Well-groomed hands and feet, with shiny glazes that enhance its beauty, are a must in the summer but are not always enough. To always have hands and feet at the top it is good to take care of them with natural treatments that help us prevent the dangers of the summer.
Just during the summer, when exposure to the sun, sweating and dehydration cause the lowering of the immune defenses, it is easier than potentially pathogenic microorganisms such as fungi attack skin, hair and nails, giving rise to mycosis. It is especially in crowded environments such as beaches, swimming pools and changing rooms that numerous spores circulate, which by dispersing in the environment favor the possibility of contagion. Not surprisingly, mycoses are considered among the 5 most frequent diseases in summer.
Depending on the affected area, we can distinguish some forms, among those most common in this period:
- Onychomycosis: although it does not concern the skin but the nails of the hands and feet, we must still pay attention to it, due to the high risk of summer transmission. The affected surface appears dark, stained, thickened, opaque and jagged;
- Athlete’s foot: appears between the toes, causing itching, redness, chapping, flaking and bad smell;
- Sea mushroom: causes patchy skin, which are accentuated with sun exposure and tanning;
- Groin mycosis: causes a redness of the inguinal fold that extends to the inner thigh, sometimes even involving buttocks and abdomen.
To prevent the risk of contracting mycoses, which, although they are not dangerous infections, are unpleasant and difficult to treat, some simple precautions must be taken:
- Personal hygiene: in summer there is a tendency to sweat a lot, it is therefore advisable to keep the skin always fresh and clean by frequently washing and drying every part of the body, paying particular attention to the fingers, feet and groin area;
- Clothing: use breathable clothes and shoes, both during sports and carrying out normal daily activities, to keep the skin always well dry from sweat, which promotes the proliferation of mycosis;
- At the sea or swimming pool: always wear slippers, never walk barefoot, take a shower with fresh water, immediately after swimming in the sea or in the pool.
There are also natural cosmetic remedies that help us have healthy and beautiful hands and feet to show. For the well-being of the feet, in summer it is advisable to take a foot bath with fresh water and bicarbonate twice a week with a simple massage between the toes. The action of baking soda will help prevent onychomycosis. Another treatment to be carried out is the scrub in the area of the heels and any calluses: this treatment in addition to having an undoubted aesthetic effect will prepare our feet for winter when they find themselves living with closed shoes.
For the well-being of the hands: in this historical period where we use, and often abuse, sanitizers and disinfectants for the hands, the bacterial risk is certainly lower than in other historical periods. Just the use of these products has brought to our hands a much higher quantity of alcohol than normal. Often the dryness of the hands occurs earlier than expected as well as the sense of “sticky”. Don’t worry, let’s slightly decrease the alcohol-based sanitizing gel and use more water and soap to allow the skin of our hands to restore the correct hydro-lipid coat in line with the higher temperature than usual. At the end of the day we spread a light veil of moisturizing and slightly oily cream on our hands to obtain that sense of lightness and leave them properly hydrated.
During the summer, the hands and feet play a very important role for rest and sleep. In the summer we should sleep at an atmospheric temperature between 19 ° C and 22 ° C to rest well. Often this does not happen and it is difficult to fall asleep because of the heat.
There is a natural remedy very little used but very effective. Before going to bed we do a five minute hand bath and foot bath each with room temperature water with 4-5 drops of lavender essential oil. Since both the feet and the hands are rich in nerve endings they will be able to transmit the sensation of freshness to the rest of the body which will allow us to go to sleep earlier.
For this reason, during the summer we do not only think about the aesthetics of our hands and feet but we continue to take care of them because, as well as during the winter, they are one of the entrance doors to the well-being of our body.
