theRITUAL for hands

How much love do you give your hands? Go on, be honest. If, like me, you spend plenty of precious daily minutes massaging serums, moisturisers and the like into your face and neck, but hardly any time at all for your hands. Maybe once a month they get a treatment manicure – which is nothing compared to the attention we slather on our visages.

The only time I really start to worry about my “arm tools” is in summer when I’m driving – then I’m keenly aware of the sun’s rays hitting my skin. I keep a bottle of sunscreen in the car for this purpose. But apart from that, and rubbing in hand-creme during the coldest months of winter, I don’t give them much time at all. Which is a shame, because they are the telltales when it comes to age. You might have a face as smooth as a baby bottom but if you’re hands are wrinkly, speckled with pigmentation and crinkled – people are going to think twice about putting you in the 30-35 bracket.

The Body Shop has come up with a solution – three hand care packages; Wild Rose for Mature Skin, Hemp for Very Dry Skin and Almond for all skin and nail types. Within each range is a serious of saviours – cleansers, hand cream, hand oil and nourishing hand butter giving you the chance to cleanse, care, target and treat your mitts into salvation.

Each Wild Rose product has Rosehip, known for its anti-ageing properties. Hemp is naturally high in Omega 3, one of the richest plant sources of essential fatty acids, which makes it an absolute gold mine for parched skin. And almond has fantastic emollient properties for skin and nails.

The ranges go on sale in all Body Shop boutiques from September 19 2011. Prices start at $19,50 and go to $24.