HOW TO LOOK AFTER YOUR HANDS WHILE GARDENING

August 1, 2021

It’s easy to get carried away whilst gardening, bringing nature to life is a wonderful thing but whilst your garden is blooming it’s not so great on your hands. I like to have a potter in the garden myself but soil absorbs moisture so is extremely drying can over exfoliate and it’s full of bacteria if you have any split skin it can cause infections. Thorn pricks, digging with hands ( we are all guilty of that at some point) and being exposed to the elements will leave your hands worse for wear and they will age faster. Then if you are not careful aching hands can lead to receptive strain injury, stiff joints and strained muscles.

So here’s my tips on how to keep your hands blooming whilst working in the garden –

WEAR GLOVES – this is obvious but make sure your gloves are dry, the skin on our hands is thinner than any other part of the body and damp gloves causes damp skin which will split easier as tools rub against your hands. A little tip put on SEAMS Hand Cream before you put on your gloves to help protect and keep them supple. The Shea Butter and Macadamia Oil will help soften and soothe
CHANGE POSITION – Being bent over for long periods of time will cause back pain and shoulder pain and a pinched nerve or tightened muscle in the shoulder can lead to hand pain. Stretch your shoulders whilst working a quick exercise is to stand upright and lift your shoulders to your ears and back down five times. Or cross your left arm over your chest with your left hand touching the right shoulder and right hand gently stretching your left elbow. Do this 5 times on each side.
DON’T HAND DIG – Use a spade, trowel or fork when digging, not your hands.
SHARPEN YOUR TOOLS – Makes sure your secateurs, pruners, shears and any tools you use are sharp so as not to put extra strain on your hands.
RE-OCCURRING SORES – These are difficult to keep under control as we naturally will hold in the same position but if you do have any areas that you know will wear, then put a protective plaster on before you start and target with SEAMS before you sleep.
KEEP WRISTS WARM – If its cold outside keep your wrists warm so that the blood flowing into your hands will keep your hands supple. Wrist warmers are a good solution.
DON’T FLEX – Keep your hands relaxed and not flexed this actually improves your grip and stops tightening that can strain your muscles and tendons.
WEAR A WRIST BRACE – if you have any type of arthritis or hand problems wearing a wrist brace will help reduce the stress and lead to more comfortable gardening.
KEEP NAILS SHORT – Long nails will easily break and can rip skin in the process.
WASH HANDS – We’ve been doing a lot of this lately but washing hands directly after gardening will reduce the chance of any infections and use a nail brush to get any soil out from under your nails.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER – there’s no point keeping your plants fed and watered but letting yourself wilt! Keeping hydrated will also stop skin from becoming dry.
CUTICLE CARE – Split cuticles apart from looking unsightly will let in water under the skin and can damage the new nail growing underneath. If you do get a hang nail very gently snip not too close to the nail and use a cuticle oil regularly. SEAMS Hand & Nail Oil has Blackcurrant Seed Oil, Echium Oil, Monnier’s Snow Parsley, Peony Root Oil and a special extract from Pomegranate Oil to nourish and condition cuticles & nails fast! It can also be used underneath Couturiers Hand Cream as a treatment.
KEEP AN ANTISEPTIC OINTMENT CLOSE TO HAND – fast use of an antiseptic cream on small cuts and insect bites could nip in the bud a future infection.
MASSAGE THE PALMS OF YOUR HANDS – paying particular attention to the pressure points below each finger to relieve tension, moisturising at the same time will help to soften any callouses.

Do you garden? Our luxury hand cream will be a wonderful experience to use, it’s not greasy and really does help to mend, moisturise and protect hands. Ideal as a gift too with our SEAMS Original unisex scent it’s suitable for everyone and all skin types.

You create let SEAMS take care of your hands.