How to care for 'green fingers'
The Benefits of Gardening
With the much anticipated Chelsea Flower Show taking place this week, we've all got a case of green fingers! Gardening is a pass time many of us enjoy because it allows us to unwind and decompress. Green spaces are widely recognised as better for our physical and mental health/wellbeing in numerous ways such as:
- A great source of vitamin D (don't forget to apply your SPF!)
- It burns calories, just one hour of gardening burns roughly 330 calories!
- Fantastic stress relief since it increases serotonin levels in the body (the happy chemical) whilst reducing anxiety
- It encourages healthy eating via growing your own produce
- Improves the strength in your hands
In the last couple of years especially during and post Covid, the gardening community is booming with more green aficionados. However, gardening regularly takes its toll on our skin particularly our hands which are more susceptible to age spots, dryness, soreness and hyperpigmentation without the right handcare products and tips.
Hyperpigmentation
Hyperpigmentation can make spots or patches of skin darker than the surrounding areas, but it's more likely to affect areas of our skin which face the most sun exposure (e.g. face, arms, legs). Sun spots occur due to this sun exposure on our face, arms and legs which tend to be exposed whilst gardening. The dryness we experience occurs when soil becomes very dry, it needs to absorb moisture from wherever it can so it pulls the moisture it needs from us when we handle the soil with our bare hands. Gardening is very hands on, the proof is in the pudding (in this case all over our hands and underneath our nails) which means we're washing our hands more often. This can contribute to the dryness we experience as soap can have a drying effect on the skin especially when used excessively.
Top Tips to Care for Your Hands
To minimise these we've listed our top tips below to keep your hands in tip top shape:
- It’s essential to wear appropriate gloves to protect your hands when using wooden tools, handling dirt/soil, dealing with thorns or irritants
- Use gardening tools (e.g. hand spade, shovel, trowel) instead of your bare hands to plant seeds or dig up soil to minimise contact with dry soil
- Keep a clean towel handy to wipe sweat, dirt and debris on your face, hands or in your eyes and protect your pores
- Apply and reapply your SPF every 2 hours for maximum sun protection
- Keep an eye out for poison ivy, oak and sumac as these can cause rashes if in direct contact with your skin
- Keep your nails strong and prevent splitting by massaging in oil to keep nails and cuticles healthy
- Control excess dead skin and calluses with a gentle file to prevent cracks
Our Handcare Picks
We've got some great handcare products to help you maintain healthy hand skin because we believe you should care for your hands the same way you care for your face. Damage prevention is always easier than damage treatment!
Lemon & Black Pepper Hand Lotion: A nourishing hand cream with zesty lemon, Shea butter, soothing ho leaf and invigorating black pepper to protect, soften and moisturise your hands without leaving a greasy residue.
Lemon & Black Pepper Antibacterial Hand Wash: Proven to kill 99.9% of bacteria, our liquid hand wash with natural antibacterial Zesty lemon and Ho leaf essential oils gently and effectively cleanses leaving skin feeling squeaky clean whilst retaining essential moisture.
Lemon & Black Pepper Hand Sanitiser Spray: Keep your hands safely sanitised against bugs and bacteria, smelling fresh and fragrant with this proven effective blend of antibacterial essential oils of lemon, ho leaf and invigorating black pepper.
Kale Anti-Ageing Hand Cream: This multi-award-winner is specially formulated with anti-ageing kale, Rose of Jericho, argan oil and hyaluronic acid to Intensely nourish, hydrate, refine and smooth skin texture. Helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, uneven pigmentation and age spots for youthful-looking hands.
Antioxidant Multi-Tasking Super Balm: This super charged, anti-ageing wonder balm melts away impurities, gently refines and decongests the skin. But that's not all, it also deeply nourishes and moisturises while boosting skin's natural protection from harmful free radical damage. Great as an intensive moisturiser for dry/cracked hands and cuticles.
Argan Skin Rescue: Powered by organic Argan oil to boost suppleness and Abyssinian and Bitter Orange Oil to improve elasticity and hydrate the skin this is the perfect cuticle treatment oil.
