after my natural manicure
After a week of work and a weekend of more ‘housework’ my poor nails are left in such a state, getting them back to a clean and natural condition is such a relief! I love doing this natural manicure as it’s not only good for my nails but great for creating soft kissable hands! If you have some organic cotton gloves, do this before bed and put on extra moisturiser, or hand balm and keep the gloves on overnight for extra nourishment.
1. Trim Hangnails – using nail nippers – very carefully time any ragged skin around the nail. Do not cut your cuticles as these help to protect your nail bed from infections and things like fungi!
2. Soften rough skin – soak your hands in a bowl of warm organic full-fat milk for 5 mins. Milk naturally has loads of lactic acid which will help to dissolve dead skin cells and also soften your cuticles, not to mention great for dry skin. If your hands are dirty/grubby use a scrub on them like mixing up some brown sugar with olive oil, if you have dirt under your nails halve a lemon and scratch in to the flesh.
3. Push back cuticles – using an angle tipped nail stick lightly wrap it in a whisper of cotton wool, and then gently push back your cuticles towards the back of the nail surface, clearing the nail for buffing.
4. Shape nails- using a nail file, preferably a glass nail file shape your nails in to squares with rounded corners, the reason for this is that this shape in particular makes your nails resilient to cracks and snaps. File in one direction, not back and forth.
5. Buff nails – using a smooth-surface buffer, buff the entire surface nail using a side to side motion. Do this very gently but quickly, it’s important not to heat up the nail. Don’t do this too often if your nails are already weak.
6. Wash and Moisturise- Lastly wash your hands in lukewarm water using an organic hand wash, pat to dry and massage in some organic hand cream, or oil such as warm almond oil.
If you are going to paint your nails try and use colours which do not use toxins such as formaldehyde.
Products I love and recommend:
Neom Organic Hand Wash and Lotion
xo
Julie
Tags: formaldehyde, manicure, nail polish, natural hands
