25-02-2025
The biggest ageing giveaway isn't what you think
In this job, it's easy to become preoccupied with creams and tweaks to keep my face looking its best. Lift this and smooth that. But there's one part of the body that shows ageing much more quickly than the face – and yet we routinely neglect it. I'm talking about the hands.
This winter I've become acutely aware that my hands look like I've been doing a hard day's work on a building site. In reality, I don't use hand cream often, I wash my hands in very hot water and I don't wear gloves. But much besides the usual dry skin that's to be expected over the winter months, the skin on our hands – as I've noticed with marks of pigmentation – is vulnerable to the signs of ageing.
'The hands are so often neglected,' agrees the consultant dermatologist Dr Ellie Rashid. 'They are exposed to the sun chronically, in the same way that our faces are. This results in pigmentation changes such as age spots, freckles, the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and loss of elasticity.'
In her clinic, Rashid is treating more patients than ever before with IPL (intense pulsed light) on the backs of their hands to improve pigmentation, and even fillers to boost areas of crepey skin. Tweakment or not, she says at a minimum we should apply regular sun protection, and 'keep the hands well moisturised to prevent dry and flaky skin'. She's a fan of CeraVe's Reparative Hand Cream (£6.99, Superdrug). Top that up with a slather of SPF every time you wash your hands. I've just been using an extra blob of my facial sun protection.
As for other hand cream options, I've been trialling the Chapped Hands Balm by apothecary brand CO Bigelow (£18, The Grooming Clinic). It offers instant relief for chapped areas (my hands are particularly bumpy around the knuckles) and – hallelujah – doesn't feel greasy at all. The balm is packed with glycerin, which draws moisture into the skin and is the ingredient to look out for if dryness is your issue.
Another brilliant option for extremely dry hands is the bestselling Shea Butter Hand Cream by L'Occitane (£23, L'Occitane), which became a TikTok sensation with Gen Z last year. Don't let that put you off; the rich formula, recyclable aluminium tube and comforting scent make it a complete winner in my book.
These are both excellent for rubbing into your cuticles if they are, like mine, woefully in need of attention. A cuticle oil helps, too: the best I've tried is CND's SolarOil, which also comes in a handy pen size to keep in the handbag (£14.95, Nail Polish Direct). I keep a bottle of the oil (from £2.95) on my bedside table so I have no excuse not to use a little every night.
What about any pigmentation or wrinkly skin on the back of the hands? 'Hand creams with targeted active ingredients can be incredibly helpful,' says Rashid. 'Vitamin C is a great antioxidant ingredient, brightens the skin and reduces sun spots, and the powerhouse ingredient retinol has the most clinical evidence for stimulating collagen production, improving texture and reducing pigmentation.' I have been trying the cheap-as-chips Vitamin C Brightening Hand and Nail Serum from Boots, popping it on my hands first thing in the morning. At £3, it's affordable and effective, just what I'm after.
To help my hands overnight, I've also been using The Hand Retinol by Nécessaire (£35, Space NK), which won the bodycare category in our Telegraph Beauty Awards last year. Lisa Markwell, editor of this magazine, gave it her stamp of approval, noting that it had 'immediate and long-lasting effects'. I'd second that. There's no reason the hands, or anywhere else on the body for that matter, can't benefit from some hard-working active ingredients too.
