27 Mar Has the cold weather taken a toll on your hands and feet?

Due to our extremely cold climate this year, most of our clients have been coming in for their manis and pedis complaining about painful, dry, chapped and even cracked hands and feet. We Bliss Girls would even say it’s an epidemic this year ! OUCH!  Also, because of the extreme cold, another big problem is weak, dry, splitting nails.

Here are a few helpful hints to keeping hydrated this winter:

First off, if you are suffering from cracked, bleeding skin, it is most important to heal these first whether it be on the hands or the feet. We suggest applying Polysporin to the base of the crack until  it is healed from the inside out. Once healed, then you can start applying a cream a few times daily for optimal results

Right before bed is an absolute MUST! This way the active ingredients in the cream have all night to penetrate and treat the area.

You need a good, thick cream containing key ingredients like shea butter, glycerin and paraffin.

Our favorite line of creams at Bliss is GEHWOL. This line of products is used in most high end salons because of its effectiveness. This line of hand creams, foot soaks, treatment creams and balms has been in existence for over 100 years  GEHWOL is a German name which means “walk-well “. The whole line is based on natural plant extracts herbs and essential oils .

Even as we head into spring, keep wearing your gloves as protection from the cold! It seems obvious but how many of us actually remember to? Protection of the skin and hydration will do the trick!

For our extreme cases of dryness, we also like O’ KEEFE’S WORKING HANDS hand cream.

Don’t laugh, but this product, designed for gardeners and contractors, can be found at Home Depot.

It’s glycerin based and deep treating. We have witnessed it work miracles on the toughest cases!
Next for some nail tips: If hands and cuticles are soft and hydrated, the nails should follow suit. It is imperative in winter and spring to ALWAYS keep a hardener on your nails. You need to also seal the free edge of your nails with the hardener to prevent splitting and chipping. Rejuvacote by Duri is a best seller and is a treatment we use for splitting, weak and brittle nails . It must be used every day (1 coat)  until the bottle is finished.

If used as directed, results are amazing: long, strong, hard nails!

This will also mean longer lasting manicures with less chipping!

I know I’ve bombarded you all with a lot of maintenance and with all of our busy schedules that this seems like a lot of work! Just remember that a little effort goes a long way to maintaining HAPPY hands and feet.

– BLISS GIRLS