Yes, even men need manicure in order to make their hands look clean and presentable. Being a male, you might not prefer to opt for a special manicure for a “new look” on your nails, like the women do, but keeping them clean and well-groomed is necessary. Doing a normal manicure is simple and even men can easily do that at home without spending more than half an hour of time. If you are visiting a salon for manicure, you really need not to know in detail about how to do the manicure, as long as you are ready to shell out the money, but it is not really necessary to visit a salon for a simple male manicure. Read on to know how you can do manicure at home, quickly and efficiently,
Start with washing your hands
This is the first step for a male manicure. Your hands and underneath of the nails are more dirty than you can imagine. There is lot of dirt, grim, food particles and dead cells accumulated under your nails. So, the first step of manicure is to clean them off. Place your hands under warm running water and use a mild soap to clean the nails and the skin properly. Once you are done washing your hands move to the next step.
Soak your hands in warm lemon water
Soaking your hands in warm lemon water for the next 10 minutes will not only remove any stains from your nails, but will also help in removing the dirt from underneath the nails and also to push back the cuticles of the fingernails. Take warm water in a glass bowl and add the juice of 1/2 of a lemon to the warm water. Soak your hands in this water for 10 minutes and then remove.
Clean the finger nails
After soaking your fingers in the warm water your nails will become much softer and it will be also much easier to clean the dirt from underneath the nails as well as any stains left on the nails. Use a toothbrush for scrubbing the nails, focus on removing the dirt stored under the nails. While using the toothbrush for cleaning, make sure that you do not hurt the nail bed, which can be painful. Once you have cleaned the nails properly, including the underneath of the nails, wash your hands again and you will see the stains, spots and dirt disappear.
Push back the cuticles
Pushing back of the cuticles of the fingernails is done as a mandatory step in the salon manicures. You need to use a cuticle pusher for this purpose. However, according to the skin specialists, pushing back the cuticles can harm the nail bed and hence unless you can do it perfectly, without harming the nails in anyway, it is better to leave it alone. So, use the cuticle pusher only if you have extra cuticles covering the base of your nails that are looking unsightly. While using the cuticle pusher make sure that you are not overdoing it, which will harm the nails.
Cut the length
After cleaning the finger nails now comes the part of cutting them off. Male nails should not be left much longer, but cropping them very short is not only unsightly but also painful. For male, the perfect length of nails should be a small white strip of nails surrounding the nail bed. Trim the nails with a proper nail clipper, keeping the suggested length of nails in mind. Use only a good quality nail clipper to ensure that your nails are chopped off smoothly.
File it up
After you have chopped off the excess length of nails, now you need to file the nails. However, before you start filing make sure that your hands are already dry enough. You can also apply a little bit of oil to your nails before you start with the filing. Use only a good quality filer and file only in one direction. Using the filter in two directions is not only the wrong way to go, but will also end up making your nails weaker. Proper filing with a good filer can give you smooth and well-rounded nails and the perfect look of a manicure.
Do not miss the moisture
After you are done with all the above steps, you need to use a good dose of moisturizer on your hands, focusing on your nails in order to banish any dryness and to complete the manicure. Apply the moisturizer and massage it lightly into the skin so that it is absorbed properly. Moisturizing your hands after a manicure is vital in order to get the right look and the best results of the process.
Having elaborated on the process of male manicure, now let us take a quick look at the male manicure tips,
You need to have a weekly manicure routine
Most of the men believe that all they need to do to take care of their nails is to chop them off once they become really long and annoying. First of all, it is important to come out of this idea and to set up a weekly manicure routine. A weekly routine will not only make it much easier to take the right care for your nails but will also ensure that your hands and nails look groomed always and not only during a particular time. Manicure is only a way of taking more care of yourself, and with weekly manicure you can get the best groomed hands. Moreover, once you are maintaining a weekly manicure routine, you will need very little time for completing the routine.
Only a clipper is not sufficient
Again, most of the males use only one type of manicure tools in their life time and that is, the nail clipper. While nail clippers can actually complete a good part of the total manicure procedure, they can never give complete results alone. To get proper manicure you also need other tools. Apart from the nail clipper, a specialized small scissor for cutting the extra cuticle and shaping the nail corners is important. You will also need a cuticle pusher as well as a filer at the least in order to take complete care of your nails. So, instead of depending on that single age old clipper, invest on a proper manicure kit that will come with everything.
Quality of the tools do matter
Even a professional cannot do his best without proper tools and it is not different for you either. If you are using low quality manicure tools it will not only make the job much difficult for you but will also show improper results. Improperly shaped, unevenly filed nails are common while using low quality tools. Moreover, low quality manicure tools can even make it much more difficult and time consuming for you to complete the total process. A good quality manicure kit can last you for a lifetime and hence spending on one is always a good idea.
Softening your fingernails before manicure is important
Many male tend to skip the part of manicure where one needs to put the fingernails in warm, lemon mixed water for 10 minutes. Waiting for 10 minutes, with your hands in the water can be boring, but it is necessary in order to complete the manicure process properly and to get the right results. Soaking your fingers in warm water with lemon juice does not only clears up any stains from the nails but also softens the nails as well as the cuticles, which makes it much easier to remove or cut them off. So, if you are looking out for a proper manicure, it is important that you soften your fingernails first.
Do not go very short with your nails
Most of the men tend to cut their nails too short, particularly because they want them to not to grow back quickly, but in reality this habit will not only give an unsightly look to the hands but may also harm the nail bed, hampering the normal growth of the fingernails. In men, there should be a small white round strip of white nails covering the nail bed. So, while trimming the nails with the clipper, make sure that you do not go overboard which can also be really painful.
Removing the extra cuticles is tricky
Pushing back and removing the extra cuticles from the fingernails of hands can be tricky because you might need to go through this step to get clean nails but going overboard will hurt the nail bed. So, while removing the extra cuticles or pushing back the cuticles, keep in mind that you should do it only till the point it does not hurt. The moment it hurts, know for sure that you have crossed the line.
Do not skip the moisturizer
You might not be looking for those soft hands but even then you should apply a good dose of moisturizer to your hands and nails after completing the manicure. Soaking your hands in lemon mixed water is sure to make the nails and the hands dry, following with a moisturizer will ensure that the required moisture has been provided to control any dryness.
