Sheila Mossberg is a professional manicurist and the creator of NONTOXIQUE, a responsible beauty line. She shares her insider tips to eco-friendly, luxurious hand and nail care exclusively with EndlessBeauty.com.

It's enough to know that although you're young, or young at heart, your hands are already aging and your feet already aching. Then add the less-than-desirable effects the many seasons can have on them, or the booming eco-concerns, and you could be faced with less than perfect digits. Luckily you need not worry; we've got all the fixes from an eco-beautè’s perspective.

With over a decade working with the hands, feet, and nails, I've learned how fragile they are. The hands age before the face, the nails can absorb tremendous amounts of water, and when nutrition is absent a healthy glow is also absent. The health of your hands and nails is only as good as the health of the products you use on them.

The eco-lifestyle has penetrated the beauty world with a "good for me, good for all" way of thinking. Understanding this has helped me utilize the healing and preserving powers of fruit and plant extracts to create the first truly natural eco-luxe skin care that address all your digits' needs, from seasonal to aging to environmental, and incorporate them into 5 simple steps. Added to your regular hand, foot, and nail care routine, these steps can help save your tips and toes well into your mature years, long before you get there.

Step 1: Wash your hands the right way.

Clean hands are the foundation of any healthy hand and nail care routine, not to mention protecting yourself from unwanted germs. Despite all the confusion or controversy, there is a right way to wash and a right kind of product to use. Germs adhere to our hands through static electricity so it's creating friction by lathering, not the use of antibacterial chemicals, that breaks the bonds that hold germs to us.

Common antibacterial chemicals such as triclosan actually set the stage for bug immunity and other synthetic chemicals can contribute to irritation, excessive dryness and even conditions such as eczema or dermatitis, all things that can damage the epidermis, age the skin and are even harmful to the environment.

1. Avoid hand cleansers that contain "naturally derived from" ingredients, as they are actually synthetic, and stick with 100% natural ingredients. If an ingredient is an actual plant ingredient, it will state "made with." Most often, truly natural cleansers don’ t highlight specific ingredients because the entire product is natural. 
2. Since you need to create friction to eliminate germs, and plants have their own built in antibacterial system, avoid "antibacterial" cleansers. NONTOXIQUE Conditioning Hand & Nail Cleanser is an excellent liquid soap (6 ounces, $12.50)

Step 2: Exfoliate and get your blood flowing.

Just as the internal body requires good blood circulation and the shedding or elimination of waste for good health, so does your skin and nails. Without healthy or complete cellular turnover, dead skin cells remain attached to the body, hindering your skin from doing its work and robbing your skin of its beautiful healthy glow. The hands and feet are one part of the body where exfoliating is a two-step process and one well worth it.

1. Stop cuticle clipping immediately, it's mutilation not exfoliation and can actually contribute to infections. Instead, invest in a natural-bristle nailbrush made with boar's hair. Avoid synthetic nailbrushes, which are made with nylon bristles, as they are razor sharp and leave microscopic lesions in the cuticles. 
2. Brushing your nails and cuticles 2-3 times a week gets blood flowing in the fingertips, promoting healthy nail growth and naturally sloughs and retrains unruly cuticles. 
3. After brushing be sure to follow up with a lower arm and hand exfoliation using a natural sugar-based scrub such as NONTOXIQUE Herbal Scrub (12 ounces, $25). Doing so also increases blood flow in your arms and hands, provides light chemical exfoliation, and allows for optimal product absorption creating a more smooth and supple appearance from your arms to your hands.

Step 3: Protect your hands from moisture loss and UV exposure.

It's a fact that the sun depletes your hands of moisture regardless the time of year. A 2008 study conducted by Rutgers University shows that using hand crèmes containing synthetic ingredients can increase cancerous tumors anywhere from 24-95% (depending on the product). Other studies have also shown that the use of parabens in hand crèmes, then exposure to the sun's UV rays, causes a 16% or more increase in cellular fatality leading to weakened, damaged, and aged skin. Your hands are constantly fighting to maintain a healthy moisture level too.

1. Sticking with 100% fruit- and plant-based ingredients that provide nutrition and antioxidant protection can help eliminate health risk and accelerated hand aging; but there are some key ingredients you'll want to have in your hand crème that can help maintain your natural moisture levels. 
2. Look for ingredients such as lecithin, beeswax, and tocopherol (vitamin E), which are known as occlusives, ingredients that work by increasing water content within the skin by preventing trans-epidermal water loss. Ingredients such as jojoba oil and seabuckthorn oil are known as emollients, important ingredients that remain active in the outermost layer of the epidermis and act as lubricating agents that maintain suppleness in the surface layers of the skin. 
3. Invest in a serum for your hands even if you have a hand cream with these ingredients. Serums are great for layering and can be a convenient and concentrated solution for hydration, maintaining moisture, nutrition, antioxidant defense, cellular support, and UV protection, especially if you're always on the go. Currently NONTOXIQUE Age Reversal Serum (1 oz. $36) is the only serum created just for the hands and feet.

Step 4: Feed your nails and protect them from chapping.

Your nails and cuticles are a package deal and they are susceptible to many little hazards, and, if you're not careful, even chapping. Your nails need nutrition such as essential fatty acids and B-vitamins, anti-inflammatory properties for swollen cuticles, natural antibacterial protection for injuries, and a protective moisture barrier to keep them strong, healthy, and resilient.

Like the skin on your hands or your lips tend to chap during the winter, so do your nails. It happens when the nails are exposed to dry and cold air in which the dry air rapidly draws the moisture in the nails out. This can lead to parched, out-of-balance nails, which often means dry, brittle, peeling, and old-looking nails just like your lips. Unlike the need to protect the nails from absorbing too much water during the summer, during the winter they need protection from moisture loss.

1. Forget about nail strengtheners that need to be applied by brush-on means then require time to dry. These are not true strengtheners. Most of these products contain up to 3% formalin (formaldehyde in water) and are damaging to your nails and cuticles. 
2. Instead stick with nail treatments that are applied by massaging into the nail. Massage applications increase blood flow in the fingertips and once absorbed, beeswax leaves a thin protective barrier on the nails that keeps nutrition in and unwanted moisture out. 

Step 5: Lay off the nail lacquer during pedicures.

If you're a true pedicure addict, you likely never leave those toes without a fabulous color to top them off! However, there are two really good reasons to lay off the lacquer and let them rest, especially during the winter or if you're a water hound.

1. With most pedicures, your feet most likely soak in water for about 45 minutes, which means your nails most likely take on up to 20-25% their weight in water. They are then polished, creating a waterproof seal that traps the excess water (moisture) they've just taken on. This seal literally helps create the perfect breeding ground for microbes or fungal infection to set in, or if there is already a problem, for it to worsen. 
2. During the winter if you live in closed-toe climates like the northern states, the feet spend a lot of time in boots, closed-toes-shoes, and in the damp outdoors, meaning the feet tend to experience a more frequent sense of overall dampness. The combination of the two can be a sure bet for a microbial cocktail you wouldn't order off any menu. The goal is to maintain healthy feet and nails and winter provides the best time to let the nails rest and recover. 
3. If you must have them polished, it's best to do so after the nails have had a day or two to return to their natural state of moisture. For the die-hard eco-beautè going commando with a high shine buff is sure to please.