and a teaspoon of kosher salt. You could also add half a teaspoon of finely chopped almonds if you wish. Make a paste of all the ingredients but be careful not to over blend it. Or else the paste will not be very consistent since strawberries have a lot of water in them anyway. Massage it on to your feet, leave it on for a while and then wash off, preferably with warm water.
0 comments:
Post a Comment