I’m fixated on my hands’ signs of aging. What can I do about it?

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Every Friday Leanne Delap, columnist for The Kit—Canada’s beauty & style authority—answers your pressing questions.


“You know how something starts to bug you, then it is all you can think about? That is how I feel about my hands lately — they’re looking wrinkled, spotted, like my grandma’s hands. Is there anything I can do?” — Annaliese, Ottawa

There are always going to be new things that we notice about our aging bodies. And yes, once they seize your attention, they can become a thorn in your side, a blight in your field of vision. There are two ways to go when this happens: there is the chill option, where you try to adjust your thinking into acceptance mode and hope that it redirects the panic. Or there’s the nuclear option where you throw all there is in the modern medical esthetics arsenal at the problem. Or something in between.

Let’s first look at option one. I offer you the vision of entrepreneur Erin Kleinberg, who launched a lifestyle brand named Sidia, after her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor and style maven, with a line of universally appealing caftans. What does this have to do with hands, you ask? Well, the latest Sidia launch is a hand line: an exfoliating hand wash and serum. Kleinberg always knows how to meet the moment: she began her career as a co-founder of the Coveteur, which curated and presented the fabulous things in the homes of the tasteful, rich and famous. Then she launched an agency called Metier, where her team works with top beauty brands.

“It felt like nobody had ever focused on hands,” says Kleinberg. “They are such an important part of your body, they are how we work, we love, we care.”

She goes on to describe an image: “It’s my grandmother at the table with us, writing her handwritten notes and rubbing hand cream into her hands. It is a mundane memory, but I think about it now all the time,” says Kleinberg. “We all have matriarchs who have passed down beauty secrets.”

The main secret, Kleinberg says, is to not focus on how your hands are aging, but instead to make your hands part of your daily ritual of self-care. “Everyone’s hands are under-loved and underserved,” she says.

That’s why she and her team set out to create a hand-care system that allows you to touch your hair or your keyboard after applying without it feeling gross and sticky. “Personally, I have thrown out 300,000 hand creams,” she says just slightly hyperbolically. “When they are greasy, they are disgusting! Or the cap comes off and they spill in your handbag!” Her serum is nourishing, hydrating, fast-absorbing and lightweight, with a soft fragrance that is not overwhelming. It also contains a natural retinol to help smooth fine lines.

An exfoliant is a novel step for hands. “It’s a foamy cleanser that has pearlite to retexturize your skin, so it can absorb the serum, and avocado oil for smoothing,” she explains.

But don’t call it anti-aging. Sidia, says Kleinberg, is anti-anti-aging. “The goal is for your skin to feel plump and fresh and awake and alive.” It’s about the ritual, as she remembers from her grandmother’s kitchen. “It’s about celebrating you, as you are.”

Kleinberg also gives a shout-out to another female Canadian entrepreneur, Amy Welsman, the founder of Paume. The line of hand-care products came about when Welsman brought her newborn daughter home from the hospital in 2019 and found sanitizers “had a few things in common: they were harsh on the skin, they smelled terrible and they were packaged in unappealing, disposable plastic.” She developed a full line of hand care to sanitize, cleanse and hydrate made in refillable packaging. Of particular note is probiotic hand balm, with plant-based ingredients to restore the hands’ microbiome and some great, woodsy essential oils to make the process pleasant.

As for going all the way, to fix your hands to the best of modern medical technology’s abilities, I spoke with Dr. Douglas Grace, the founder-CEO of GraceMed. With locations in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga and North York, GraceMed has a team of plastic surgeons and dermatologists. Grace himself is a plastic surgeon. “Hands are exposed to the sun as much as our face, but they are neglected,” he says. “Also, we are especially bad with all the handwashing with soap and sanitizer recently.”

The hand, says Grace, “also produces significantly less oil and thus dries out and starts to look aged and wrinkly. And the sun spots that come with chronic sun exposure make the hands look older.” Treatment options for hands are similar to treatments for the face: if you have brown spots or broken blood vessels, IPL (intense-pulsed light) or BBL (broadband light) will help address the colour.

If you have lost volume and your hands are looking depleted, he says, then a hyaluronic acid filler such as Juvederm “can help plump up the back of the hand and look less skeletal.” Finally, biostimulants such as PRP (platelet-rich plasma) “can help to rejuvenate your skin, give you fullness and younger looking skin.”

For some idea of the price of perfect hands, IPL/BBL treatments, in a set of three done two to three weeks apart, costs $750 per treatment. Another option is Radiesse, which will reduce the appearance of tendons and veins. At $800 per hand, it should last about a year. Radiesse, says Grace, is a filler based on calcium hydroxyapatite microspheres. “The small calcium beads cause the body to increase volume in the area they are injected. It can be longer acting than hyaluronic acid fillers, but can also last longer if you do not like the result, so there is always a tradeoff.”

So, there you have it: do a little, do a lot but, either way, love the hands you were born with. They do a whole lot of things for us, all day, every day. They deserve our love.

Shop the advice

Skin care products specifically for hands

Sidia Hand Care Duo, $67, sidiathebrand.com

Sidia Hand Care Duo, $67, sidiathebrand.com SHOP HERE

Sidia’s exfoliating hand wash smells of citrusy bergamot and earthy vetiver, and gently polishes the skin as it cleanses. The hand serum is non-greasy yet deeply hydrating, with cactus flower extract and nourishing avocado and shea butters.

Paume Probiotic Hand Balm, $30, thedetoxmarket.ca

Paume Probiotic Hand Balm, $30, thedetoxmarket.ca SHOP HERE

A lab-created probiotic aims to help balance the skin’s microbiome after washing and sanitizing, and an emollient derived from safflower oil moisturizes dry hands deeply.

Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm, $39, aesop.com.

Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm, $39, aesop.ca SHOP HERE

Nothing, and we do mean nothing, smells as amazing as Aesop’s much-loved Resurrection hand cream, which is thick and lusciously emollient and leaves you with a hint of the addictive citrus-woodsy scent for hours.

Flexitol Anti-Age Hand Balm, $15, amazon.ca

Flexitol Anti-Age Hand Balm, $15, amazon.ca SHOP HERE

Designed to “visibly reduce” dark spots and boost skin’s elasticity, or firmness, this hand balm from no-nonsense Australian hand and foot care brand Flexitol is also extremely nourishing.

When you make a purchase through the links in this article, we may earn a small commission. Our journalism is independent and not influenced by advertising. Learn more.





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