If you wear work gloves daily, good for you! This post probably won't do you much good because you've done a good job of making sure your hands avoid getting those nasty skin bumps called calluses. If you don't wear gloves all the time, like me, or you have calluses anyways, follow along for a quick step by step guide to get your hands silky smooth.
EWWWW, yeah, those are the calluses I deal with on my left hand.
DETERMINE THE SEVERITY OF YOUR CALLUSES
Some calluses are small, some are large, some cover your entire palm while others only appear on a single finger. Depending on how severe your calluses are, you might need to take some more drastic steps to get rid of them.
So, take a moment, look at your hands, and let's decipher whether or not your calluses need more work or less work.
If your calluses have torn open, have a yellowish color, are drying out and bunch up when pinched, you might need to do some drastic work (reference the picture of my hand to be sure). Start at step one.
If you have some raised skin bumps but they maintain the same color as everything else around it, you can feel free to skip to step two.
Items you will need:
- Pumice Stone
- Foot Rasp (optional)
- Nail Clippers
- Lotion
STEP 1
This might sound painful, so if you're uncomfortable with it, don't do it and skip to step two. But what I have found is a great way to get rid of severe calluses is to pinch the skin together until it kind of forms a mold. If you can't get a mold, move on to step two. Once you have that, take some nail clippers and clip the outer edges of the "mold". Continue clipping until the entire group of callus is disconnected.
**This should not hurt, if it does hurt stop clipping.* *
Repeat to all your surrounding calluses and feel free to trim around the edges to clean it up. As a quick note, this step is from personal experience and has not been recommended by any professionals. If you are not comfortable with this method of callus removal, try this site out instead:
http://www.beastskills.com/removing-calluses/
Or, you can get a foot rasp and use that to file away the meat of the calluses, however, if you choose to do this, make sure to use the foot rasp just before step 3:
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=11063611
STEP 2
Soak your hands in warm soapy water. About 5-10 minutes should do the trick. If you want to save time, you can take a shower and wait till the end of the shower to start step 3.
STEP 3
Once your hands have soaked for the recommended time or you're close to the end of your shower, take the pumice stone, dip it in the warm soapy water and rub it against the callused areas. You should rub these areas for about 2-3 minutes each.
STEP 4
Once finished with the pumice stone, dry your hands off and put some lotion on.
STEP 5
Repeat whenever you feel like your calluses are getting out of control. I usually do this about once every week or two.
Wearing some quality work gloves should help keep calluses from getting too bad, but if you don't wear these gloves or get calluses anyways, be sure to get rid of them! Not only do they feel uncomfortable to the touch, they will also rip off if left untreated. Trust me, having a callus rip off is the last thing you'll want to happen when you work with your hands.
If, however, your calluses do rip off, join in next week for some advice on how to treat the tear and expedite the healing process.
Have a great week and stay safe!