Dry hands suck. Weather changes, heated rooms, constant washing to avoid illness...all of these factors can cause some serious discomfort and can even lead to cracks and fissures, causing runs in your tights (or your lady's tights).  I'm going to break down my personal hand care routine for you.

1. The obvious tried and true: Stay hydrated. 

Drink sips of water throughout the day to keep your body from flushing the water immediately and to increase absorption. Room temperature, please...

2. Exfoliate.

Take that Apricot Scrub that you really should not use on your fragile face and use it as a hand scrub. No need to waste! Address the backs of the hands, in between the fingers and on the knuckles, but don't overdo it. If it hurts, it's too much. I use O.P.I.'s Pedicure scrub. It also has a small amount of Alpha Hydroxy Acid to further exfoliate.

3. Moisturize. 

Oil is the only way to truly lock in the moisture on your skin. Think of it as Plastic Wrap for your epidermis, without it the moisture will evaporate away with the heat of your body. You can also buy a simple lotion and add Jojoba, Rosehip Seed, or Borage Oil to it. Be generous. Follow with a Sunscreen to prevent prematurely crinkly, old, spotty hands. (I'm serious, you'll thank me.)

4. Use a non-drying soap.

I don't use anti-bacterials soaps if I can help it as I think they lead to a diminished immune response, but whatever you choose, make sure it doesn't dry your skin. Often times I only wash my fingertips if appropriate. 

5. Deep treat Overnight

I always think of Curley in Of Mice and Men, with his hand in a glove full of Vaseline to stay soft for his wife. Follow steps 2 and 3 just before bed, really smear the moisturizer on thick. Cover with a pair of gloves. Sleep. When you awake, behold.

This keeps my hands from cracking in the 9 month long Seattle winter. Try it...

My first theatrical journey ended like an abusive relationship. I was simultaneously in a euphoric state of relief and a desperate state of fear and loss, screaming at the cops, "Don't take him, I love him!". When I made the decision to walk away without a timeline for re-entry, I had suffered a number of significant rejections on the heels of a period in my career that I had been assuming was "my big break". How ridiculous.

You see, I am a thoroughbred capitalist, bent on the idea of hard work and accomplishment as rungs on a ladder.
This
leads to
this
leads to
this
and at the top, an apex. A terrific and light-headed glory. I suppose it all began to crumble when I became completely convinced that I would reach the top of the ladder and realize how uninteresting the climb had been and that it would probably result in the same feeling that had come after every project I'd completed which was, "I really botched that one and to boot, I made an ass of myself and no one likes me."

Friends, that's about as healthy as a December Diet.

So after a particularly painful rejection email arrived in my inbox, I decided, "Fuck those guys. I'm going back to school."
And I was not spending another penny on schooling for theater. I was going to find a career where I could climb the rungs of the ladder and reach, by gosh and by golly, a bluff with a sweeping vista. I would look out into that fertile valley of experience and be able to say, "I've made it. And now I'll build my house here." And the career I chose to catapult me atop this dream-bluff: esthetics.


Most people said, "Cool, so you're going to put people under--" and I'd have to interrupt and explain that an esthetician is a skin care professional and I would now be in the business of beauty. Other people's. Different, I know.

So I worked extremely hard in school, graduated at the top of my class, and got a job directly after my program. In the meantime I also moved, got married, and went on Safari for my honeymoon. It was a big year and I didn't have a lot of time for wallowing. Throughout this I worked hard to build a clientele in my business, to improve my skill and timing, to market myself and make sure I was always performing at top-level so every client left the spa with a good word about me. Basically, I was able to transfer my obsessive pursuit of success in theater with a similar pursuit in esthetics.

Except in esthetics no one ever said,
"You were so great, but I just couldn't see you as my esthetician." Gah.
Or,
"The Director said you were too gorgeous for the part". Please.
Or the best,
"You've got the part! Now, the pay is $50 for 8 weeks of work and people are going to write really nasty things about your labor of love in The Stranger for the enjoyment of the jaded masses because they're too afraid to be caught enjoying what others might not."
Fascinating.

Skin care, on the opposite end, was something I could do that would be lucrative, flexible and above all fulfilling. Sure there would be disappointments and setbacks but, let me tell you the glory of seeing a client leave with a spring in her step because you shaped her eyebrow. Friends, it is a bluff and sweeping vista all it's own.

So now, after 18 months of focusing on the skin and body hair of other people, I have decided to make an earnest second journey into theater. This time, I hope to approach it is an enrichment to my life rather than both the path and the destination. I hope to reach sparingly and with caution in order to find myself prepared to accept roles I really want. Most importantly, I hope to truly do it for the enjoyment of the thing. The day I called myself a professional actor was the day I shot myself in the artistic anus. I am putting myself on a metaphorical EHarmony, to find a lover with a slow hand and an easy touch. So look for me in the spa, waxing bush and brow or, on stage, waxing minds.