USEFUL HANDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1938, Page 8

USEFUL HANDS

MAY BE MADE LOVELY. PRACTICAL HOME CARE. Whether your hands are pale and idle, or natural and useful, they react constitutionally to weather conditions, and the problem of keeping them wellgroomed is relatively equal. The most painful reaction is any degree of inflamed skin with cracks or fissures; dryness followed by peeling is another blemish; while stiffening knuckles, bad colour or redness and a general lack of tone in their appearance are common problems. The winter months bring a set of seemingly insuperable contradictions; beautiful and plain hands alike never seem fresh and clean for very long and continued washing is suicidal. For their better colour and action the hands ought to be used and exercised. Against that, the use of the bare hands reddens, roughens and often makes the joints puckered and lined. The least sign of wintry ailments, such afflictions as slow circulation, acidity and rheumatism, is reflected in the movement and colour of pretty hands. Basically, of course, good-looking hands are cultured from general physical fitness plus the daily rule of sensible protection; some special cleansing and exercising with regular applications of cream compensate the winter deficiency of fat in the glands. Hands that are used for duties in the home, for gardening or applied arts and crafts, require more thorough cleaning than average soap and water. If powdered pumice is used with warm olive oil the process stimulate the circulation, renews the action of the epidermis, and is softening as well as cleansing. Women whose hands roughen easily must avoid washing them in hard water, and make cream, and oil cleaning the principal corrective of a difficult hand blemish. When water is used, make a bath of oatmeal, bran or elderflowers and use a super-fatted soap. Dry hands fastidiously with a soft linen towel and massage the skin with enough almond oil to give them a natural soft coolness. They improve at once if well-cut gloves lined with silk are worn and loose cotton ones used at night.