This weekend: Clean up your nails!

I'm not even thinking polish--these days, it's about simplicity for me, and I follow a really simple process for keeping my hands and nails looking healthy and neat all week long. It's more than just filing, but from start to finish, it only takes about fifteen minutes--seriously, you can do it while waiting for water to boil or coffee to brew.

Oh, and before we even go through these easy steps, I suppose it's important to remind you: DON'T bite your nails and DON'T pick at your cuticles. I know we've all got our nervous habits, but please, if chewing on dead skin is yours, develop a new one.

Let's start with the usual: Trimming




Seems easy enough, right? What you need to keep in mind is that you never want to clip past the whites of your nails--don't cut your nails down to little nubbins. If you go too short you're exposing very fragile skin to the air, and leaving it open for infection. You want to still be able to feel a lite tickle when you run your nails over your skin.

Filing comes next, because that harsh metal clipper couldn't care less about smooth edges. Be gentle with the file and use it just to shape the sides and slough off any excess from the clipper.

Now here's the fancy part. Go to the drug store and pick up one of those 2-in-1 files, where one side buffs the nail body and the other shines it--all you do is gently run each side over your nail bed (not your nail tip, which you've just trimmed and filed).



The buffer side is great if your nails are a bit ridgy, and the shine side is perfect for me, since I prefer a natural, healthy look on my hands (toes are different--I give myself an all-out pedi on those babies because I LOVE the look of dark polish on white feet).

Next: Squeaky Cleaning:



Sometimes I get a toothbrush from my dentist, or my mom gives me an extra because she bought a pack of ten on her last trip to BJs. I generally don't use them for brushing my teeth, but give them other primping responsibilities--one becomes my lip scrubber, another my eyebrow exfoliator, etc. This orange number became my nail brush, and after I clip, file, and buff/shine, I do a bit of scrubbing with soapy water to remove any dirt or filings that are hanging around.

Then the really fancy part: Cuticle Care



This step is important, and it's the difference between meh hands and manicured hands. I use Sally Hansen's Gel Cuticle Remover because it's the least messy and least time-consuming. After applying the gel around the edges of all your nails, you let it sink in for five or six minutes, then press your cuticles back on all sides (I use the blunt end of the nail clipper to do this). The hardest part is accepting that, for five minutes out of your day, you've got goo on your hands and therefore can't really do anything with them.

After you've pressed back your cuticles, you rinse with soap and water.



Last but not least: Moisturize!



Ideally, if I was as eternally primed for primping as I'd like to be, I'd have a little tube of moisturizer in the following places:

-My handbag
-My desk at work
-My bathroom
-My nightstand

As it stands, I've got one that roams the house, and one that I always forget I have on my desk, so there's room for improvement there. Moisturizer is huge in keeping your hands looking healthy and fresh. Always wash your hands before you moisturize, this way you're not using an oil-based product to spread dirt and germs around. You don't need much--a dime-sized drop'll do it--just be consistent with it to prevent cracking, chapping, redness, and dry cuticles, which I KNOW is why so many people end up picking or biting at their nails.

I hope you all enjoyed the glorious morning--I went for a run! Around a track! And it felt GOOOOOOOD!!!