People with manicured nails, I need your guidance.
[ul]
[li]I have no nailcare routine to speak of[/li][li]I trim my fingernails with toenail trimmers when they get too long[/li][li]I used to bite my nails and still do from time to time[/li][li]My nails are quite bendy, they aren’t strong at all, neither are they brittle[/li][li]I also chew the skin on the sides of the nails[/li][li]My nailbeds/cuticles are a mess[/li][li]The top bit, where the nail stops being attached to the skin (I don’t know what that’s call) is very uneven and I’m not sure how to fix that[/li][/ul]
I realise I’m not going to get beautiful nails overnight, but I just don’t know where to start. Should I be moisturising daily? Pushing down the cuticles? Doing something about the uneven bit where the nail leaves the skin? Filing them?
Start with moisturizing daily, preferably right after your bath or shower. Push the cuticles back with a towel at this time. Moisturize the hands, the nails, and especially the cuticles. During the day, you can push back the cuticles with an orangewood/manicure stick. Get a file that has several different grits on it, these are usually foursided sticks and will have the sides labeled in the order to use them. Use cuticle nippers on your ragged cuticles.
After a few weeks, you might want to start using clear fingernail polish, which will help protect your nails.
What Lynn said! I would be sure to use hand lotion and rub it into the cuticles during the day. It keeps them soft and maybe they will taste bad enough so you won’t bite them anymore. I use a buffer thingy from Revlon called Crazy Shine that puts a nice sheen your nails. Then I put on a coat of Sally Hansen’s Maximum Growth, which makes them strong and extra shiny. Pretty pretty! I put a coat on twice a week, but I’m always washing dishes and playing in the dirt, so YMMV.
For some time, I’d been having problems with nails splitting and breaking, and my solution was simply to clip off the split/broken area. Until it was happening so often that there was no longer anything to clip off. So a couple of months ago I decided to do something about it…
Daily Biotin supplement. I assume this takes effect as the nail grows out.
Clear nail polish. I started with a strengthener, but found that hardener works better for me. Two coats.
Except for dealing with occasional major damage, I’ve switched from clipping to filing. I think clipping is too traumatic for the nail edge.
I try to avoid scraping things with my fingernails. It tends to wear out and weaken the ends.
When pulling up a pull-tab on a can, I now get it started with a knife, rather than a fingernail. For decades I had been using the nail on my right index finger, resulting in a slow partial separation.
Once a week, clean my nails with polish remover. While clear, I file them into shape ( a 2 mm white edge is ideal)
I apply a coat of clear nail hardener and let it dry. Then a coat of this terrific stuff, Mavala Stop. Just to the tip of my nail and the cuticles near the tip. In your case, apply it to the cuticles and everywhere you thoughlessly bite. It tastes so awful you’ll stop and notice what you are doing, believe me.
Then, to seal it all of and to stop the Mavala from washing away before the week is over, I apply another clear coat of nail hardener as a top coat.
If I do this, I have pretty nails. If i don’t, they are short and ragged. It is as simple as that.
Regarding pull tabs: it literally took me decades to realize what was causing the problem. The edge of the skin under the nail, behind the part of the nail that sticks out . . . had become S-shaped, rather than C-shaped; one side of it was receding, sometimes painfully. This started sometime back in, I think, the 80s. It only occurred to me recently that the problem began around the time they started putting pull tabs on cans, especially cat food and soda cans. I had always pried up the tab with that nail. Once I started using a knife, it took about a month to normalize.
I carry nail clippers in my purse and have one at work as well as in the car so I can immediately clip off a hangnail or raggged cuticle rather than worry at it and make it worse. I also have cuticle clippers at work and home…every other week or so I’ll push back the skin and snip off any extra.
I give myself a French manicure every week as well, and use files on the actual nail, not clippers.
I used to have craptastic nails, and here’s what worked for me:
quit biting 'em (I sublimated it into hair pulling, but that’s neither here nor there. And, sweet zombie Jesus, nowhere near as bad as the picture.)
apply a heavy cuticle cream at bedtime. I loved one that Revlon used to make, but it’s gone now. Really, however, anything that’s greasy and semi-solid will work. Burt’s Bees makes a decent one.
biotin supplements. Those babies do make a difference, but not if you take one here or there. Take one every single damn day.
I have thin, peeling nails, which are made worse by the frequency that I have to wash my hands at work. I’ve found that I really have to have something on them to protect them from the dehydration. The best DIY solution I’ve found are the nailposlish stickers, either Sally Hansen 14-day Nail Shield or InCoco nail polish stickers. These products look perfect for a week+ and only slightly chipped at 2+ weeks. Plus, they really keep my nails strong and nice-looking.
Currently, I’m experimenting with a UV gel manicure every 2-3 weeks. There’s a place near me that will do them for $25. I don’t think it’s as good as the stickers, but it’s better than regular polish. Plus, it’s a nice little treat.
On the recommendation of my manicurist, I’ve been taking prenatal vitamins. My nails do seem to be peeling less, but that could also be due to the manicures.
I can get a manicure for $12 + tip. As a former nail biter and yes, even a cuticle chewer 'til I drew blood, a manicure is the only thing I have found that makes me leave my nails alone. Have done a bi-weekly manicure for 4 years now, and my nails are FINALLY hard, and best of all, the ridges are gone.
Bump for an update and a question. My nails are definitely looking a lot better now - I moisturise after a shower and do the ‘push the cuticles back’ thing. I also have moisturiser at work and try to remember to put it on at least once a day.
I have also started wearing a clear nail polish which helps stop my nails from bending. I have a question though - if I am wearing nail polish, are my nails getting any benefit from the moisturiser?
I have a question too. My fingernails are pretty good… except when I start putting polish on them. After about three polish jobs in a row they begin to flake, bend, and split. I have to grow them out all the way then to make them good again. This has stopped me from getting manicures because I assume they would make the problem worse. What do you think?
Really, however, anything that’s greasy and semi-solid will work. Burt’s Bees makes a decent one.