Various jobs done with hands like washing, cleaning utensils, cooking and other daily jobs make your hands dry and ungroomed. Often one neglects their hands after all these jobs. A visit to the beauty parlor is also not possible for many due to their busy schedule. But if you can do manicure at home, it will save your time as well as money and provide you beautiful and well kept hands. As you know, well groomed hands have a great role in enhancing your personality.
What You Need for Doing Manicure at Home:
First of all you need a small bowl or a tub with warm water. You also need a hand soak, a hand scrub, hand cream, cuticle softener and pusher, base coat and top coat, your favorite nail polish, nail polish remover and a nail brush, for which you can use an old tooth brush.
How to Do Manicure At Home for Women:
Step 1:
Wash your hands and remove the remains of previous nail paint from your nails using a nail paint remover. Place the tub with water at a place where you can sit comfortably and do the soaking. Mix the hand soak in water and gently move your hands in the water to make bubbles in water. If you don’t have a hand soak with you, you can use a body wash instead or try some of the home recipes given below.
Milk and honey hand soak:
- Take a cup of whole milk and add 3 to 4 tablespoons on honey to it.
- Stir for a while and then put it in the microwave oven for 30 seconds.
- Take out the bowl and note the temperature. The temperature must be warm but not hot for your hands.
- Add a drop of essential oil, the smell of which you like.
- Soak your hands in this soak.
Strengthening hand soak:
- Beat the two egg yolks in a bowl till they become soft.
- Add 1/4th cup of milk and 2 teaspoon honey and mix well.
- Soak your hands in this soak for 10 minutes and then wash with water and apply cuticle oil.
This soak helps in strengthening your nails by providing your hands protein and calcium.
After soaking your hands, dip the hands and try to relax. You need at least 40 to 45 minutes in hand for relaxing. Take your hands out of the tub after the water cools down.
Step 2:
After taking the hands from the tub, gently pat your hands dry with a towel. Apply a cuticle softener at the root of each nail. In case you do not have a cuticle softener, you can apply a drop of olive oil on each nail. This will make the cuticle soft so that you can push it back or cut it as you wish.
Do it yourself cuticle softener:
You can make cuticle softener at home and store it so that you can use it later also. For this you need 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or cocoa butter, 1 tablespoon glycerin and any essential oil that you like., e.g. eucalyptus, rose, lavender.
Heat olive oil in a double boiler or micro oven and when it starts to get warm, add coconut oil. Also add glycerin and then mix with a small spoon. Remove from heat and then add your favorite essential oil to it. Use it on your nails and store the remaining mixture in a cool place or in the fridge.
Step 3:
Soaking has made you nails soft and so this is the right time to cut and shape your nails. Do not cut the nails too short. You can shape nails with nail file. Always file in one direction. Buff the nails after shaping them. Whether you want your nails long or short depends on your lifestyle. Some can keep long nails while others have to cut them short. The shape of the nails also depends on the shape of your fingers.
Step 4:
5 minutes after applying the cuticle softener, you can treat cuticles. Remove the oil from the nail using a cotton ball and then push the cuticles back. If you are not experienced in cutting the cuticles, it is better to push them back. You get cuticle pusher in the market using which you can push them back.
Step 5:
After pushing back the cuticles, you have to scrub your hands with a scrub. If the skin on the hand is very hard, you can apply more pressure on the skin. It will remove the dead skin and make your hands smooth and soft.
You can make hand scrub at home by mixing half cup sugar, 3 tablespoon olive or jojoba oil and three tablespoon water. Mix them well and also add your favorite essential oil to it. The scrub is ready. Rub it on the hands till the sugar gets dissolved and then wash your hands in water and dry with a soft towel.
Step 6:
Use a nail scrubber or an old tooth brush and scrub your nails to clean them. Also scrub the underside of the nails and between the nail and the nail bed
Step 7:
Apply a massage cream or a foot oil massage on your hands and gently massage your hands. If somebody else will do it for you, it will be all the more relaxing. Use a heavy hand cream if your hands are very dry. Wear hand gloves to get the maximum results.
To make hand cream at home, mix 1/4th cup each of wax and oil and then heat the mixture in microwave for 2 minutes. Add 10 to 20 drops of your favorite essential oil to the mixture. Heat 1 and 1/4th cup of filtered water in another bowl and then add this water to the wax-oil mixture and mix till it turns opaque. Store it in a jar.
If you hands are super dry, take equal amounts of lanolin and olive oil and double heat it till the mixture melts. Then add Vitamin E capsules stir and remove from heat. Store in a jar and use it when you need it.
Step 8:
Paint your nails with a nail paint of your favorite color and the manicure is complete.
