A helping hand: learn secrets to healthier hands and nails with this guide to foods, nutrients, and products for dazzling digits

Your hands are the most overused and abused parts of your body, so they often show age sooner than the rest of it. Be sure to treat your hands with the same care you give your face. Hand and nail care products should contain the same nurturing ingredients as skin care products, including vitamins, antioxidants, and natural emollients.

Made of protein, keratin, and sulfur, your nails are actually an extension of your skin, and like your skin, require proper care and nutrition--internally as well as externally. A diet that includes high-quality protein, seeds, nuts, and grains rich in B vitamins, as well as calcium and antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E promote strong nails.

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Your nails also tell a great deal about the condition of your body. Normally, the human nail takes about four months to grow from base to end. During its growth, it frequently forms a metabolic record or window of what is going on in the rest of your body. In fact, a clue to hidden health issues may lie just at your fingertips.

What Nails Say About Your Health

Healthy nails are pink, smooth, and shiny. Variations in the color, texture, and shape of nails often point to specific nutritional deficiencies or other health problems. Blue nails, for example, may indicate circulatory or respiratory problems. Black bands may indicate low adrenal function. Lengthwise grooves may signify a kidney disorder. Yellow nails may signify diabetes, liver, or lymph problems. Spoon nails that curve upward may signify anemia or may be caused by nail biting. Wide, square nails may indicate a hormonal disorder. Nail beading (bumps on the surface of the nail) may indicate rheumatoid arthritis. Red moons, instead of white, may indicate a cardiovascular problem.

Pamper your hands and nails. Avoid harsh soaps. Wear robber gloves when using household chemicals. Contact with cleaning fluids is the primary cause of dry, flaky skin. Next time you buy hand lotion or cream, buy four bottles. Place one by your bathroom sink, one by the kitchen sink, one on your nightstand and one in your office drawer. That way there's no excuse not to rub lotion or cream into your hands at least a couple of times a day and after washing your hands. And don't forget to use sunscreen when going outdoors. The thin skin on the tops of your hands can be damaged by UV rays just as easily as the skin on your face.

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1. Treat rough, dry hands to DESERT ESSENCE ORGANIC PUMPKIN HAND REPAIR CREAM, and trick them into feeling soft again. Pumpkin seed oil and licorice leaf extract also help even skin tone and fade age spots.

2. Heal your hands with JASON'S CHAMOMILE HAND & BODY THERAPY, a rich antiaging cream that soothes and smoothes dry, chapped, weather beaten skin with green tea extract, beta-hydroxy acids, and vitamins C and E.

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3. Restore moisture and softness to your hands with AUBREY ORGANICS' ULTIMATE MOIST HAND & BODY LOTION (with the scent of passionfloweeer). White camellia and macadamia nut oils soothe and repair dry, cracked skin. Easily absorbed, it's an ideal whole-body moisturizer.

4. BIOFORCE LIQUID SILICA boosts your body's supply of the trace element silica, which provides elasticity and strength to your nails, skin, and hair.

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My story: how "going natural" saved my nails

For years, I had thin, short nails that peeled and split easily. A coworker mentioned that she used to have the same problem and solved it by avoiding conventional nail products. They were full of harsh chemicals that had an almost allergic-like reaction will her nails, she said. I though I'd give it a try. Boy, was I surprised--my nails immediately began to grow stronger and almost immediately stopped peeling. When I used conventional polishes and removers again, the problem returned, so I knew going natural was the cure for me. Today I keep my nails natural and shiny by rubbing a dab of vitamin E, apricot or olive oil onto the nails and cuticles daily.

--Jackie, Lancaster, Calif.

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The Perfect Home Manicure

Try the following simple steps for an all-natural home manicure:

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(1) First, file your nails going in one direction only (no sawing).

(2) Wash your hands, and then soak them in warm water or apple cider vinegar. The acid in the vinegar will help to slough off dead skin cells.

(3) Rub cold-pressed olive oil into your cuticles. Use the blunt end of an orangewood stick to gently push the cuticles back from the nails.

(4) Dry your hands. Using a fine pumice stone, gently sand the tops of your nails to smooth any ridges. Buff your nails with a buffing block or soft cotton cloth Your nails will be shiny, almost as if you were wearing clear nail polish.

(5) Use a moisturizing cream or lotion to massage your hands and nails.

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