Don’t Cut Or Manipulate Cuticles
Whether you have your nails professionally groomed or do them yourself, the No. 1 recommendation is leave your cuticles alone, says Dana Stern, MD, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
“The cuticle is the natural barrier to fungus and bacteria — and once you breach that, protection is lost,” she says. This will not only make cuticles look worse — red, swollen, and ragged — but may also land you a nasty infection that harms the nail bed and leads to permanent nail damage. And while cutting cuticles holds the most potential for harm, pushing them back can cause problems as well.
Avoid Water Exposure When Possible
Exposing your nails to water too frequently can soften them over time, which in turn will make them look weak and unattractive. One of the best ways to protect your nails from water is to wear a pair of rubber gloves when you wash the dishes each day. You should also consider limiting the amount of time you spend in pools and hot tubs. Over exposure to warm water can be especially damaging to your nails.
What Are The Parts Of A Nail
Knowledge equals power and nails are no different. A better understanding of;the different parts of your nail means a better understanding of what they require to grow and long and strong.
Your nail might look like one solid sheet, but it’s actually made up of several different parts and layers. The layers are made of a protein called Keratin, which is also a component of hair and skin. The half-moon at the base of your nail is called the Lunula, and the slither of white that lines the top of your nail is the free edge.
We’ll discuss the matrix and cuticle in more detail later on.
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Best Vitamins For Nail Growth
Heres is a list of vitamins that can boost the growth of your nails. Lets take a look at them:
1. Vitamin H
Image: Shutterstock
Biotin helps in the growth of nails, hair, and skin. Biotin can be consumed either through foods or in the form of supplements. Either way, you would be required to consume around 30-40 micrograms per day to ensure healthy nails. Biotin can be found in foods like bananas, avocado, and salmon.
2. Folic Acid
Image: Shutterstock
Vitamin B9 or folic acid is essential for cell growth. This means that it can help in the growth of nails as well. Folic acid can be obtained from foods like leafy greens, eggs, beets, and citrus fruits. In order to ensure and promote healthy nail growth, one must consume 400-500 mcg of folic acid.
3. Vitamin A
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Vitamin A is vital for strengthening the tissues, bones, teeth, and nails. It is also a popular antioxidant. This ensures that the damage causing toxins are expelled from inside the body. If you prefer vegan options, vitamin A can be found in foods like grapefruit, spinach, yams, and apples. It can also be found in non-vegan and meat options like eggs, liver, and milk.
4. Vitamin C
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Avoid Rough Emery Boards
Those old-fashioned orange emery boards are too harsh for nails, causing small fissures and cracks that lead to breakage and tears, says Ravits. Instead, she says, file nails with a smooth, fine file and don’t saw back and forth. Instead, Ravits says, file in one direction only, and do it slowly and evenly to reduce risk of breakage.
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Ditch Nail Polish Removers That Contain Acetone
A nail polish remover loaded with acetone is harsh on weak nails and can dry them out something fierce. This can cause peeling, splitting, and those unsightly white, mottled marks, says Dr. Solomon.
Her rec? Tenoverten Non-Acetone Polish Remover. Its essential oil-based, removes polish in a matter of seconds, and feels very gentle on nails and cuticles, she says.
Learn How To Fix Broken Nails
There’s something just so disappointing about getting the length you’re after, only to snag one little nail. What do you do in this case? Trim the lot of them to match? Live with the fact that you’ll have one awkward tip out of place?;
Skip all that and learn to fix it: Yes, you can salvage a break and keep on track with your nail goalsand here are three easy ways to do so.
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How Do I Remove A Gel Manicure Or Fake Nails At Home
Before you start the removal process, youll need a few things: cotton balls, 100% acetone, and a 2-by-2-inch square of aluminum foil for each nail. Youve likely seen your beloved nail artist complete this process, but if not, heres where to start.
First, use a nail buffer to remove the shine from the top coat of the gel. Next, Dr. Elbuluk recommends soaking a cotton ball in acetone and applying this only to your fingertips. Be sure to secure each cotton ball with a small piece of foil and leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes. When you remove the foil, gently scrape the gel off with a nail file. Acrylic nails can be soaked off using the same process, but be prepared to soak the nails for up to 45 minutes. If there is any lingering product that wont budge, repeat this process.
Post-removal, Dr. Elbuluk advises giving your fingernails a break from nail polish for at least one week while moisturizing regularly with thick emollients or creams with petroleum jelly, like Aquaphor. After a week, you may want to try an at-home manicure, but only trim and shape the nails after a warm shower, Dr. Elbuluk says, since that is when nails are softest.
Look After Your Nails As You Age
One unavoidable factor in nail growth is age. Our cell reproduction slows as we get older, so the production of new nail cells will reduce also and your nails will not grow as fast.
This means it is important to take extra care of your health and nails as you get older.
23 December 2020
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Clean With A Nail Brush
Many women risk infection with rigorous cleaning under the nails using long, pointy tools, both at home and during manicures. “Women themselves or the manicurist are trying so diligently to clean under the nail that they end up with a kind of a gap between the nail and the nail bed,” Kleinsmith explains. This kind of aggressive nail care is an open door to bacterial or fungal infections. Instead, scrub gently with an old-fashioned nail brush for healthy nails.
Tip : Get The Right Nail Growth Tablets
The question How to grow nails faster? is usually a precursor to What supplement will make my nails grow faster?
Yes, nail strengthening pills are needed in order to deal with these issues. Remember that one of the main reasons of brittle nails is poor nutrition. Even a healthy diet may not give you enough elements to ensure every part of your hands is beautiful and strong. This is where nail growth tablets come into play.
There are many types of them today and each is efficient to an extent. You need to choose the right kind for you and in a few weeks of taking the product youll see that your nails are not only growing faster but also getting stronger and healthier.
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Do You Chip Off Your Nail Polish
Many women have this habit of chipping off their nail paints when they are done with it. This needs to stop. If you want your nails to remain healthy and strong, chipping nail paints by fingers, teeth or anything else apart from a decent nail polish remover;is a big no. This practice makes your nail weak, brittle and may also cause infections.
Remember Toenails Count Too
Everything that applies to your fingernails applies to your toenails, which experts say may be even more prone to problems due to careless pedicures. “Because feet are more often inside shoes — a dark, moist environment — fungus can grow more easily,” says Ravits. If you get regular pedicures, experts say take your own instruments and never let the tech dig under the nail or around the cuticle. Moreover, Ravits says cutting toenails at an angle — instead of straight across — increases the risk of ingrown toenails, which can be painful and sometimes develop into an infection.
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Treat Hangnails With Care
We’ve all been there: a little hangnail we think will tear away easily ends up taking half of our nail off with it, leaving it half the size it was before.;Not only does this process shorten your nail, but it will damage the delicate layers it’s;composed of too.
We know it can be tempting to pull these annoying tears straight off, but you’ll do much more damage than good in the process.
If you’re committed to getting long nails, be sure to carry a nail file in your handbag at all times, and you’ll never have to deal with the mess – or pain – of a torn hangnail again.
How Do I Keep My Nails And Cuticles Healthy
First up, no cutting your cuticles or pushing them back. Keep them moisturized, but otherwise leave them alone.
Heres why: Your nails grow from an area beneath the cuticle called the nail matrix, or nail root, Nada Elbuluk, M.D., a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the University of Southern California, tells SELF. The cuticles are just skin that protects the matrix and the new nail as it grows. Cutting or pushing cuticles back is standard practice during salon manicures, but Dr. Elbuluk says this is a DIY beauty dont and to put down the cuticle cutters and wooden pushers. The cuticle is essential to protecting the nail matrix from bacteria and other germs entering the body cause infections, she says.
Beyond that, make sure that your at-home nail tools are clean. Disinfecting previously used clippers and files is a must. Tools should be disinfected on a monthly basis, Dr. Elbuluk says. This can be done by soaking a brush in isopropyl alcohol and using this to clean the clippers followed by a hot water rinse. She also says that you should use a separate nail clipper for your fingers and your toes.
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Eat More Foods That Promote Strong Nails
Avoid yo-yo dieting, which can lead to vitamin deficiencies that may put the strength of your nails in jeopardy. Make sure you eat enough protein and calcium too, which are thought to promote nail health, says Robin Evans, MD, Connecticut-based board-certified dermatologist and clinical instructor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Loading up on biotin-rich foods, such as veggies, eggs, and nuts, may also help.
Cuticles: To Cut Or Not To Cut
This is another myth we need to dispel. Cutting your cuticles is absolute blasphemy in the nail world. Your cuticles serve an important purpose because they seal the area at the base of your nails. So when you remove them, you break this vital means of protection and leave your nails open to all sorts of infections. The more you leave your cuticles alone, the more your nails will thank you. And if a nail technician goes anywhere near them, you have our permission to swat them away!
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Tip : Moisturize Anytime And Anywhere
You should always have a small bottle of hand lotion or cream on hand, and dont forget about using cuticle oil every day. The most important of all healthy nail care tips is to make sure your hands are hydrated at all times. This will protect them from the detrimental effects of the environment and keep them healthy. If your nails are healthy, they will grow strong and fast!
Use Nail Hardeners Sparingly
“The take-home message here is that a lot of them do more damage than good,” says Stern. She reminds us that these products are not studied clinically, so most claims are not backed up by science. Unless nails are exceptionally weak and fragile, she says, most people don’t benefit from a nail hardener.
Healthy nails are flexible nails, she says, so to keep yours from breaking, avoid anything that makes them more brittle.
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Moisturize The Nail Bed And The Cuticle
While there is little in the way of medical data showing that moisturizing the nail bed will help nails grow, it can make cuticles look better and help protect nails from breaking due to a lack of moisture. “If your nails are prone to breakage, it could mean they need moisture — and putting oil around the cuticle helps moisturize the entire nail, which will reduce the incidence of chipping, cracking, and splitting,” says Margaret Ravits, MD, a dermatologist at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.
Continued
How To Get Healthy Nails Naturally In 1 Day In 2021
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Contents On This Page
How To Get Healthy Nails: The best way to get healthy-looking nails youll be proud of is to care for them.
So how do I care for them to remain healthy always? That is what Im going to reveal to you in this article, and getting healthy, strong nails wont be an arduous task anymore. So if youre looking for ways on how to get healthy nails at home, then this article is for you Keep reading.
What youll learn
In this article, Im going to teach you
But before I do so, let me ask, what do you understand by healthy nails?
Can you try? OK, no problem, let me help you.
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Be Nice To Your Cuticle
Cuticles are the natural barrier that helps seal and protect your nails from bacterial or fungal infection.
So what are the best ways on how to get healthy cuticles?
- Dont trim or cut them: No matter how tempting it may seem, never you cut or trim your cuticle. Trimming them is like breaking the seal of protection which will further open doors to a host of other infection. Im sure you wouldnt want that, do you?
- Push rather than trim: The best way to care for your cuticle is to push them back a little bit.
You can push them back either with an orange stick or cuticle pusher, and it should be done just after youve taken a shower.
Also, dont forget to apply little oil on them before you push. Failure to do so may fracture the delicate skin of your cuticle and create more harm than good.
Protect Your Nails With Gloves
If youre among the category of those whose hands are always submerged in the water because of the nature of your work, please do well to protect them by wearing protective gloves consistently.
The reason for this is simple. Most cleaning agents like your liquid soaps, detergent, the shampoo contains very active chemicals capable of stripping the oil found around your cuticle and nails off thereby rendering your nails that are supposed to be naturally strong weak.
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When this happens over time, you are creating rooms for your nails to become weak, and this might cause your nails to chip and break easily. I know you wouldnt want that, right?
So what do you do then, always wear protective gloves when doing the dishes and when youre done, dont forget to moisturise your nails with body lotion or olive oil.
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Wearing Proper Shoes And Socks
Believe it or not, properly fitted shoes and socks can go a long way toward maintaining clear, shiny and healthy toenails. Socks that are too tight can restrict the blood circulation your nails need to grow strong, while shoes that dont fit properly can lead to ingrown toenails, black toenails , corns, , blisters and other foot issues that can potentially affect the way you walk and therefore put undue pressure on your toenails. Meanwhile, its smart to wear flip flops or other protective footwear when youre in damp public places like gyms, pools and locker rooms to help ward off plantar warts and toenail fungus.
Be Cautious About Manicures
Some nail salons can contribute to nail infections. Aggressive manicure techniques, such as cutting the cuticles very short, may allow bacteria to enter the nail bed and weaken the nails.
Take personal tools to the nail salon or make sure the salon uses properly sanitized equipment to minimize the risk of infection. It is also best to check a salonâs reputation by reading reviews before booking an appointment. If a manicure starts to hurt, ask the technician to stop, as manicures should not be painful.
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