Winter nails have never been easier to make beautiful. Dry and chapping skin is always a problem this time of year and hangnails multiply in spite of generous and frequent applications of hand lotion.

Avon’s Nail Experts Mira-Cuticle Vanishing Complex will keep cuticles soft and healthy while preventing buildup. This special moisturizing lotion contains both Vitamins A and E to nourish cuticles while banishing dryness and chapping. It truly is a miracle for cuticles.

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Your manicure is perfect, your nails are uniformly shaped and shine with a new coat of polish. But those pesky hangnails ruin the look and make your fingertips look ragged and ill-kempt.

Hangnails aren’t really nails at all but hardened dead and dry skin that separates away from the side of your nail. Once the oil in the skin has dried out, these pieces just pull away. They then catch on things - clothing, paper edges, etc. - and can become painful or even infected if not dealt with promptly.

Women who have their hands in water and household chemicals such as cleaning solutions can find hangnails to be a common problem. But women who work primarily in office settings are just as prone, because paper absorbs oil from the skin and handling paper all day will quickly lead to dry and chapped hands and then hangnails.

Once you have a hangnail, the best thing to do is to clip it close to avoid it tearing further and the surrounding skin from becoming inflamed. Moisturizing the area prior to clipping makes it easier. But the best way to deal with hangnails is to avoid their developing at all.

The easiest way to stop hangnails before they start is to keep hands moisturized Take time to soak hands in an oil and water solution at least once a week and apply a good hand lotion daily, making sure to massage it into the skin surrounding the nails and the cuticles to keep them soft. This will help replenish the natural oils you lose doing everyday tasks.

A few minutes a day is all it takes to prevent hangnails and have younger-looking, more attractive hands.