My Mother’s Hands

I have my mother’s hands—to a certain extent. Her fingers are long and lean, her nails smooth and always grown. For my entire life, she has filed
and painted her nails and kept them colorful and presentable. My
fingers are long and sort of lean, and my fingernails do grow. But I am
clumsy. I have smashed my thumbs in countless drawers and have damaged
my nail beds beyond repair. My thumbnails are irreparably ridged, bumpy
and ugly. I’m too lazy to keep my hands manicured, and polish chips
within days. So my hands have never been quite as lovely as my
mother’s.

But today I used Dermelect Cosmeceuticals Anti-Aging Base Coat – Dual Concealer and Nail Treatment
($18, dermelect.com). At first sight the bottle looks like
pearlescent pink nail polish. But the moisturizing formula is chockfull
of proteins that strengthen your nails and keep them healthy and
flexible. In the past, I’ve tried on other ridge-filling nail polishes
and once dry I can still always see the ridges in my thumbs. I don’t
know if it’s this formula or the barely-visible shade—probably a
combination of both—but my nails now look clean, even and totally
smooth. They look so good, in fact, I could swear these hands belonged
to my mother.