If you’re someone who is hands-on with housework, harsh detergents and other chemicals can result in rough, calloused palms. Even artistes like potters and sculptors suffer from callused hands. However, a little tender loving care can make your hands soft and smooth again. Here are six ways of caring for your hands… they work in all season, all weather conditions and all skin types…

  1. Pour about half a teaspoon of olive oil on your palms. Add about a teaspoon full of grainy sugar. Now you will have a coarse mix on your palms. Slowly, without applying much pressure, rub in this mix onto your palms and back of the hands. Keep rubbing for about three minutes. And then, wash off with warm water.
  2. Take a small bowl. Add one teaspoon each of glycerin, rosewater and lemon. Mix well, and apply a little bit of this on your palm and hands. Work it into the cuticles, between fingers…. The mixture will dry out by itself, so you don’t have to wash your hands after application. Just let it be. Keep the remaining mix covered and used it in the evening again.
  3. Take about a tablespoon of coconut oil in a small glass jar. Add twice the amount of honey to it and mix well. In a bowl, put half a cup each of coarse sea salt, and sugar. Add the juice of half a lemon to it. Mix well, and add this mix to the coconut-honey mix jar. Take a small scoop of this in your palm, and rub it all over the hands – be very gently, we don’t want the skin scraping. Rub in for about a minute, rinse off with warm water. You can store this mix for about a month, but a word of caution: Use any scrub only about twice a week. Any more than that and it will make the skin turn raw.