How to Do a Manicure for Men

Whether you’ve been messing with the car or digging in 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 male manicure.

Source: Pixabay

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

Even if we’re not all farmers, builders, mechanics, or gardeners, most of us end up doing jobs that take a toll on our hands.

And what man doesn’t enjoy getting his hands dirty? I certainly do.

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

Hands tell a story. I’m proud to extend my calloused specimen—but I’d feel ashamed to offer a dry, chapped hand with overgrown cuticles. Worse still, a grime-infested hand. That would tell a completely different story.

Men in occupations where dirty hands are part of the job know how to clean up properly. They also know how to prevent excessive staining. The rest of us arrive at the office on Monday with our hands in our pockets.

Whether grease, dyes, or dirt from digging in the yard, this article shows you how to avoid that situation. You probably won’t look as though you’ve had a professional manicure, but your hands will at least be presentable again.

A Manicure for Men Is Easy If You Prevent Stains

Taking measures to avoid stains before starting a dirty job makes hand care a lot easier and less time-consuming.

This is how the professionals do it.

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. And they’re 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 other sharp objects.

For some tasks, household rubber gloves offer grip and protection.

Apply Barrier Cream

But, in spite of gloves, your hands and nails may still be grimy at the end of the day. Especially if you’re in a greasy environment. As a former boatman working on the inland waterways of Continental Europe, I encountered this problem daily. That’s how I came to be so well versed in performing the men’s manicure.

The secret lies in applying a barrier cream beneath your gloves. Try Swarfega Protect or Workman’s Friend.

Even without gloves, these creams prevent staining enough to make the clean-up easier.

Petroleum jelly is another possibility if nothing else is available, but you’ll need gloves due to its slippery consistency.

A well-known trick to stop grime getting under the nails is to scratch a bar of white soap, which creates a shield.

Prep Job 1: Remove Stains

Before starting a manicure, remove stains you were unable to prevent. If they’re very stubborn, you should at least be able to fade them.

Grease Stains

Without a specialist product, grease stains can be near impossible to remove.

Of the countless homemade fixes online, only one has ever done the job for me: dish soap, sugar, warm water, and a nail brush.

But nothing works better than Swarfega Original Classic, which I’ve been using since I was seven or eight after messing about with my bicycle chain. If Swarfega isn’t available where you are, try GripClean.

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. In a pinch, try hand sanitizer.

Prep Job 2: Clean Under Your Nails

You don’t have to do a dirty job for grime to accumulate beneath nails. That’s why removing it is a standard preparatory procedure in any manicure, whether you’re a coal miner 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 layer of skin).

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. If traces of grime are still visible, scrub again.

Source: The Neat and Tidy Man

How to Do a Home Manicure for Men

The men’s manicure is nowhere near as elaborate as the “female” version. And it doesn’t have to be. 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

Your nails should be short, smooth, and even. Here’s how to get them there.

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 dirt and debris 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 motion can lead to 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 with the fine side of an emery board or a glass file. Apart from removing rough edges, this seals the keratin layers and prevents splitting.

A glass file, by the way, is an all-in-one tool: it smooths and seals 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.

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 the surface of your nails with a brush.
2. Soak your fingers in warm, soapy water for about ten minutes. In case of remaining grease stains, 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

Massage hand cream into your hands and nails. As a finishing touch, it smooths any remaining roughness and keeps skin healthy.

Most men can’t tolerate slippery hands on a daily basis. To avoid it, try a product like Neutrogena’s Fast Absorbing Norwegian Formula.

Source: The Neat and Tidy Man

Maintaining a Men’s Manicure

Few men make time for a regular manicure (I certainly don’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. For this I use Mixa’s 10-in-1 Cica Repair+, especially in winter.

What if Your Nails Are Still Stained?

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

The trick is to use a buffer—not usually part of a men’s manicure, but it works.

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. This leaves a layer of keratin dust on the nail. Rub it in with the “smooth” segment.

Don’t carry out the “shine” step unless you want to look as though you’re wearing clear nail polish—most men don’t.

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 the cause is something other than age, consult a medical professional.

Like stains, you can reduce these with a buffer, but the 3-step type described above is not enough 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. Counteract it with a 3-step buffer afterward, omitting the “shine” step. This leaves a natural-looking, matte finish.

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

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A man’s hands don’t need elaborate grooming to look good—after all, they’re made for work. Just keep your nails short, your cuticles pushed back, don’t forget hand cream, and try not to get them too dirty.

© 2024 J. Richardson