Whether you’ve been messing with the car or digging the yard, find out how to remove all dirt and stains and get your hands and nails back into shape. Nothing could be simpler than the three-step manicure for men.

A Home Manicure for Men Who Like to Get Their Hands Dirty

Even if we don’t all work as farmers, builders, mechanics, or gardeners, we are often expected to do jobs that take their toll on our hands.

And which of us doesn’t enjoy getting his hands dirty, anyway? I certainly do.

That’s why we don’t usually appear perfectly manicured.

Our hands tell a story. As such, I am always proud to extend my calloused specimen and would feel less so if it were soft as silk. But I’d feel ashamed to offer a dry, chapped hand with overgrown cuticles. Even worse, a grime-infested hand. That would tell a completely different story.

Men in occupations where dirty hands are part of the job will know how to prevent excessive staining and how to clean up the unavoidable.

But the rest of us may turn up at the office on Monday morning wondering how we can best hide our hands.

Whether grease, dyes, or dirt from digging the yard, this article will show you how to avoid that situation. You may not end up looking like you’ve had a professional manicure, but your hands will at least be presentable again.

Preventing Stains

As men, we’d prefer to spend as little time as possible performing a manicure. Therefore, before starting a dirty job, take measures to avoid staining, which will make hand care a lot easier and less time-consuming.

Wear Gloves

When coming into contact with grease, dye, or any other substance that stains, wear nitrile gloves. These are more robust and less permeable than latex or vinyl. They are also greaseproof.

For work that requires less sensitivity, wear safety or outdoor work gloves, depending on the job at hand. The latter are obviously appropriate to protect against thorns and similar sharp objects.

Household rubber gloves are also an option for some jobs.

Apply Barrier Cream

But, in spite of gloves, our hands and nails will still be grimy at the end of the day. Especially when in a greasy environment. As a former boatman working on the inland waterways of Continental Europe, I know this only too well—it’s how I came to be so well versed in performing the men’s manicure.

The remedy is to apply a barrier cream beneath your gloves. Try Swarfega Protect or Workman’s Friend.

If you don’t have gloves, these creams will still shield from staining to an extent, which will make the clean-up easier.

Vaseline is another possibility if nothing else is available, but you’ll need gloves due to its greasy consistency.

A well-known trick to prevent grime from becoming embedded under the nails is to scratch a bar of white soap, which will create a shield.

Removing Stains

Before carrying out a manicure, you’ll need to remove stains you were unable to prevent.

Grease Stains

Without a specialist product, grease stains are particularly difficult to remove.

You’ll find countless remedies online, but only one of these has ever done the job for me: dish soap, warm water, and a scrubbing brush.

But nothing works better than Swarfega Original Classic, which I’ve been using since I was a kid messing about with my bicycle chain.

If you can’t get hold of it, try GripClean, or let me know in the comments what you’ve found to be effective.

Whichever cleaner you choose, apply with a soft cloth and rub it over every crevice.

Dye Stains

Most inks and dyes can be removed with rubbing alcohol or cologne.

Cleaning Under Your Nails

You’ll notice grime beneath your nails even if you haven’t done a dirty job. That’s why removing it is a standard preparatory procedure in any manicure, whether you’re a coalminer or a man about town.

It’s caused by a buildup of shed skin cells, sebum, and keratin (a protein that is the primary component of nails and the outer skin layer). If you apply hand cream, this will also deposit itself here.

1. Begin by scrubbing your nails with soap and warm water.
2. Once you’ve removed as much dirt as you can, dry your hands.
3. With an orangewood stick (preferably) or a metal file with a cleaning tool (often found in men’s manicure sets or attached to clippers), push away any remaining dirt. The tissue here is extremely delicate, so take care not to dig or apply pressure.
4. In case traces of grime are still visible, scrub again.

Source: The Neat and Tidy Man

How to Do a Home Manicure for Men

Similar to the pedicure for men, this differentiates itself from the “female” manicure, in that it’s nowhere near as elaborate. The idea is simply to make men’s hands presentable.

3-Step Manicure for Men:

A men’s manicure can be completed in three easy steps, which include:

1. Shortening and smoothing the nails
2. Pushing back cuticles
3. Applying hand cream

What You Need for a Men’s Manicure

• Clippers (due to nail size, toenail clippers are usually more suitable for men)
• A sapphire file (optional)
• Disposable emery boards (optional)
• A glass file (optional, but it would be the only one you need)
• A nail brush
• Cuticle remover, available at all drugstores as either a cream, gel, or liquid (alternatively, petroleum jelly or coconut oil)
• A rubber cuticle hoof
• Tweezers
• Hand cream

Step 1: Shorten and Smooth

Shorten With Clippers

If your nails extend beyond your fingertips, you need to cut them. Use clippers rather than scissors.

Cut straight across, then snip off the corners.

Keeping nails short is another way of preventing grime from getting beneath them, as well as making them easier to clean.

Shorten With a File

If your nails are already short, you can keep them that way with regular filing.

If using an emery board or sapphire file, work in strokes from the outer nail to the center; a back and forth movement can cause weakness and splitting.

A glass file, however, allows you to work back and forth without damage; this is the one I use.

Smooth and Seal

Whether you’ve used clippers or a file to reduce length, smooth and seal any rough edges with a glass file or the fine side of an emery board.

A glass file will smooth and seal while shortening.

About Files

There’s a metal file in every men’s manicure set, but it will cause untold damage.

If you want to keep your nails healthy, choose one made of glass or sapphire, alternatively diamond or ceramic (I have no experience with these). Otherwise, the disposable emery board is the most convenient and hygienic option, the reason it’s favored for professional manicures.

Source: The Neat and Tidy Man

Step 2: Push Back Cuticles

Basically, the cuticle is hard, dead skin that grows up the nail. Unchecked, it will make your hands appear scruffy and unkempt.

For presentable hands, it’s important that you keep your cuticles pushed back.

How to Push Cuticles Back

1. Begin by scrubbing your nails with a brush.
2. Soak your fingers in warm, soapy water for about ten minutes. If you still have grease stains, which can be stubborn, add dish soap.
3. Dry your hands.
4. Apply cuticle remover and allow it to work for five to ten minutes. Alternatively, use petroleum jelly or coconut oil.
5. With a rubber cuticle hoof, gently push your cuticles back.
6. Carefully pull away any remaining strands with tweezers.

Why You Should Never Cut Your Cuticles

If you cut your cuticles once, you may have to keep cutting them for the rest of your life. Apart from that, it makes them grow faster as well as leaving nails prone to infection.

Step 3: Apply Hand Cream

Finish by massaging hand cream into your hands and nails.

On a daily basis, my hands need to be non-greasy. That’s why I like Neutrogena’s Fast Absorbing Norwegian Formula.

Hand Maintenance

Few of us will make time for a regular manicure (I certainly won’t), but there are ways of maintaining hands without really thinking about it.

By observing the following points, all you’ll need to do is clip and/or file once a week.

• Scrub your nails daily.
• Push back your cuticles once every couple of days with a towel after showering or washing your hands. You’ll then have to use a rubber hoof only occasionally.
• Apply a rich hand cream every night before bed.

What if Your Nails Are Still Stained?

This has often happened to me: after the clean-up, my nail beds still appear stained or discolored. It’s typical if you’ve been working with grease over a stretched period.

This isn’t usually part of a men’s manicure, but the trick is to use a buffer.

A 3-step buffer is divided into three segments of different colors marked “clean,” “smooth,” and “shine,” or similar. It may also be referred to as a 3-way buffer.

You can buff away the stain with the “clean” segment, which will leave a layer of keratin dust on the nail. Rub this in with the “smooth” segment.

Don’t carry out the “shine” step. This will give a glossy effect, which isn’t becoming of men’s hands.

How to Reduce Vertical Ridges

As we age, we develop vertical ridges or grooves in our nails. This is normal, but in case you’re worried that it may be caused by something other than aging, consult a medical professional.

Like stains, you can reduce these with a buffer, but the 3-step type described above won’t suffice on its own; I’ve tried and it doesn’t work.

For this, I use a glass buffer by Tweezerman.

The trouble is, it leaves a glossy finish. To solve this, use a 3-step buffer afterward, omitting the “shine” step, and you’ll be left with a natural-looking, matte finish.

Using a buffer more than once a month may cause nails to become thin and weak.

© 2024, J. Richardson. All rights reserved.