No matter how good your skincare regime is, it’s often the hands that are the biggest ageing giveaways. That’s because as we age, our hands lose fat and the tendons become more visible, along with sun and age spots, too. But hand care has gone up a considerable notch in the past year; now, rather than a slap of basic hand cream, ingredients in products nowadays are so good they can actively anti-age the skin on your hands. 

Nail expert Michelle Class, who counts Naomi Campbell and Sienna Miller as clients, advises always using skincare-strength products on the hands. “Whatever the length of your nails, or the current condition of your hands, always take your facial skincare onto the backs of your hands, too,” she says. That means everything from your daily SPF to your exfoliators and even retinol. 

An increased focus on hand care is something Wassim Taktouk, an aesthetic doctor, is seeing more often in his clinic, particularly post-pandemic. “There used to be a time when all the ‘tweakments’ I performed, such as fillers, would only be for the face. Now I tweak the hands, too.” For this, he uses filler to plump out the fine lines and wrinkles on the backs of hands and sometimes injects hydration “boosters” such as Profhilo (both of which are typically used for the face).