Here we will concentrate on finger nail care.

Clean finger nails are essential for the modern man. If you work in an occupation that regularly gets the nails dirty, start a process, if you have not already of scrubbing the nails clean every day. Some men care for their nails during their shower time – a reasonable option if there is not a water shortage, but a better way of cleaning the nails is to clean them immediately before or after the shower. Use a fingernail brush – they are available from health, chemist and pharmacy shops.

The trimming and care of finger nails is next. Weekly trimming of nails with a nail clipper or scissors is usually sufficient. The nails should never be more than one eight of an inch (or 3 mm) in length. Trim the tips of the nails and part of the sides, but not as far as the tips. File the edges of the nail with an emery board or file until they are at a comfortable length. Cuticles are the outermost layer of skin that protrudes above the nail surface and when the nail grows the cuticles dry out and become ragged. They should not be removed, but rather pushed back, using a few drops of a good cuticle oil and a cotton bud to do the pushing towards the uppermost finger joint. The care for the cuticles would be done whenever necessary – it is different for each man. This process may save some pain at a later time.

If the cuticle stuff is too much, at least do the trimming and filing! It’s a start but remember do not bight your nails. These treatments can be obtained form any respectable men’s manicure provider, but it can be done much cheaper by yourself. All you need is a basic manicure set and the cuticle oil. Your partner will be grateful for the care you show for your nails!

Manicure sets are available form health, chemist and pharmacy stores usually, and online. The options online are endless, but make sure that you conduct your business with a reputable seller.

Choosing the right nail polish can go a long way in ensuring that your nails get the best beauty enhancement. The very first step in choosing the right nail polish is to take basic care of your nails. So first of all let’s look at a few tips that will help you take special care of your nails.

Nail Care
Taking good care of your nails involves getting proper nourishment; avoiding excessive contact with damaging material and taking due care while working. Household chores can be damaging to your nails because many of the solvents and cleaners that are used are not meant for your skin or nails. It is a good practice to wear gloves while you are doing household chores, particularly when you are handling suspect material.

Choosing the Color
Cherry red, pink, coral – these are some of the colors in which you get your nail polish. You can even get them in green or yellow, and look good in them if you know how to use them. How do you choose the color of your nail polish? You should choose a shade such that it will enhance your beauty. That would depend on your complexion. Fair complexion will go well with almost any color, darker colors being more effective in striking a contrast. If you are dark skinned, lighter shades should suit you better. Shades such as red and rich brown would also suit darker skins.

You can also choose between glossy or matte shades. The polish that you choose should match your general appearance, your clothes and jewelry and other makeup. To make you task easier, some companies offer makeup kits that contain matching items covering all the makeup items that you will need.

For formal or semi formal occasions and first meetings, light colors and basic neutrals are best. If your toenails are exposed, you can choose matching nail polish for your toes and fingernails. Ultimately, though, choosing the color of your nail polish is a very personal decision that you have to make, depending on what your personal preferences are and what kind of a personality you project.

Other Considerations
Quick drying nail polishes are available that will dry quickly, but they may also tend to chip off easily. Strong and longer lasting nail polishes are also available. Depending on your need and environment you can choose one of these. Strong chip resistant nail polish should be preferable for daily wear, as you will not need to touch these up frequently. You can also get strong chip resistant and quick drying nail polishes.

While choosing your nail polish you should also consider your general health and allergies. If you have sensitive skin, you should choose hypoallergenic and unscented nail polishes.

Applying Nail Polish
There are some basic facts that you can keep in mind while applying nail polish. First of all, remove all traces of the existing polish from your nails. Apply a base coat first. After this, apply two coats of the nail enamel. Apply the polish in a few large strokes rather than several small strokes.

1. Always have skin care on mind, whether you are buying products for make up or actually applying them onto your skin after you have bought them. So what you are buying is a ‘make up and skin care’ product, not just a make up product. Check the ingredients to see if it contains things that you might be allergic to. Also check if it contains high concentration chemicals that can harm your skin.

2. ‘Make up and skin care’ is also about testing the products before using them. So, apply the make up on a small patch of skin e.g. earlobes and check how your skin reacts to it.

3. Keep track of expiry date on your make up products and never use them beyond the expiry date. In fact some products (e.g. vitamin C based products), if not stored properly, get spoilt much earlier than the expiry date.

4. Cleanliness is an important part of make up and skin care procedure. Sharpen your eye-liners regularly and keep all your makeup equipment clean at all times. You might fix a date, each month, for overhauling of your equipment. As part of cleanliness, your make up and skin care procedure should also include keeping your hair clean at all times.

5. Nail care is another important aspect of make up and skin care. Use a good quality nail polish and always keep your nails clean. Once you are done with cleaning and polishing your nails, you should rub in cuticle oil at the edges of the nail.

6. If you have deep-set eyes, you should use a liquid eye liner instead of a pencil one. This will prevent smudging at the deep edges of your eye-lid.

7. If you have a skin disorder e.g. acne, you should not apply heavy or chemical based make up. Consult your dermatologist if you are not sure about the make up products that you can use while you have acne or other skin disorder. Never try to squeeze pimples/ acne. Remember that make up and skin care should not conflict each other.

8. Use a mild make up remover (instead of just washing it away).

9. Another important ‘make up and skin care’ procedure is the following golden rule: “Never sleep with your make up on”

10. While applying a deodorant, make sure that you maintain the recommended distance between the nozzle and your skin (as mentioned on the deodorant pack).

So, make up and skin care should always go hand in hand. Do not try to treat make up and skin care differently.
Your guide to makeup tips and tricks.

Anyone get their own nail care under control with just a little bit of knowledge however. Keeping it simple and straightforward is a good idea, especially in the beginning and after the basics are mastered they can move on to trickier feats if they decide they want to.

The first thing about your fingernails is that they need trimming. Nails continue to grow throughout our lives and even the loveliest filed and painted nails will soon be out of shape without trimming.

So, if you have short nails a basic, sharp nail clipper will do the best job. Do not trim them right down to the quick. This can be very painful and it also makes it hard to use your fingernails to pick up coins for about a week! Once your nails are trimmed you may want to run a nail file over them to make sure the edges are all smooth.

If you have long natural nails, you can either use a nail clipper to take a little off all around and then file them smooth or you can simply opt to take a little length off with the file alone.

The next matter in your new nail regimen is to check out your cuticles. Many people have a lot of hangnails and ragged skin growth on the bottom and sides of their nails. If this is something that you deal with you will want to purchase a cuticle knife at the pharmacy.

This is a tool with a curved v shaped knife in the end of it. You carefully go over the ragged skin areas surrounding your nails and shave off the excess skin. This will give you an instant appearance boost. Be very careful not to dig because you may cut too deep and draw blood.

If you have dry skin and especially if you have the ragged cuticles, you may want to consider putting on a cuticle cream or a thick hand cream to try to soften the skin there. A moisturizing cream rubbed into your cuticles before bed is a good way to start changing how your cuticles look during the day.

Your diet and overall health is another part of your nail care. Make sure you get a healthy balanced diet and that you are getting enough calcium for your fingernails (as well as your bones and hair). A healthy diet plays a part in the health of all our body parts and your fingernails are no exception to that rule.

Having beautiful nails does not always mean regular trips to the salon for artificial ones although that can be a great treat. Your own fingernails can look a lot better with just some simple care and attention and maybe a new tool or two.

Who knows, once you get your fingernails looking better you may even feel confident enough to take those nails into the salon for the first time and pamper yourself with a professional manicure!

It is very important to remove old nail polish at least once a week. There are 2 main types of nail polish removers to choose from. Acetone removers take off the polish very quickly, but dry the cuticles. Non-acetone removers take longer to remove polish, but dry the nails and cuticles. If people have artificial nails, it is advisable to use only non-acetone removers. It is also very essential to file the nails in one direction only. The nails weaken if a person uses the file back and forth. It helps to soak the hands in soapy water to soften cuticles and clean the nails.

Dry and brittle nails can be the result of a deficiency of Vitamin A and calcium. White spots may also develop on the nails if there is a deficiency of zinc. Foods that are rich in sulfur and silicon, such as broccoli and fish are good for nails. It is also advisable to eat foods rich in biotin, such as brewer’s yeast, whole grain and soy. It is necessary to drink plenty of water. People with delicate nails should have supplements of zinc and vitamin B. Online sites are available that give detailed information on nail care.

Wash hands thoroughly after using chemicals, cleaning up spills, or emptying trash – even if gloves were worn. At least 20 seconds are needed for the washing to be effective. Follow these steps to get hands thoroughly clean:

1. Wet hands with warm running water prior to reaching for soap, either in bar or liquid form.

2. Add soap and rub hands together to make a lather. This should be done away from running water, so the lather is not washed away.

3. Wash the front and back of hands, between fingers and under nails. Continue rubbing the hands for an additional 15 seconds.

4. Rinse hands well under warm running water.

5. Dry hands thoroughly with either clean towels or an air dryer.

If soap and water are not available, it is a good idea to keep alcohol based hand sanitizers, gels or antibacterial wipes around as an alternative.

It is especially important in health care environments that employees take the extra time needed to be sure they have removed any contaminants they may have come in contact with. Problem areas in health care environments include: door handles, patient bed rails, patient and public telephones, restrooms, treatment areas and furniture.

Surveys show that proper training is beneficial in getting employees to pay attention to their hand washing habits. When training your employees make sure to include this vital information about keeping their hands clean.

• Let’s talk soap.

1.Why not just stick with store-bought body wash?
Many people like using body washes for the moisturizing properties and special fragrances that they offer, but handcrafted soaps (both liquid and solid bars) offer the same options plus more. It’s pure luxury when you can bathe with a creamy, thick, beautifully scented lather from a soap that’s been handcrafted especially for (or by) you.

Also, many people today are concerned about the ingredients. If you make them, you can choose what goes into the formulations, including the addition of beneficial botanicals, exotic oils and butters.

What is a common mistake with soap making?
When making either soap or candles, safety must come first. You need to know your ingredients, how they will interact with each other and with you. We need to learn all we can about our ingredients and the procedures before starting our first project.

2. What are the Latest Trends?
Right now the focus is on going back to basics. Go green. Go as natural as you can. Sure we like to use color and fragrances, but many are now using as many natural ingredients as possible.

3. How to Use Liquid Hand Soap Most Economically
Most liquid hand soap manufacturers are counting on the fact that you will use them in the same way that you would use a bar of soap – that you will wet your hands first thing and then squirt on the soap. This usually results in a large portion of the soap going down the drain without effect. Here is a better way.

First Step: Turn on the tap, but don’t wet your hands.
Second: Squirt the soap onto your dry hands and rub your hands together, rather like you were using hand creme. Focus on the finger tips to get rid of dirt underneath it.

Finally, when the soap is evenly distributed over your entire hand, put your hands under the water and wash up.

You will find that this method both cleans your hands better, plus saves on the cost of soap. Place a rubber O ring halfway down the pump mechinism (below the spout, above the screw cap). The pumps are designed to deliver excess soap, the O ring will make the pump stop sooner, but you still have a sufficient quantity for proper cleaning.

4. One of the best soap products – Organic Foaming Hand Soap
Organic Foaming Hand Soap is ideal for washing hands but can also be used to clean dishes in a pinch and in many other applications.  It is great for cleaning up after pets leave their mark on carpets and also great on camping trips and on boats.  It cleans people and everything else in sight effectively with minimal water use.

The soap is made from renewable vegetable and botanical sources including organic saponified coconut and Castile olive oil, pure essential oils, aloe and rosemary extract.  Offered in Lemongrass Zen and Lavender Ecstasy, it has a pleasant scent, a remarkably soft vegetable oil soap feel and is extraordinarily mild and hypoallergenic.  It is completely natural and is free of artificial colors, fragrances, preservatives, and animal by-products and is not tested on animals.

“The soap contains only pure essential oils that provide aromatherapy benefits for the mind and kill germs on the skin”, says Vermont Soap founder and President Larry Plesent.  As an organic castile liquid soap based product, the organic foaming hand soap is guaranteed to be free of the synthetic ingredients found in mass-marketed foamers,” adds Plesent

5. Contact Lens Hand Soap
Contact lens hand soap is a necessity if you wear contact lenses,  when you have get the soap,  you should get some idea anout how to properly use the soap.

It is very important that you wash your hands properly with the contact lens hand soap. Serious eye infections can occur when you take your contacts out and put them in if you do not have really clean hands.

The best contact lens hand soap to use is liquid soap. Apply the liquid contact lens hand soap while your hands are dry. Spread the soap on your hands and rub it in well. Be sure to get the contact lens hand soap under your fingernails too. There are all kinds of germs that live under your fingernails and the contact lens hand soap will help kill those germs.

Rinse your hands with running water and do a very thorough job. Dry your hands on clean paper towels or unperfumed, plain tissues. You can use a lint-free towel you have washed yourself but do not share a towel with anyone else. This will negate the effect of the contact lens hand soap.

Our parents had it right when they would remind us to wash our hands. The first rule of thumb when it comes to caring for your hands is to keep them clean. The skin is a waterproof organ so getting it wet will not damage it in any way. Regular hand washing can reduce our exposure to many types of communicable health problems like the flu and the common cold. Using soap helps to break down the natural surface tension of water and aids in removing dirt and bacteria. Antibacterial soaps can be effective but any good hand soap will do since the trick is to wash your hands for at least twenty seconds. Dry your hands thoroughly with a clean cloth or paper towel or, if you prefer, use a warm air hand dryer.

If preventing dry skin and keeping your hands soft and supple is important, the time to use a moisturizer is right after you wash them. Some harsh hand soaps and cleaners can dry out the skin and hand creams and lotions do little to add moisture to the skin. What these products are good for is keeping moisture in the skin by slowing down the rate of evaporation of sweat and retaining the skin natural moisture. Whether you prefer an expensive hand lotion or use the bargain brand really does not matter since even a light application of good old fashioned petroleum jelly will do the trick just as well as the pricey hand cream.

Washing dishes is always a chore and washing dishes by hand can be hard on your skin. The degreasing ingredients in many dishwashing liquids can really dry out your hands by washing away the oils in the skin. Some dishwashing liquids are less harsh than others but if you notice that your hands are dried and cracked after doing dishes, you might consider wearing rubber gloves. Gloves may take some getting used to but they do offer the best protection. Whether or not you use gloves, always wash your hands with a mild soap and apply some hand cream after your chore is complete.

Whether working in the garden or doing other types work around the house, garden gloves can save lots of wear and tear on your hands. Gloves can be especially important and are definitely required if you are working with any type insecticide or pesticide. Not only can these chemicals be hard on the skin but may cause adverse skin reactions. Even if you wear gloves, always wash your hands thoroughly to remove any traces of chemical residue. There are protective creams available that will help prevent chemicals from contacting the skin but these creams can be messy, especially in hot weather so gloves are still the best way to protect your skin.

Working on the family car or garden equipment like mowers and trimmers can leave you with grease on your hands. Never use solvents or petrochemical solutions to degrease your hands as these chemicals will de-fat the skin be flushing away the skins natural oils, and these chemicals can be very hazardous to your health. Instead, use a mild hand degreaser and then apply a moisturizing cream.

Many of us take time to care for our face and for the same reasons taking the time to care for your hands will pay off by helping to reduce the signs of premature skin aging.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) instructs people to wash their hands in the following way:
- Wet your hands and apply liquid, bar, or powder soap.
- Rub hands together vigorously to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
- Continue for 20 seconds! It takes that long for the soap and scrubbing action to dislodge and remove stubborn germs. Need a timer? Imagine singing “Happy Birthday” all the way through twice!
- Rinse hands well under running water.
- Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer.
- If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.

The CDC also says that “if soap and water are not available, use an alcohol based wipe or hand gel!” A common myth is that the only way to get all the germs out of your hands is to use an antibacterial soap. Actually, if you follow what the CDC recommends above, antibacterial soap isn’t necessary. Antibacterial soaps actually do kill bacteria, but these soaps may contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

Remember to wash your hands:
- Before you eat or drink
- Before and after touching food
- Before and after caring for or touching a sick person
- After going to the bathroom
- After contact with bodily fluids or blood
- After changing a diaper
- After touching an animal, especially a reptile since many carry bacteria on their skins.
- After using public transportation
- After anytime touching anything that looks dirty.

The first thing to remember is that you should exercise good foot care everyday of the week. When you are in the shower be sure to thoroughly wash your feet, including in between your toes. This can be done with simple soap and water, and will not take more than a minute or so. Why pass up washing your feet in the shower if it is only going to take a minute?

One of the most common problems that you will run into if you neglect to care for your feet is athlete’s foot. This is a fungus that can affect the entire foot, as well as the toe nails. Even though the skin between the toes is most commonly affected, athlete’s foot can spread to other parts of the foot as well.

In many cases athlete’s foot will start out between the toes, and then spread to the toe nails. This in turn makes the toe nails turn yellow and become thick. And if the fungus reaches your toe nails your problem will become more serious. It can be quite difficult and time consuming to get rid of fungus of the toe nails.

The most common way of contracting athlete’s foot from somebody else is by walking on moist or wet floors. This type of fungus thrives in a moist environment, and if the floor is not kept clean it can spread rapidly from one person to the next. In addition, athlete’s foot is common among people that have moist feet. This can happen during strenuous exercise, hence the name athlete’s foot. Sharing personal items such as shoes, socks, and towels can also spread the fungus that causes athlete’s foot.

It should also be noted that athlete’s foot can be spread to other parts of the body. This is done by scratching the infected area, and then touching other body parts such as the groin and underarm.

If you are suffering from athlete’s foot, or fungus of the toe nails, there are treatment options available. They include both over the counter topical solutions, as well as oral medications that can be prescribed by a doctor. If you are having a difficult time controlling the problem on your own, your best option is to let a doctor take a look at the fungus.

With proper care you should be able to avoid foot fungus problems such as athlete’s foot. Do not take these conditions lightly; they can be both difficult to get rid of and bothersome.