Hand Scrub Day

Last week at the checkout counter I noticed that the cashier had what looked like the most beautiful manicure ever, and looking at my own hands as I accepted her change was almost embarrassing.  It's winter, I don't drink very much water in a day, and we use our fireplace quite a bit for heat, so my hands are in quite a state right now.  Often they are so bad that no matter how much oil and lotion I use, they're still rough and chapped.  I longingly thought of getting a nice manicure, but that seems like such an indulgence especially since lately Dave hasn't been able to work in this cold weather.

I set out this morning to try a salt scrub for my hands, but I found that we only have the super coarse type of salt.  I tried it out with a couple other mamas who brought their boys over to play.  I'm not sure if it worked for them, but I was unsatisfied.  I think the salt was too coarse to do a good job exfoliating. 

Here's the recipe for the first scrub:  equal parts olive oil & salt, rub over hands for a few minutes

Thank you Sharley for your beautiful hand modelling!

My second attempt was a bit more in-depth.  I found a recipe for "nail whitening" on a site that also had a hand scrub recipe, so I figured I'd try it since I already had the ingredients. 

Here are the steps:

1) drink a big glass of water with ACV

2) soak nails in 1 c. water with 1 denture soak tablet (This is the "nail whitening".  Not quite sure why you'd want to do this, but what the heck...)

3) mix hand scrub (1 T. white sugar, 1 T. veg. glycerin, 1 drop EO - I used grapefruit) and scrub for several minutes, then leave to set for 3-4 minutes, rinse off

4) moisturize (I used sweet almond oil)

My hands feel absolutely wonderful right now.  I will freely admit that I have abnormally wrinkly hands for a person my age, but right now they are feeling downright buttery soft and youthful!