Monday, April 27, 2009

More on Cuticles

I wanted to add a few little tips for handling cuticles that you can do everyday.
  • When doing the dishes - put some lotion on and wear rubber gloves. The Playtex Living gloves are cotton lined. With your hands in the hot water doing the dishes the lotion is also heated up and you have an instant 'hot oil' treatment.
  • After a shower or bath - gently push the cuticles back with your towel. Since the cuticles are softened from the shower they will push back easily.
  • When putting on lotion - make sure to slather it on the cuticles and let it soak in.
Just remember...don't cut the cuticle off and treat them gently.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Do Not Cut The Cuticle Off

Taking care of the cuticle is something I have learned by experience.

The rules are:
  • Do not cut the cuticles off.
  • Only trim the part of the cuticle that is sticking up or frayed.
I grew up a nail biter. My parents offered everything but the moon to get me to quit biting my nails. That said...I did quit biting my nails. But not because of any bribe my parents offered.

I began manicuring my own nails every week. I got out my little nail kit and would cut my cuticles off, then file and buff my nails. I didn't bite my nails but I did continue to bite my cuticles. A bad habit that is so hard to break.

A few years down the line I found a way to polish my nails that would last a week. With polish on my nails I stopped biting my cuticles. I didn't want to mess up my polish job after spending hours making it perfect!

My cuticles were still ragged! I bought that neat Revlon cuticle trimmer. Big, big mistake. My cuticles were still ragged. Hang nails were a continual problem. Until manicuring school.

Beauty school is a challenge in that you have to find something to do to fill all that time! I got a manicure everyday! That meant my cuticles were gently pushed back and only the hang nails trimmed. By the end of school I no longer had a cuticle problem.

Your skin (cuticle included) is made up of many layers of skin cells. There is no way that you can cut off a layer evenly. When you trim your cuticles off you can bet that you have trimmed the layers unevenly. So when the skin grows back it grows back uneven. Cutting the cuticles off in an attempt to smooth them only makes the matter worse. Thus you have ragged cuticles.

Make sure that you apply lotion to keep the cuticles moist and gently push them back before trimming. This done frequently is the recipe for beautiful cuticles.