When it comes to your hands and feet, you typically don’t have to make extreme changes to your appearance. If you use some simple strategies, you can see some great results.Focus on Your FeetGiven that your toenails are susceptible to fungus, keep them dry with absorbent socks. Try wearing open-toe shoes when possible. Only walk around barefoot if you’re sure the floor is clean. Fungus hides in shower floor cracks. For common showers, bring your own flip flops and sanitize them regularly.Keep ‘Em Short & DryKeep your toenails dry, short and clean by trimming straight across. This prevents bacteria from building under the nail. You can use a file to smooth the sharp edges. After a shower, dry your hands and feet as to not attract fungi formation in the moist spots. Don’t pick or cut the cuticle, it will let germs in.If your toenails are too thick to cut, you can soak them in warm salt water for five to ten minutes (use one teaspoon of salt for each pint of water). Use industrial-strength nail clippers, because weak ones can split your nails.Try Home RemediesUsing vinegar and tree oil on a nail can clear some infections. These compounds can’t penetrate deep beneath the nail though, so they tend to not work on fungal infections.Here’s one home remedy for nail fungus. Soak the area for five minutes twice a day in a solution of five grams of Chinese golden larch bark and two ounces of vinegar. This will take months of treatment until the new nail forms. If the nail fungus is associated with athlete’s foot, you can try another method: Soak the area in a solution of a whole garlic clove and eight ounces of vinegar, for five minutes, twice daily. We’re not sure why this last method works, but you can try rubbing the area with Vicks VapoRub. You can’t tell by looking, if your nail problem is caused by bacteria or fungus, so give these home remedies a try!Choose Your Nail Salon WiselyWhen getting a mani or pedi, let the nail technician know not to trim your cuticles, which can let germs in for infection. Make sure the salon is using properly sterilized tools. Ideally, you would bring your own instruments and sterilize them by boiling for ten minutes.Protect Your NailsHere’s how to protect your nails from peeling and cracking…
- Wear cotton-lined rubber gloves if you have to use soap and water for long period of time. Especially wear them when using cement or harsh chemicals. If the chemicals will dissolve rubber, use nitrile gloves.
- Trim your nails and clean under them routinely. Use sharp manicure scissors or clippers. Then smooth the edges with an emory board. Only filing will weaken nails. You can use a fine-textured file to smooth snags. Cut straight across, and then file the corners slightly round for strength. Don’t pick at hangnails!
- Always apply a moisturizer after washing hands.
MORE: Non-Toxic Nail Polish Guide
Ideal Finger Length
We all know the joke about learning a lot about men by looking at their hands. But there’s actually no correlation between hand or foot size, and penis size. There is, however, a digit-length ration (variance from the second finger to the fourth) that predicts IQ, fertility and even sports performance. The typical ratio for the index finger is to be 96 percent the size of the ring finger. Women typically have a 1:1 ratio. This means the two fingers are about the same size. Some researchers find this is a marker of being exposed to androgens (like testosterone) in utero. The perfect ratio for finger beauty? Each finger bone is 1.61 times the smaller bone size above it. That’s the golden proportion.
Stop ChewingTo kick your nail-biting habit, squeeze a squishy ball or snap a rubber band when you want to pick. You can paint on gross nail polish to keep you from biting.Squash the SmellThe root of any spoiled egg salad stench from your toenails is likely a bacterium or fungus. To get rid of it, have someone spray your foot with rubbing alcohol three times a day. Let it dry instead of wiping it off. Then, put on a moisturizing cream (try one with lanolin) before bed. After ten days, the smell should disappear. Step up to Betadine if this doesn’t work. Coat your skin and let it dry. Wash it off after a half hour. Betadine can dry your skin, so do this carefully.Wrap It UpA good remedy for calluses is a light mixture of salicylic acid and petroleum jelly. Grind up two aspirin in two tablespoons of petroleum jelly. Then rub it into your heels and wrap them up with plastic wrap to seal the moisture in. After, you can use a pumice stone to rub away the dead skin.Dry UpAbout one percent of Americans suffer from excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis. This affects the hands, armpits and feet. The nerves to those areas relax the arteries, turning on extra sweat glands beneath the skin. This allows excess moisture to seep out. It’s both an appearance and function issue. Excessive sweat makes it harder to work, drive and simply grab something off a top shelf, not to mention the anxiety that can come from interviews and meeting new people.If you really suffer from the embarrassment of this condition, you can try a tannic acid or boric acid. If that doesn’t work, try 20 percent aluminum chloride. Put it on before bed and wash it off in the morning. If this still doesn’t work, you can discuss Botox injections with your doc. You can get these treatments every six to 12 months. Taking shots in the armpits sounds like the pits, but it could be better than surgery.There is a procedure that cuts the nerves that cause sweaty hands. But, you need to sweat an awful lot to justify this major procedure. If you have an issue with foot sweating, try soaking them in tea to get rid of the odor. Sage is traditionally used for excessive sweating, and the night sweats from tuberculosis and menopause. You can take sage as tea or in pill form. It’s been said to cut sweating in half. A new technique of sweat-gland suction may be an option for the groin. It’s like liposuction, suctioning the glands out of the area, but not many plastic surgeons do this. Try cutting down on caffeine and nicotine to reduce anxiety.
What’s Your Hand Shape?
There are long, slender hands (leptosome-asthenic). There are rougher, wider hands called “athletic,” which are actually the best balanced. Lastly, there are short and wide hands with conically formed fingers—called “the picnic.”
Out, Out SpotAge spots are natural tattoos. These aren’t the kind of tats you want to show off. You can get them removed with a TCA chemical spot peel. This is an acid you apply to the skin and it peels away. You can also try cryotherapy, which is freezing them off. However, this could cause blistering and white spots. You can sandblast them off with dermabrasion treatments. There are also bleaching creams that eventually fade them. Laser therapy destroys the substance that creates the dark pigment.Discuss which treatment is best for you with a doctor. Skin creams with over three percent niacinamide concentration seem to work in about a month if applied nightly. The age spot is actually glucose added to the skin in a free-radical reaction (glycation). Niacin prevents this free radical reaction to a large extent.QUIZ: How Healthy is Your Skin?Get the Right ShoesOne in six people have problems from improperly fitted shoes. Heels higher than two inches should be worn for a short period, if that. They cause extreme pressure on the toes, and twice the pressure on the bottom of your feet. Your cramped toes can lead to corns, calluses, bunions and hammertoes. Leave a half-inch between your toes and the end of the shoes for some toe room. But don’t wear shoes so big that they slip. The purpose of shoes is to protect your feet and keep them comfy. Obviously, athletic shoes are ideal. A compromise is a shoe with a wide toe box and heel lower than one inch.VIDEO: Anatomy of a Step
