Latest news with #handcare
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hands up! The breakthrough treatments transforming hand care
For years our faces have enjoyed all of the finesse. The lasers, the light therapy, the injections, the actives, the hot new formulations fresh from laboratories in Paris, Switzerland or Japan. Our hands, meanwhile, permanently exposed, overused, outrageously thin-skinned, have been lucky to get a slick of cream by the sink. The problem with this approach, I am fast learning, is that when we so diligently tend to our faces and not our hands, the latter can — alas — begin to give the game away. Luckily, the beauty world is catching on. Hands, once overlooked, are finally finding their place on the treatment menus of London's top doctors, their needs addressed too by first-rate product formulators and brands, meaning that a roster of purpose-built treatment protocols and products designed to restore and revitalise are now trickling through. Hand ageing used to be thought of as inevitable — now we can effectively address not just skin quality, but issues like volume loss and pigmentation, too. A case of poor design Doctors point out that the hands are one of the biggest giveaways of biological age. 'Our hands are in a constant state of use and exposure,' says aesthetic doctor Sophie Shotter. 'Yet their skin is thinner, has fewer oil glands and less subcutaneous fat than the face, so lacks resilience, resulting in accelerated moisture loss, collagen breakdown and visible volume loss. Add years of unprotected UV exposure and you often see signs of fatigue earlier than the rest of the body.' When it comes to addressing this, subtlety is key. Today's approach is not about obvious alteration, but restoring lost vitality to this ill-designed body part. Here's what you can do… To rebuild volume and bounce An array of advanced treatments offer instant results and longer-term rejuvenation. For volume loss, dermal fillers such as Radiesse or Teoxane RHA discreetly smooth and plump. Biostimulatory injectables such as Julaine, Sculptra and HArmonyCa enhance texture and shape, while also promoting collagen production. Profilo and Sunekos are skin boosters that improve elasticity, hydration and overall skin quality from within. New on the scene, Meta Cell Technology uses the patient's own blood, treating the platelet-rich plasma to activate more growth factors and exosomes, before being reinjected to help firm skin and reduce pigmentation. To banish pigmentation Year-on year-sun exposure can leave permanent marks, from freckling to patchiness. If this is you, Intense Pulsed Light zaps brown spots, while fractional lasers such as the Frax Pro can smooth crepiness and stimulate collagen production. Chemical peels, ranging from gentle acids to targeted pigment-correcting blends, can resurface the skin to transform even stubborn sun damage. Where to book in Sought after for his subtle approach and attention to detail, Dr Wassim Taktouk's The TakTouk Clinic in Knightsbridge ( offers The Ultimate Hands protocol to deliver bespoke solutions to correct all concerns. At the Illuminate Skin Clinic on Harley Street, the always-innovating Sophie Shotter ( is one of the first in London to offer the new Meta Technology treatment alongside an array of treatments for volume loss and pigmentation with remarkable results. Consultant plastic surgeon, reconstructive and hand surgeon Dr Anita Jatan, based at Montrose Skin Clinic in Belgravia ( delivers meticulous treatments addressing all features of hand ageing including those related to degenerative joint disease. Home help… All the experts are in agreement on one piece of advice: use facial skincare-strength products on the backs of your hands. Augustinus Bader's The Hand Treatment, (£46, is powered by the brand's TFC8 complex and acts more like a reparative facial serum, delivering line-softening, barrier-strengthening results, while Beauty Pie's Swiss-formulated Super Retinol Hands, (£12.50 for members, leaves hands brighter, refined and supple. Heliocare 360 Pigment Solution SPF50 (£21.99, is a non-negotiable for Jatan, who applies it routinely to her face, neck and hands, while Taktouk advocates Orveda's Youth Glove Protocol (£165, a prescriptive system featuring an intensive mask, filler cream and silicone gloves that works to maintain cell functionality while refilling lost volume. Last but by no means least, keep in mind that our nails age, too. A daily application of cuticle oil, such as Navy's cuticle serum pen (£8.95, makes a noticeable difference, while manicurists everywhere swear by the flattering powers of Dior Nail Glow (£29, when a quick fix is required.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
14 Hostess Gifts That Got Me Invited Back
In this edition of The Gift, we share a few handpicked and unexpected overnight hostess gifts that have gotten a Wirecutter gifts expert invited back to summer homes — including a fabulous dill pickle hat. Plus, the best gifts to give yourself. A hostess gift for a dinner party is one thing: a bottle of wine, a box of cookies, plus your good company and genuine thanks is all that's needed. If you want to ramp it up, I happen to think these bright napkins are perfect; my fellow gifts expert Mari Uyehara is all about these mini wooden bowls from Italy. But an overnight or weekend stay? That's an entirely different proposition. In that case, your hosts have done laundry and struggled to put fitted sheets on the guest bed just for you. This deserves a little more effort (and maybe, but not necessarily, more moolah) on your part. I have a couple of general rules for great host or hostess gifts for overnight stays: It should be something that's easy to travel with (scratch that crystal vase or Key lime pie). It should be something you can enjoy together during your visit or themed in some way to your stay. And if you don't know your hosts well, it should be something universal enough to fit easily with most tastes and styles. For the latter one-size-fits-any-host gift, I like elevated or unexpected takes on everyday things they most likely wouldn't buy for themselves. This spherical soap looks like a sculpture and would be a good fit in any bathroom. This splurgy hand care set from Le Labo looks like it comes from a fancy pharmacy and smells amazing. A specialty from your hometown is a no-brainer that feels personal; I bring See's Candy from San Francisco nearly everywhere I go, and it's always a hit. Of course, the most fun gifts (and usually the most fun stays) are for the people you do know well. For them, a gift becomes your chance to speak directly to someone's taste, personality, or place. If I'm visiting a house I'm lucky enough to frequent, I'll try and take note during my stay of what they are missing (too few beach towels? Board games with missing pieces?) and fill it out with something cool the next time I come. Or I'll center it around an activity we always enjoy there. For a little more inspiration, these are the gifts that have been the biggest hits with my hosts: I once stayed at my friend's lake house in Italy for a month (I know!) so I had to go all out. And, not to brag, but I nailed it with a set of six mismatched insulated wine tumblers for lakeside happy hours, a pickle cap because the poor thing can't get dill pickles in Italy, and personalized matches with a photo of her lake view on the box. Oh, and I brought her nine-year-old daughter the Wirecutter-famous lazy duck light. The best part about staying at my friend's beautifully decorated house in Key West, aside from being in Key West, is eating outside in her garden under the arbor. She's one of those people with impeccable taste that mostly leans toward all white with artistic splashes of bright color. For her, I once brought this bright block print tablecloth, and on a later visit, two of these to-die-for floral ceramic tealight holders. Full disclosure: I hate jigsaw puzzles. I'd always rather be reading. But I am totally okay with other people doing them, and there is often one going at my in-laws' beach cottage. This personalized jigsaw map centering their cottage not only lit up the puzzle part of my father-in-law's brain, it also got his map-nerd lobe going. Speaking of reading, if you share a love of books with your host, I can't think of a better gift than bringing them a few recent reads you've loved. Need a rec? So far, this summer I've devoured this powerful autobiographical novel and this survival story set in the 16th century. Or why not let my colleagues at The New York Times Book Review help you? And finally, for my friend who just bought a funky fixer-upper that I will be visiting for the first time this summer: this elegant pitcher, because she's mentioned that all her dishes at the new place are enamelware. I'll throw in some of my favorite loose leaf hibiscus tea because I'm of the opinion that when served over ice, it's the best summer drink in the world. The rules are shockingly simple: If you know your numbers, you can play. Including a quite cute overnight duffel and a compact fanny pack for traveling light. Spend the weekend sipping out of colored coupe glasses or gorgeous porcelain tumblers. I'm a widowed mother of three teens and preteens, and I rarely buy myself anything — in fact my kids often tell me this! I love to garden, read, paint, listen to music, walk in the woods, and bake. My second birthday without my husband is coming up, and I feel the absence of his love keenly. Please help me find a special gift to soothe my aching soul. — C.J From gifting expert Samantha Schoech: First, I am truly sorry for your loss. I am also the mother of teenagers and have been married for a long time, and I can only begin to imagine what you are going through. And though we all know material goods don't bring lasting happiness, a little retail therapy can be a sort of self-care. My first thought is to get yourself a good book subscription so you have something to look forward to in the mail each month. I also recommend these watercolor paints from Japan and possibly joining Wendy McNaughton's Draw Together Grown Up's Table, the friendliest, least stressful art 'lessons' and community out there. For music, perhaps splurge on some noise-cancelling headphones? I recently got a pair, and now I listen to audiobooks while I pull weeds or to music while I fold laundry, and I finally understand what all the headphone fuss is about. Finally, because you deserve to feel and smell beautiful just for yourself, try this luxurious body oil with a light floral scent — it makes me feel fancy and pampered even if I'm just working from home in my sweats. Our present-hunters are here to answer your questions. By completing this form, you agree that we may add your address to our list for the newsletter The Gift. What I Cover I discover, vet, and write about gifts of all kinds from my office in San Francisco. I am particularly drawn to all things shiny or bookish, but I try not to impose my taste more than is strictly necessary.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Nurses emailed us praising our hand cream — it was rocket fuel for us'
Jonny and Antonia Philp have already endured enough personal and business challenges to last a career since co-founding Nursem, their range of hand and bodycare products, in 2012. The husband and wife team have claimed universal credit and turned down a Dragons' Den offer, while Jonny has overcome a brain tumour. It has since left him to live by the mantra of 'look after yourself, your health and have fun'. From turning over around £50,000 in their early years, Nursem hit public awareness in 2019 and now anticipate sales of £2.7m this year, with aims of growing their word-of-mouth business tenfold. Read More: How Caroline's Circuits became a midlife fitness empire The company launched in response to a problem encountered by Jonny's wife Antonia as an NHS paediatric nurse, working on intensive care wards and washing her hands between 50 and 100 times daily. After six months, her hands started to crack and bleed with the demands of work. The Philps realised she wasn't the only one, with nearly 90% of the nursing community suffering similar issue, despite trying a raft of hand creams. 'Hand cream sounds like an incredibly simple solution, probably overly simple, but sometimes the best solutions are the simplest because people know how to adopt and use them properly,' says Jonny. Originally called Yes Nurse – 'It was like a Carry On film,' admits Jonny – he paid himself £500 for the first five years alongside Antonia's salary. 'Until children,' he adds. 'That's when things become a lot more real.' He describes the feeling of juggling jobcentre meetings as the co-founders 'tried to survive for six months until we could launch into Boots in time". 'I think the lady looked at me and thought, 'this guy's on another planet'," he adds. "This is not the usual person she would expect to be interviewing. But I'm enormously grateful because, without it, there's no way we could have paid for nursery in those first months.' Read More: 'Why we set up a sustainable mobile operator to save people money' Back at the day job, he says that emails from nurses a decade ago were like 'rocket fuel' for a fledgling business. 'Nurses would say that it's the first time in 25 years that their hands weren't painful at work. Messages like that were like a shot in the arm and kept us going," says Jonny. Newcastle-based Nursem recorded sales of £142,000 (a net loss of £18,000) in their first year before a rebrand and relaunch in 2019 and COVID saw the company grow from a run rate of £150,000 per annum to £2.5m in 18 months. In 2020, Nursem's Caring hand cream was featured on ITV's This Morning. A product was sold every 36 seconds for several weeks while Boots also experienced empty shelves for a period. The publicity saw increased awareness of the company's 'Nursem Promise' where, for every product sold, they donate a month's worth to an NHS nurse or midwife. In 2021, the duo also appeared on Dragons' Den and received offers from all five before later rejecting a stake. This all pales into significance to January 2016 when Jonny was told by a consultant that he had an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumour on the left-hand side of his head. The couple had only been married three months. 'I lived on £500 a month, had enough money to fill the car up and buy some groceries. I was quite happy,' he admits. Read More: Meet the company that finds 'must-haves' to make everyday life easier 'It made me realise that all the dreams you have about building a business were just dreams up until that point. I was going to have to stick my head above the parapet.' Every year, Jonny paused for reflection when undergoing an MRI scan. The tumour was later removed in 2022 and three months of recovery followed. 'It took us 18 months of graft to get us back on track,' he adds. Nursem, says Jonny, is still largely a kitchen table, remote-first business, which employs 13 staff. The business is now driving demand from chefs, florists, mechanics and hairdressers. 'It is the shift towards people who are looking for something that's incredibly effective and cracking on with the rest of the day,' adds Jonny. 'It's the same for nurses in that you can't sit around for 10 minutes waiting for your hand cream to dry when it's a busy day.' A specialist transplant liaison nurse, Antonia has now joined the business full-time but will still be a registered nurse. 'We've got three kids and ambitions to grow 10x, but this means we can look after each other and be more present,' adds Jonny. The Nursem Promise If we were going to move the brand into retail on a bigger scale, how do we keep our heart and soul in the nursing community? That's when we realised rather than selling it to nurses, we should be providing it for free to deliver the biggest impact. For some nurses it can be absolutely debilitating and painful while at work. Not all hospitals provide access to moisturisers for staff so we decided to try and tackle it ourselves as a brand. We hear every single day from healthcare professionals how much it helps them. How to be a start-up success It's very easy to get distracted and move into other categories. The way we see the future is to continue to look after hands and become incredibly well known for doing one thing well. My key advice to other budding start-ups would be that if you're going to invest your time and energy, make sure you're tackling something that is a genuine issue that people have and that it affects enough people as well. Obsess over whatever the solution is that you're looking to launch, whether it's a physical product or a service. Think about all the key hurdles to get past and be absolutely brutally honest with yourself and actually work back from that goal. It will make life 10 times easier. Read more: Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks 'My sofa took six months to arrive — so I built a £20m business' 'I paid myself £4 an hour to get my Rollr deodorant off the ground'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Nurses emailed us praising our hand cream — it was rocket fuel for us'
Jonny and Antonia Philp have already endured enough personal and business challenges to last a career since co-founding Nursem, their range of hand and bodycare products, in 2012. The husband and wife team have claimed universal credit and turned down a Dragons' Den offer, while Jonny has overcome a brain tumour. It has since left him to live by the mantra of 'look after yourself, your health and have fun'. From turning over around £50,000 in their early years, Nursem hit public awareness in 2019 and now anticipate sales of £2.7m this year, with aims of growing their word-of-mouth business tenfold. Read More: How Caroline's Circuits became a midlife fitness empire The company launched in response to a problem encountered by Jonny's wife Antonia as an NHS paediatric nurse, working on intensive care wards and washing her hands between 50 and 100 times daily. After six months, her hands started to crack and bleed with the demands of work. The Philps realised she wasn't the only one, with nearly 90% of the nursing community suffering similar issue, despite trying a raft of hand creams. 'Hand cream sounds like an incredibly simple solution, probably overly simple, but sometimes the best solutions are the simplest because people know how to adopt and use them properly,' says Jonny. Originally called Yes Nurse – 'It was like a Carry On film,' admits Jonny – he paid himself £500 for the first five years alongside Antonia's salary. 'Until children,' he adds. 'That's when things become a lot more real.' He describes the feeling of juggling jobcentre meetings as the co-founders 'tried to survive for six months until we could launch into Boots in time". 'I think the lady looked at me and thought, 'this guy's on another planet'," he adds. "This is not the usual person she would expect to be interviewing. But I'm enormously grateful because, without it, there's no way we could have paid for nursery in those first months.' Read More: 'Why we set up a sustainable mobile operator to save people money' Back at the day job, he says that emails from nurses a decade ago were like 'rocket fuel' for a fledgling business. 'Nurses would say that it's the first time in 25 years that their hands weren't painful at work. Messages like that were like a shot in the arm and kept us going," says Jonny. Newcastle-based Nursem recorded sales of £142,000 (a net loss of £18,000) in their first year before a rebrand and relaunch in 2019 and COVID saw the company grow from a run rate of £150,000 per annum to £2.5m in 18 months. In 2020, Nursem's Caring hand cream was featured on ITV's This Morning. A product was sold every 36 seconds for several weeks while Boots also experienced empty shelves for a period. The publicity saw increased awareness of the company's 'Nursem Promise' where, for every product sold, they donate a month's worth to an NHS nurse or midwife. In 2021, the duo also appeared on Dragons' Den and received offers from all five before later rejecting a stake. This all pales into significance to January 2016 when Jonny was told by a consultant that he had an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumour on the left-hand side of his head. The couple had only been married three months. 'I lived on £500 a month, had enough money to fill the car up and buy some groceries. I was quite happy,' he admits. Read More: Meet the company that finds 'must-haves' to make everyday life easier 'It made me realise that all the dreams you have about building a business were just dreams up until that point. I was going to have to stick my head above the parapet.' Every year, Jonny paused for reflection when undergoing an MRI scan. The tumour was later removed in 2022 and three months of recovery followed. 'It took us 18 months of graft to get us back on track,' he adds. Nursem, says Jonny, is still largely a kitchen table, remote-first business, which employs 13 staff. The business is now driving demand from chefs, florists, mechanics and hairdressers. 'It is the shift towards people who are looking for something that's incredibly effective and cracking on with the rest of the day,' adds Jonny. 'It's the same for nurses in that you can't sit around for 10 minutes waiting for your hand cream to dry when it's a busy day.' A specialist transplant liaison nurse, Antonia has now joined the business full-time but will still be a registered nurse. 'We've got three kids and ambitions to grow 10x, but this means we can look after each other and be more present,' adds Jonny. The Nursem Promise If we were going to move the brand into retail on a bigger scale, how do we keep our heart and soul in the nursing community? That's when we realised rather than selling it to nurses, we should be providing it for free to deliver the biggest impact. For some nurses it can be absolutely debilitating and painful while at work. Not all hospitals provide access to moisturisers for staff so we decided to try and tackle it ourselves as a brand. We hear every single day from healthcare professionals how much it helps them. How to be a start-up success It's very easy to get distracted and move into other categories. The way we see the future is to continue to look after hands and become incredibly well known for doing one thing well. My key advice to other budding start-ups would be that if you're going to invest your time and energy, make sure you're tackling something that is a genuine issue that people have and that it affects enough people as well. Obsess over whatever the solution is that you're looking to launch, whether it's a physical product or a service. Think about all the key hurdles to get past and be absolutely brutally honest with yourself and actually work back from that goal. It will make life 10 times easier. Read more: Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks 'My sofa took six months to arrive — so I built a £20m business' 'I paid myself £4 an hour to get my Rollr deodorant off the ground'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Make sure there is enough mileage in your product' - Nursem co-founder
Nursem, a range of hand and bodycare products, was set up by husband-and-wife team Jonny and Antonia Philp in first created their hero hand cream after NHS paediatric nurse Antonia suffered terrible contact dermatitis from all of the handwashing on the discusses life as a start-up brand and how being on a TV slot helped sell a product every 36 seconds for weeks. Nursem also aims to deliver on its Nursem promise of being able to access free handcare for as many hospitals across the UK. In 2026, they hope to deliver its 1,000th Nursem in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
