gegenpress
Iron
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2025
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Why do hands and nails matter?
Alongside our faces, our frames and our clothing, hands and nails are some of the most visible parts of our body. Whether it be a simple handshake, borrowing someone’s phone, or just having them on the table, they’re constantly on display. For these reasons, it is important to maximize the appearance of our hands and nails. Having clean, well groomed hands and nails can instantly signal cleanliness to others within seconds of meeting them. On the other hand [pun not intended], having dirty hands and nails, with a bad smell suggests poor hygiene, and often times is a major turn off. Considering this, it is important that hands and nails are included alongside other basic grooming routines, to help set the baseline for one’s overall aesthetics.
1. Basics (should already be doing this much)
Before moving into anything substantial, if you are not a literal shit eating bug you should be washing your hands several times per day with an effective, skin safe and good smelling soap. I am not going to go into extreme detail on how to wash your hands, as hopefully you have matured beyond the age of four, yet there are some tips to offer.
When washing your hands, use lukewarm water, not scalding hot, which dries the skin.
Use a nice, non drying soap with a good, subtle scent. (almost never use bar soap).
After every wash, moisturize. (not rocket science, just use some lotion).
Carry hand sanitizer within you at all times, this way you can always keep your hands clean and fresh. (but make sure that the sanitizer has added moisturizers as the pure alcohol sanitizers can fuck you up).
Trim your nails weekly, never allowing them to grow past the fingertip.
Use a nail brush in the shower weekly to clean under the nails.
2. Hands
The skin on your hands is a key indicator of health, youth, vitality and more. The skin on your hands should be smooth, hydrated, and consistent in its coloring.
Apply hand cream twice a day, when you are brushing your teeth/doing skin care.
Exfoliate 1-2x/week in order to remove any dead skin.
Make sure to use an SPF on the back of your hands as they are particularly vulnerable to aging from the sun.
3. Nails
If there is anything that I have seen more consistently and openly ridiculed it is dirty, discolored, unkept nails. If you are walking around with dirt under your nails you should not ever be surprised if someone does not want to interact with, let alone touch you.
As stated above, you should already be consistently trimming your nails, as well as brushing underneath them.
After you trim your nails down to the satisfactory length, you should be filing your nails into a smooth arc. You do not want ridged, uneven nails!
Cuticle care is also crucial to maintaining your nails. Make sure that after the previous steps you use a cuticle pusher, and slowly push the cuticle towards the nail base to complete the refined nail look. (the cuticle is is the transparent skin located above and around the nail base)
Optional: Once your cuticles are pushed back, rinse your hands to remove any debris, and apply a cuticle oil to prevent any dry or flaky skin immediately surrounding the nail.
Bonus:
If you want to fully maximize the possible halos of your hands and nails, it might be worth it to invest in rings, bracelets, watches, and possibly painting them (personally do not recommend tho it might work with some alt girls).
TL;DR
If your hands look like you’ve been digging graves and your nails smell like shit, don’t cry when no one wants to touch you. Your hands and nails are visible to the world around you so maintain them.
Alongside our faces, our frames and our clothing, hands and nails are some of the most visible parts of our body. Whether it be a simple handshake, borrowing someone’s phone, or just having them on the table, they’re constantly on display. For these reasons, it is important to maximize the appearance of our hands and nails. Having clean, well groomed hands and nails can instantly signal cleanliness to others within seconds of meeting them. On the other hand [pun not intended], having dirty hands and nails, with a bad smell suggests poor hygiene, and often times is a major turn off. Considering this, it is important that hands and nails are included alongside other basic grooming routines, to help set the baseline for one’s overall aesthetics.
1. Basics (should already be doing this much)
Before moving into anything substantial, if you are not a literal shit eating bug you should be washing your hands several times per day with an effective, skin safe and good smelling soap. I am not going to go into extreme detail on how to wash your hands, as hopefully you have matured beyond the age of four, yet there are some tips to offer.
When washing your hands, use lukewarm water, not scalding hot, which dries the skin.
Use a nice, non drying soap with a good, subtle scent. (almost never use bar soap).
After every wash, moisturize. (not rocket science, just use some lotion).
Carry hand sanitizer within you at all times, this way you can always keep your hands clean and fresh. (but make sure that the sanitizer has added moisturizers as the pure alcohol sanitizers can fuck you up).
Trim your nails weekly, never allowing them to grow past the fingertip.
Use a nail brush in the shower weekly to clean under the nails.
2. Hands
The skin on your hands is a key indicator of health, youth, vitality and more. The skin on your hands should be smooth, hydrated, and consistent in its coloring.
Apply hand cream twice a day, when you are brushing your teeth/doing skin care.
Exfoliate 1-2x/week in order to remove any dead skin.
Make sure to use an SPF on the back of your hands as they are particularly vulnerable to aging from the sun.
3. Nails
If there is anything that I have seen more consistently and openly ridiculed it is dirty, discolored, unkept nails. If you are walking around with dirt under your nails you should not ever be surprised if someone does not want to interact with, let alone touch you.
As stated above, you should already be consistently trimming your nails, as well as brushing underneath them.
After you trim your nails down to the satisfactory length, you should be filing your nails into a smooth arc. You do not want ridged, uneven nails!
Cuticle care is also crucial to maintaining your nails. Make sure that after the previous steps you use a cuticle pusher, and slowly push the cuticle towards the nail base to complete the refined nail look. (the cuticle is is the transparent skin located above and around the nail base)
Optional: Once your cuticles are pushed back, rinse your hands to remove any debris, and apply a cuticle oil to prevent any dry or flaky skin immediately surrounding the nail.
Bonus:
If you want to fully maximize the possible halos of your hands and nails, it might be worth it to invest in rings, bracelets, watches, and possibly painting them (personally do not recommend tho it might work with some alt girls).
TL;DR
If your hands look like you’ve been digging graves and your nails smell like shit, don’t cry when no one wants to touch you. Your hands and nails are visible to the world around you so maintain them.
