Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

For years, I was The Girl With Bad Nails. I chewed ‘em down to the quick, and then I went to work on my ragged, dry cuticles until they were bloody. It wasn’t pretty.

Fortunately for me, and for anyone else who might ever see my hands, I trained myself out of the chewing. I can now grow my fingernails well beyond “active length”, and even manage to paint them from time to time (until one inevitably breaks from overly-enthusiastic housework … or keyboard use).

But I was still in trouble with my cuticles; they remained dry despite twice-daily lashings of hand cream, and I was always unsure of whether or not to trim them (even though the cuticle cutter seemed an instrument of torture to be employed about one step prior to actual fingernail removal by the Republican Guard). Commecial cuticle creams didn’t seem to do much except make my fingers messy.

What was a girl with Streisand-manicure dreams to do?
Answer: Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

This stuff is, quite simply, the bomb. After but a single application, I noticed a marked improvement in the state of my nails literally overnight! The dryness went away. The ragged edges still needed an occasional trim, but they were no longer snagging on sweaters and pantyhose. I’ve been using the cream since last winter, and after the initial healing occurred, I was able to use it only when I really needed some cuticle intervention (usually in the cold weather).

And that original tin I bought is still going strong (about $5 at drugstore.com, but also easily available at CVS and many other national drugstores).

Nice extras: Burt’s Bees products are almost all completely natural, so no weird chemicals are being absorbed into your skin. This product in particular is 94.91% natural. Also, the tin is, obviously, made of aluminum, and is therefore recyclable. The products are made without animal testing (though for you purists, some do contain animal-derived products such as beeswax and milk).

My verdict: 5 stars!