Topic: okay..I know this is a 'girly' question..but...

[Karen Atkinson]

...how do you get your hands and nails clean after being on the allotment??
I find it hard to wear gloves and plant properly...there's something about eath and hands which I like, but my nails and skin are atrocious! I've tried the obvious...nailbrush, soap, that stuff you get paint off your skin with name escapes me - not meths!), toothpaste to clean nails. Please help!

[betula]

Olive oil helps if the dirt is really ground in.

As for nails I always have to spend ages cleaning mine

[goodlife]

one does use thin latex gloves when gardening...and one takes them off when sowing seeds... ;)...but looking at my hands..well one does have grubby bits... ::)
I don't think there is really a cure for the "working girl's" hands... :-X

[Flighty]

My mum's hands and nails were always dirtier than my dad's! She was a lifelong gardener who never wore gloves and he was a builder/decorator who did sometimes!  :)

[betula]

I only use gloves for thorny stingy stuff.Can't work properly with them on.

[artichoke]

Make some bread. My hands are perfect after a kneading session......

[lincsyokel2]

You need the stuff engineers and mechanics used to use to stop there hands being permanently oily and grimy, it goes by the generic name of Barrier Cream.

[macmac]

Olive oil and sugar/salt rub it in rub around your nails works a treat.
I do wear latex gloves but in this heat Yuk  :(

[redcoat]

Before you go out, scrape your nails down a bar of soap.  The soap under your nails should keep out quite a bit of muck and grime.

[jennym]

Do try and wear gloves. I can talk. I take them over, then have them on for a while, pull them off to do something intricate then before  know where I am my hands are bad again. Hand cream before working helps, a beeswax based handcream does form a sort of barrier. I've found that after scrubbing the dirt off, lemon juice is the only reliable thing that whitens the horrible rough stained bits I get on thumbs and forefingers. If you sort of scratch at half a lemon, it helps with under your nails too. Once clean, the skin is rough and catches on fabrics, Ive found that Avon do a glycerine hand cream that soothes rough skin, although it's not any good as a barrier.

[elvis2003]

Before you go out, scrape your nails down a bar of soap.  The soap under your nails should keep out quite a bit of muck and grime.

thats a great idea,thanks!

[bazzysbarn]

I have the same trouble. I went in to work at the weekend and was told my hands were dirty even though i had been washing and scrubbing before work. At least it shows we"re not afraid of a bit of dirt!!! Unlike my 18 year old daughter lol!

[Karen Atkinson]

I've tried the soap in nails before starting but hasn't seem to worked. Also, I tend to moisturise my hands before I start but perhaps I need a thicker barrier cream. will try olive oil

[Digeroo]

I usually find that washing my hair also seems to clean my hands or washing a pair of socks by hand. 

[shirlton]

The brier gloves at wikinsions are ok they are the nylon ones that look as if they have had the palms and the tips of the fingers dipped in rubber.They don't sweat your hands as much as latex and they wash lovely as well. All this for £1-49 a pair. The wilkinsons own make are more expensive but not as good. They are tight enough to weed and transpalnt in.

[dtw]

I always have a nice long soak in the bath, works wonders.  :D

[Deb P]

I'm very aware of the state of my hands and particularly nails, as a midwife I'm also constantly handwashing/gelling them at work so they get a lot of abuse! I'm also not good at wearing gloves generally at the lottie, ( I end up with brown arms and white hands in the summer!!) but find that using a pumice stone on the really grubby ingrained bits of my fingers works, followed by a good handcream like the hemp type ones from the BodyShop, or my latest favourite is Norwegian Hand Repair that also seems to act as a bit of a barrier cream so they don't get so bad in the first place!

[Bugloss2009]

Make some bread. My hands are perfect after a kneading session......

that's what I was going to say! Tell the family it's "wholemeal"  ;D

[Deb P]

Aw yuk! ;D ;D ;D

[aquilegia]

I find even when I wear gloves, my nails still get mucky!

I use my 3-y-o son's old toothbrushes. I scrub it on the soap or squirt on a bit of liquid soap and then scrub away! They are much softer than adult ones and I find they work so much better than proper nail brushes. Recycling too!

And I find the only way to get dirt from the cracks on my hands is to wash my hair! Or keep my hands well moisturised with olive oil so they don't crack in the first place!