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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE MANICURING The mental senses are no more important than the hands, for with them and by them, thoughts are expressed. The hands may be cultivated to be indispensable in skill and dexterity. They may even render sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf. By the hands, the highest degrees of thought are expressed and then demonstrated. Musicians, artists, singers, public speakers; likewise all labor, skilled or unskilled, are dependent upon these small but efficient members of the human body for the exemplification of their work. Unless the joints of the hands have become enlarged during childhood by hard work or by rheumatism or gout, any hand can be changed and made more shapely by cultivation. Even if they become enlarged through work they may be made soft, pliable, and beautiful by proper exercise, massage and manicuring. Though hardened and awkward by overwork, if they are taught to relax and are made flexible through proper exercise of the wrist, the hands may become both beautiful and artistic. The hands need the same amount of cleansing and massage that is required for the face, in order that one may make the correct appearance. Women who are neglectful of this most conspicuous part of their bodies are often easily mistaken for older persons. When the skin on the hands becomes yellow, dry, or cracked, it is a sign of old age and neglect, for the hands, like the neck, are good barometers of age. If the daily massage is a requisite for the face and neck, it is certainly necessary for those parts of the body that come in contact with oil and dirt intimately and continuously. Manicuring (from the Latin word "MANUS") meaning hand, is the art of filing and shaping the finger nails, loosening and removing the dead cuticle around them and massaging the hands, all to the end of assisting these structures to retain their natural beauty and function. [[image - drawing showing the parts parts of the finger nail]] CONSTRUCTION OF THE NAIL—Every manicurist should know the construction of the nail. The nail is constructed of the same substance as hair with 262 TEXT BOOK OF BEAUTY CULTURE [[image - cross-section drawing showing the parts of the finger nail]] Keratin being the principal one. The difference in appearance may be accounted for by understanding that millions of hairs are jointly constructed to form the horny structure of the nails. The nail, being supplied from its papilla, just as the hair is supplied, it is obvious that nourishment or diet conducive to glossy hair renders the gloss and health to finger nails as well. Nails are thin, horny, translucent parts of the epidermis and are sometimes referred to, as is the hair, as the waste matter of the body. THERE ARE THREE DIVISIONS OF THE NAIL: [[image - drawing showing the divisions of the nail]] Section of Finger Showing the Nail. 1. The MATRIX or ROOT, imbedded in the skin at the base. It is from here that the nail grows. 2. The BODY is the nail proper, or blade resting on the nail bed. 3. The FREE EDGE is that part of the body of the nail extending beyond the finger tips and is the part that is filed or cut. The NAIL BED is that part of the epidermis on which the greater part of the nail rests. The NAIL WALL is the overhanging ledge of skin along each side of the nail. The NAIL GROOVE is the angle formed by the nail and the wall. The CUTICLE is the overlapping skin (wall and fold) around the nail. This is what becomes dry and hard and is sometimes cut away in manicuring. The LUNULA or HALF-MOON is the crescent-shaped area located at the base of the nail. It is whiter than the rest of the nail because it is thicker and less transparent, spreading out in thinner 263
