How not to spoil your manicure: 6 tips to keep your hands clean after working in the garden

The gardening season continues, so there's still time to dig in the ground. Here are a few life hacks on how to avoid spoiling your favorite manicure while working in your favorite beds. First, you should think about how to protect your hands from dirt.

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• Solid soap is one of the most effective ways to protect your manicure. Just rub the soap on your nails before working in the garden so that the entire space between them and the skin is filled. The soil will not get under the nails, and if it does, it will be easily washed off with the soap;
• Liquid soap is a very affordable alternative to a new, expensive product - liquid gloves. The technology is simple: apply liquid soap to your hands and let it dry. A thin soap film forms on the skin, and it will serve as a barrier against earth dirt. You'll get your hands dirty, but you can easily wash the dirt off later. The only downside of this life hack is that you can't work with anything wet, otherwise your "protection" will simply disappear;
• Gloves - we are not talking about gardening gloves, which are mostly fabric, and therefore easily let dirt through. There should be another layer between your skin and your gardening gloves: moisturize your hands with a greasy cream and put on vinyl or nitrile gloves, over which you can already use gardening gloves. This way, your hands will not come into contact with the ground, and the cream will moisturize and nourish them.

We have dealt with "prevention". But what to do if your manicure is still damaged? There are several tips for such cases:

• A nail file is the fastest and easiest way to get rid of stubborn dirt. Just make a few strokes of the file in one direction on the skin near the nail. Just be careful not to damage the pattern. This is how you remove dead skin. To achieve the desired effect, it is important that the hardness of the file is at least 200 grit;
• You can use any scrub that contains sea salt. Mix it with 5-6 drops of essential oil and rub it on the skin of your hands. But for those who don't like to bother or don't have a scrub, there are other options. It can be quickly organized right at the cottage. Red currants are great for removing traces of dirt on your hands, especially from freshly crumpled greens. Take a few berries and rub them on your hands like a cream;
• A coffee "scrub" can be another option. If you're a coffee gardener, don't rush to throw away the grounds left over from brewing coffee. Despite its dark color, the grounds themselves do not stain your hands, but they will remove all dirt from them and under your nails;
• Lemon is another easy way to get rid of dirt. Lemon juice removes dirt perfectly. Take half a lemon and rub it on the dirty areas or dip the edge of the nail into the pulp. You can also use lemon in a warm hand bath, which will also help clean your hands. Just add grated lemon and sea salt to the water.

We remind you that in spring, the sowing season begins, nature comes to life, and insects return with it. Some of them, such as ants, can harm your plants, so you need to fight them. Read how to do this in our article.

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