Nail care is easy if you know the basics and have a few minutes to devote to them each week. Many women opt for Acrylic Nails or Nail Tips instead of having their own nails. While these nails look really great initially, they do require a lot of upkeep and care. Implanted nails can become aggravating and expensive, then have to be removed.
The real problem is that your nails need time to ‘breathe’ to keep their color and strength. Having natural nails does take a little time and work but it is doable. Its especially easy if you know the basics and know what things to do to help build them up!
Nails are made of a hard protein called keratin. Protein is essential to having hard fingernails. On average, your nails grow about 1/8 of an inch per month. Problem nails occur when they break before they have a chance to grow out.
Biting, tearing, chipping or breaking them are other problems that most people complain about.
Nails need key antioxidant vitamins for growth. For the best nail care, make sure you get enough of the key vitamins you'll need to create beautiful nails!
Protein, B complex, especially Biotin, Vitamin A as Beta Carotene, Vitamin C, Calcium, Zinc, Iodine and Iron, Sulfur, and Omega 3 Fatty Acids are needed for healthy nails. When your body isn't receiving enough of these vital nutrients, or doesn't absorb or assimilate them properly, the deficiency may surface on your nails. Abnormal or unhealthy nails may also be the result of a local injury, Hypo-Thyroidism, or a deficiency of specific nutrients.
The B-Complex vitamins, sometimes called the beauty vitamins, are essential for nail growth.
It's important to note that the B vitamins all work together in unison. They should always be taken together for optimal hair and nail care. Use powder packs like Emergen-C Super Energy Booster w/ Vitamin B complex. These simple drinks are inexpensive to buy at GNC, over the web, or at your local superstore. They contain all the essential Vitamin B vitamins in one easy to take drink.
Vitamin C and E helps to maintain hair AND nail health. Antioxidants Glutathione, Coenzyme q10, Selenium, Vitamin C, vitamin E, Vitamin A as Beta Carotene, Lutein, and Lycopene can help protect nails from oxidative damage.
Vitamin A as Beta Carotene, works with the B vitamins to keep hair and nails shiny. Try Nature Made Beta Carotene Softgels. Its a well known brand that's dependable.
PABA (Para-aminobenzoic acid) is a member of the B complex family that is linked to healthy skin, nails, and hair.
Lastly, essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 fish oil is known for their ability to significantly improve hair and nail health. Good sources are Flax Seed Oil, Borage Oil, Fish Oil, and Hard Cold Pressed Olive Oil. Recently they've come out with products like Sunkist Omega 3 Soft Chews, Creamy Orange and Artic Omega 3.6.9 Lemon Flavored Soft Gels to ensure that people are taking their Omega's. People are more likely to take supplements if they can't taste the fish.
I also use Olive Oil in my nail care and skin care to help moisturize them! It works great!
If you want to just buy one vitamin for nail growth, you can also buy products like Naturally Clear Oral Supplement and Hair Vitamins, which are specially formulated for nail (and hair) growth.
Filing: Move your emery board at a 45 ° angle from the side to the center of your nail. Back and forth filing movements dry out nails and can cause cracking and peeling. Shape is a personal preference, but if you have square nails, no sense trying to make them round. They will stay much stronger if you stick to your own nail growth pattern. Rounded nails or nails shaped straight across the nail end with rounded or squared corners are less likely to split. Don’t ever files nails after you’ve just been in the water. (shower, swimming, bath, hottub, etc.)
Strength: Filing Nails on the sides can weaken them and make them more likely to split or chip. Don’t ever file the sides. Its also good to drink lots of water to keep them hard and strong AND around 1 or 2 glasses of milk a day! I like to use Ridge Filler to keep my nails strong and occasionally use products like Hard as Nails or Strong as Nails to keep them strong! Also, give nails a chance to breathe every month or so. Take the polish all the way off of them and moisturize for about a week really well! Buff them and file them if needed. Just let them breathe. You’ll have fewer discolorations is you let them breathe every so often! Some people swear by Knox Nail Gelatine for strong nails.
Slits and Splits: If your nail splits and you don’t have an emery board with you, cover the nail with tape or a bandaid until you can use one. You can also use Crazy glue to fix the tear. File the nail down carefully to your nail when you have the chance.
Cuticles: Don’t use cuticle removers or cut them back! Instead moisturize them with oil first, then use orange sticks to push the cuticles back. *You can use Olive Oil, Avocado Oil, Sunflower Oil, or any oil really;o)
Yellow Nails: Nails need to breathe every now and then. Remove all polish and moisturize for a week without polish. You can gently buff them out with a white block buffer to remove some of the yellowing. Apply more moisture!
Ridges: If you've always had ridges, you always will. Stress and older age can make nails form ridges. As we get older the nails on our hands & toes become ridged. To get a smooth fingernail, GENTLY buff the nail surface with a white block buffer, remove the dust, apply a ridge filler as a base coat, two coats of polish, and finally a topcoat.
Moisture: Your fingernails absorb water 100 times faster than your skin does. They lose moisture as fast as they absorb it. So considering how much hand cream you need in the wintertime, think how thirsty your nails are and recognize that they need just as much moisture (if not more) as your hands do. Avocado oil, available at any beauty supply store is excellent for dry, brittle cuticles and nails! Use products like One Minute Manicure, Spa Treatment for Hands and Nails, which has a 5 star rating for effectiveness an good results. These type products are especially useful during the cold winter months.
Be sure to DRINK plenty of water also. This helps replenish moisture to the nail bed.
Clean Nails: Be sure that nails are clean and dry, free of any oil or lotion, before applying polish. Remove any old polish with any acetone free nail remover with moisturizers. (Generic brands are exactly the same as Name Brands!) Use a nail brush when you clean your hands to get dirt out of under them. Also brushing them increases circulation to them, and that helps build them!
Base Coat: Always use a Base Coat and let it dry for at least 1 minute. The Base Coat helps to keep nail polish from chipping and makes polish last longer.
Apply Polish: Apply two thin coats of polish. Try to cover nails in three stokes, one on each side and then one in the middle. Don’t apply polish on top of cuticles. Start polish just below cuticles.
Drying Time: Always allow your polish to dry thoroughly for several minutes before you apply the next coat. This will avoid the new coat from dragging on the surface of the previous coat and allow the next layer to adhere better. Darker shades take longer to dry. Avoid fast drying polish. It does not last as long.
To expedite drying times, hold nails in front of a hair dryer or a fan. Also holding hands in the freezer works very quickly but it can be a bit cold too! Then again, you can always just buy a Nail Dryer. They work well too and if you polish your nails a lot, may be well worth the investment.
Top Coat: Once your nail polish has dried, apply a clear Top Coat to seal the polish. Continue to apply Top Coat daily to keep nails looking fresher longer if necessary.
Long Wearing: The best nail care involves guarding your nails against damage. Use Playtex gloves when you do chores around the house and yard gloves for yard work. Don't file them too often either, as this makes them more susceptible to cracks and tears! Moisturize every chance you get too! Nails and hands need lots of moisture!
There are also a few other places that you might damage nails. Chopping various foods in the kitchen and shaving in the shower are other places we tend to 'ruin' nails. Since we can't stop cooking or shaving, take great care to be mindful when you do these activities to preserve nail growth. There is nothing worse than shaving in the shower and catching your nail with a razor blade!#@^%$&!
