Summer calls for healthy, beautiful nails! Treat your nails with care this season – here are some tips to help you.
Always treat your nails as if you’ve just had them polished. Instead of using your nails for the daily exercise of scraping, picking, pulling and opening, use the pads of your fingertips. Along with preventing splitting, chipping and breaking, this will make your hands look more elegant. When cleaning the house and doing the dishes, be sure to wear gloves; prolonged exposure to water can cause nail damage because it will dry out your skin and nails.
Healthy Nails
The best way to make sure your nails are healthy is to moisturize them daily and care for your cuticles. The cuticle is the nail’s protection between the exposed dead part of the nail and the matrix, where new cells are generated. Removing the cuticle destroys the nail matrix, which is essential to healthy nail growth. On the other hand, you do want to keep cuticles from becoming overgrown, which suffocates nail growth.
The solution: Liberally apply a cuticle remover (not cuticle oil or cuticle cream), which will make the cuticle more pliable. Then, take an orangewood stick and anywhere the cuticle skin touches the nail plate, push it back using tiny circular movements. Hold the stick at an angle so that you do this gradually and gently, without going inside the cuticle. Use a moisturizer daily to prevent dryness.
Eat right. Though you can’t feed the nail directly, a good diet is essential to overall nail health. Biotin-rich foods like eggs, soy, whole grains and liver are said to be extremely helpful to nails, along with foods rich in sulfur minerals like apples, cucumbers, grapes, garlic, asparagus and onions. Also, be sure your diet includes essential fatty acids, or EFAs. Like vitamins and minerals, foods rich in EFAs, such as salmon, nuts, seeds and tuna, help keep nails shiny and pliable.
Filing and Shaping Your Nails
It is best to file your nails only when the white part of the nail — the tip — has grown 1/2 inch from the nail’s stress point, which is where the free edge meets the pink part of the nail plate. If you file your nails before this point, it can weaken them. At the same time, if you let your free edge grow longer than the nail plate, it is certain your nail will break. Do not file from side to side, which can weaken the stress points of the nail’s free edge. Be sure to go from corner to center in one direction, using the groove on the side of your nail as a guide.
Brittle Nails
Brittle nails can be caused by exposure to sunlight, a poor diet or the prolonged use of commercial nail hardeners. Avoid the use of hardeners containing formaldehyde, which has a drying effect on nails, and try using a waterproof coating that seals moisture in the nail and repels water and dirt. Believe it or not, a waxy lip balm can be quite effective at softening nails.
Hangnails
Picking and biting your nails, exposure to detergents and chemicals or general nail neglect are all causes of hangnails. Use a sharp cuticle nipper to remove existing hangnails. (A dull, cheap cuticle nipper will not allow you to get at the hangnails and may create more damage.) To help prevent hangnails altogether, use massage cuticle oil,
Ridges
Ridges on the nail are mostly genetic. Though you can’t change heredity, you can smooth the ridged nail surface with a buffer and buffing cream. When grooming your nails always make an effort to be gentle on them so they will grow back normally. Apply lotion at least once a day.
White Spots
White spots on the nail can be caused by a blow to the nail, applying too much pressure on the nail matrix during a manicure or too much pressure and pushing on the nail, generally. Let the spots grow out, and make an effort to be gentle when manicuring your nails since prodding beneath the cuticles, where new growth is generated, can cause spots.
Yellow Nails
Yellowing of the nails could be caused by not using a base coat underneath your polish, or it could be a more serious nail fungus that needs to be treated. Lighten discolored nails with a whitening scrub containing a mild abrasive, or with a remover containing a lemon juice-like ingredient that bleaches out the yellow.
Are Artificial Nails for You?
Artificial nails are an option if you have trouble growing out your nails. Some women have artificial nails applied to kick their habit of nail biting; others simply want beautiful, low-maintenance nails to survive their hectic lives. Be forewarned: Artificial nails will not improve your nails or make them healthier. Indeed, they may look beautiful, but they can damage your nails. There is not one artificial nail that is better than another. Talk to your manicurist to find out what he or she does best, or find someone who is an expert in applying the type of nail you want. If you decide to get fake nails, remember, once they are applied, you have to go back.
Types of Artificial Nails: Sculptured Nails
In this process, acrylic, gel or fiberglass is applied to your nails, and the material is lengthened and sculpted over metal or foil. Or, a plastic nail tip can be applied with glue, and then gel, fiberglass, silk or acrylic can be laid over the entire nail. As the natural nail grows out, your manicurist will fill in the base and file down the artificial tip. Eventually, you will end up with just the overlay on your natural nail.
Acrylic Nails
Acrylic nails are the strongest and last the longest of all the nail overlays. But, if it’s not done well, these nails can look thick and very artificial. Find a manicurist who is an expert at applying acrylic nails, and you can get a very thin, natural-looking nail. They usually need to be filled in every two to three weeks as your nails grow, but depending on how hard you are on your nails, you may need to see the manicurist sooner to avoid nail loosening, which can lead to mildew if water gets trapped underneath. And, if a professional removes them properly, the acrylic nails should cause little weakening to the nail plate. Acrylic is the most commonly used artificial nail; if you travel a great deal, it will be easier for you to find a place to repair or fill in your manicure than with silk wraps, for example.
Silk, Linen and Fiber Wraps
Wraps are pieces of silk, linen or fiberglass that have been cut to the desired shape and glued to the nail plate. This adds strength, and sometimes length, to the nail. Though done on natural nails, wraps are most commonly used to strengthen tips. Silk is the most natural-looking wrap and provides a lot of flexibility, but it is often too delicate for those with an active lifestyle. Linen is stronger, but it is not transparent and appears quite thick. Fiberglass is the best of both worlds, since it provides the natural look of silk and the strength of linen.
Gel Nails
Once, these nails were made of dental porcelain gel-powder. Now, manicurists use a Mylar form to sculpt your nail, and then cure, or set, it under an ultraviolet light. Because of this process, gel nails may need to be filled in less often than acrylic nails, though fill-ins are still necessary, and a professional must remove the tips.
