There has been something bad happening to my nails recently. Apart from fatigued nail plate I noticed these nasty hangnails… If you are familiar with such problems, you should like my post. I’m going to tell you how to rescue damaged nails and regenerate them pretty fast.
I like it when my nails look good because I’m aware that many people base their opinion about others by looking at their hands. And this doesn’t apply only to the situation when you greet with someone for the first time, but there are plenty of other events when others have the opportunity to take a closer look at your hands. Okay, what I want to say is that our hands are always on display therefore we should make sure that they look good no matter the situation we are in.
And this is where a problem arises… because there is plenty of factors that negatively influence the appearance of our hands, including nails of course.
Most common reasons for damaged nails:
- frequent exposition to detergents
- using a nail polish remover containing acetone
- coloring nails using low quality polishes
- wearing gel manicure for too long
- unskillful gel manicure removal
- nail biting
- shortages of vitamins and other essential nutrients
- general malaise
- hormone fluctuations
In my case, my nails are damaged mainly during winter. I’m sure that the reason for that are the unfavorable weather conditions combined with insufficient nutrient consumption. As a consequence, my nails are getting weaker, but as far as I’m concerned, this problem affects many people 🙂
How to help nails to recover?
We have to be clear about this, sometimes it’s impossible for nails to recover. I’m talking about a situation when nail plate splits and is so weak that you must cut the nails short and start some intensive nail regenerating treatment.
Let me comfort you that in most cases you can rescue the nail plate. Luckily, I’ve never made my nails so miserable that my nail regeneration plan didn’t work out. Sadly, my friend wasn’t that lucky. It was due to gel manicure that she wore really long without allowing the nails to take a rest. However, this is just extreme case so I believe that you will succeed in saving your damaged nails.
For a start:
- Remove the residues of current manicure and for the time being resign from using nail polishes.
- Cut the nails because the longer the plate is, the more brittle it gets.
- Use a buffer to smooth out nail plate.
- Remove dry cuticles and hangnails.
- Massage nourishing cosmetic butter into your nails and the surrounding skin.
The above points make a kind of a manicure essential that prepares your nails for upcoming treatments, which is an intensive care.
Then:
- Protect nail plate using a high quality nail conditioner.
- Every day, at bedtime treat your nails with natural beauty oils.
- Once a week expose the nails to hand soak (use either olive oil or flaxseed).
- Every few days massage vitamin A and E into nails (use capsules).
- Drink horsetail and nettle brew every day.
- Make sure that the food you eat is rich in vitamins and minerals.
- Replace sweet and salty snacks with healthy nuts and seeds.
- Take food supplementary that aims at improving nails, skin and hair.
- Put on rubber gloves no matter the house chore you’re about to do.
The best ways to make your nails strong again
Basically, I enumerated them above but I think that it’s a good idea to elaborate on the most important points. Let’s go!
Apply oils to nails
It’s definitely my personal hit of the recent months. It turns out that natural oils display incredibly high nourishing properties, are able to regenerate nails and improve their appearance. On the top of that, natural beauty oils are totally safe for you. Just choose an oil, or oil blend, and massage it into nails and the surrounding skin to get nourishment and reinforcement. If I were to recommend you some natural oils, I’d say that you should choose among argan oil (regenerates and protects), castor oil (intensifies shine, reinforces and improves nail growth) and olive oil (nourishes and smooths out).
Apply vitamins to nails
In general, the shortages of particular vitamins cause brittle nails and hangnails. Of course, you can reach for a vitamin conditioner and apply it to nails, but I’d suggest you turning to pure vitamins. Therefore, I go to a pharmacy to buy vitamins A and vitamin E in capsules. Then, every evening, I open one capsule and pour its content into the palm of my hand to rub it later into nails. Such vitamins penetrate skin almost immediately and produces incredible effects.
Keratin nail conditioners
What are nails built from? Mostly from keratin therefore once you notice that nails are getting weaker, this may be the symptom of keratin shortages. And this is why I wholeheartedly suggest you to use keratin nail conditioners to fix damaged nail plates. Such keratin boost will do them good. Basically, you can expect the nails to improve within a few weeks. Let me just warn you against low quality products – check the nail care products for keratin. The higher it’s placed on the list of ingredients, the better.
What are your proven ways of dealing with damaged nails? 🙂
