Tips On How To Strengthen Your Nails Easily
Maybe your nails are weak, thin, and dented after years of relentless acrylic nail application. Maybe you were just born with thin nails that break off easily. Whatever the reason, many people are constantly frustrated with the weakness of their nails, especially if you like to keep your nails at a longer length. Fortunately, there are many easy ways to help develop stronger nails that can grow longer without breaking and look better and smoother without polish. Keep reading to learn how to strengthen your nails quickly and easily to end your weak nail-breaking challenges.
Every time you paint your nails, use a base coat first without fail. Nail polish includes harsh chemicals that can wear down your nail beds and weaken your nails after prolonged, regular use.
In order to prevent your nail polish from eating into your nails and weakening them, apply a generous base coat to your bare nails every time you polish them. If you visit a nail salon to get a professional manicure, request that they use a base coat before they apply any polish to your nails if they dont do so already.
Take A Closer Look At Your Shampoo
If youre using a shampoo that is drying or aims to strip oils , it might be drying out your nails and causing weak or brittle nails. Try changing up your shampoo for a couple of weeks and see if you notice a difference.
If youve tried multiple things for several weeks and havent noticed any change in your nails, see a dermatologist. They can take a look at your nails and ask you questions about your routine and overall health.
If need be, they can prescribe a prescription-strength nail treatment that can help to strengthen your nails.
Invest In A ‘soft’ Nail File
You might have heard that glass nail files are better for filing with, but while they’re pretty, longer-wearing and easy to clean, it pays to invest in a ‘soft’ file, according to Session Manicurist, Ami Streets.
‘To get the best finish from your filing, always opt for a soft file to prevent tearing or splitting your nails,’ she says. Her top picks? ‘Orly’s nail file is probably one of best I’ve used because of the durability and the way it gives the smoothest finish really fast.’
‘Pro products are always best and usually more hard wearing. I really like the Natural Nail Company because you can choose a file depending on whether your nails are soft or hard, and there are even options for acrylics.’
What’s more, you really need to nail your filing technique. Back and forth see-saw motions will only cause the nail to splinter, so always file in one direction, using long, swift but gentle strokes.
Pro Tip: ‘Start from the outside edge and move into the centre,’ advises Streets. ‘This technique will give you a smooth finish and more control over the shape you’re trying to achieve.’
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Home Remedy Nr 8 Diet For Nail Growth
A lack of nutrients is the most common reason for slow nail growth. Vitamin deficiencies make nails dull and brittle. A diet rich in vitamins, iron, zinc, calcium, and protein is highly beneficial for healthy nails. Therefore, having a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, and nuts, but also protein-rich foods like eggs, almonds, yogurt, cheese, and buttermilk would be beneficial for making your nails stronger. Having jellies or other foods containing gelatin is also considered as a good natural cure for growing your nails faster.
You can always support your body with an extra portion of vitamins and minerals, as for example with our Zinc Capsules or our ZMA Capsules.
What Can I Do To Strengthen My Nails
Do you frequently wash your hands or do the dishes? Nails that fluctuate between wet and dry environments can become brittle. In fact, the most common reason for brittle nails is that they simply dried out.
If you want to strengthen your nails, there are several easy and inexpensive options:
- Moisturize. Try a dedicated nail oil or a hand lotion with alpha hydroxy acid or lanolin. If nails are soft but brittle, they may be too moist so cut back on the moisturizer.
- Limit manicures. To strengthen brittle nails, limit the number of manicures to avoid subjecting nails to the chemicals in nail polish and polish removers. Especially avoid acetone-based nail polish removers. For soft, brittle nails, a layer of polish may actually help.
- Avoid alcohol-based sanitizers. Hand sanitizers are a convenient way to keep the germs away when soap and water arent available. But alcohol can dry out your nails and skin.
- Get a paraffin wax bath. As an indulgent nail treatment, an at-home paraffin wax bath soothes and moisturizes nails and hands. Soak your hands in the bath for 10 to 20 minutes then give the wax time to dry before peeling it off.
- Wear gloves. When washing dishes or doing housework, wear rubber gloves to protect your fingernails.
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Always Cut Your Nails
As much as you might love the look of long, beautifully-shaped fingernails, its best to avoid growing them out if you want to make them stronger. Keep your nails shorter, as the longer they are, the easier it is for them to get traumatized, says Dr. Jaber. Short nails are far less likely to be broken in your everyday life. As an added bonus, its also much easier to maintain the appearance of nails when theyre short! Discover more tips to protect your nails.
Become A Nail Filing Master
Go with a soft nail file to keep the edges of your nails smooth, says Dr. Klein. With rougher grains, you run the risk of making tears in the nail, which can lead to peeling and hangnails.
File your nails in one direction, using long and swift strokes. Back and forth see-saw motions will cause the nail to splinter, says Dr. Solomon, who recommends using the Deborah Lippmann Smooth Operator 4-Way Nail Buffer.
The micro-fiber material its made from is very gentle on the nails, but still manages to achieve a clean shape, she says.
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Choose A File With A High Grit Number
Did you know every nail file has an accompanying grit number? It’s typically a tiny number stamped either on the packaging or on the file itself, and it conveys how coarse the board will be against your nails. The higher the grit number, the softer the file.
In terms of maintaining strong nails, you’ll want to go with a file that has a higher grit number . “You want something that’s just a little bit more coarse than a regular buffer,” says Lim. No need to go scratching up the nail plate, here. If you can’t find a specific grit number on your file, Lim says you can just take your finger and run it across the board: “You shouldn’t feel much friction.”
Push Your Cuticles Back
As mentioned, cuticle care is crucial. But beyond oil, Lim mentions regularly pushing your cuticles back can keep them from overgrowing. “When becomes thick and overgrows onto the nail, it’s tough to push back. You don’t want to ever get to that point,” she says. “When that happens, your cuticles are prone to cracking and infection.” Ouch.
You don’t have to get too meticulous about it a great tip is to gently push them back every couple of days after stepping out of the shower, as the nails will be softened from the spray. Not to mention, pushing your cuticles back helps your polish last longerjust in case you’ve decided to go for an at-home mani.
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How To Use Hemp Oil Topically
The best way to heal cuticles that have cracked from dryness is to place hemp oil directly on the nail. When you use hemp oil it provides moisture and repairs damage. Massaging hemp oil into your nails is the fastest way to use it.
Take these steps to create a nightly routine:
Creating a regimen of placing hemp oil directly on your skin is one way to strengthen and repair nails. As you know, you can ingest hemp oil as well. What you may not know is that you can get more creative than a simple spoonful each day.
Strengthen Your Nails By Giving Them A Break
“While there’s no scientific evidence that keeping your nails polish-free will make a difference, anecdotally I can tell you that we totally notice a difference in the strength and health of the nails when our clients do take a break,” says Tuttle. Choi and Holford agree all three recommend keeping your nails au naturel for at least a few days after sporting a gel, acrylics, or dip.
If you really need to keep them polished, use a nail strengthener as a base coat, suggests Holford. You can also look for a color that contains strengthening ingredients.
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Foods That Strengthen Your Nails And How To Add Them To Your Diet
By Heather
Brittle hair and nails are usually both signs your body is lacking nutrients it needs, so be sure to add some foods that strengthen your nails to solve the problem quickly. Biotin, selenium, protein, zinc, copper, iron and beta-carotene are all essential to good hair growth. Going without them is like setting yourself up to have brittle, weak nails, along with damaged hair. Certain foods are rich in these nutrients, while others are not, but donât worry, because believe it or not, the nails and hair are some of the easiest things to improve the appearance of in the body. Feeding your nails more of what they want will have them looking stronger in no time. Now that you know what nutrients you need from foods, here’s some ways to implement foods that strengthen your nails into your meals. Before you know it, youâll be eating these foods automatically, without even knowing youâre trying.
Natural Ways To Strengthen Your Nails
·Post may contain affiliate links.
Wonder why you bother putting on polish because your nails will break or peel within a day anyway? Yep, me too. There are lots of treatments and tonics you can use to deal with damaged nails, but here are 13 natural ways to make your nails stronger and less prone to annoying splitting, breaking and peeling:
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Stick To A Healthy Diet
One of the keys for how to strengthen nails is maintaining a healthy diet. Foods like blueberries that are full of antioxidants help protect your bodys cells from free radical damage, while leafy greens provide the iron you need for nail strength. Magnesium-rich almonds are great for smoothing your nails vertical ridges found a study published in the Austin Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Any nutritional deficiency could potentially affect the health of your nails so eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins.
Improve Your Diet To Boost Nail Health
Eating healthy food, or consuming a well-balanced diet in general, is an essential part of maintaining overall good health, including the strength of your nails.
It is also good to know that certain food groups can boost nail health and prevent them from becoming weak and brittle. Modify your diet to include these healthy foods to help overcome and prevent the problem of weak nails.
Some nutrients essential to nail health are:
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How To Strengthen Your Nails
Want harder, healthier nails? Look no further than these best ways to strengthen your nails plus the pro-approved products that help.
Maybe you’ve thought, “Dang, why can’t my natural nails be this long?” after a recent nail tip application. Or maybe you need stronger nails for playing the guitar. Whatever your motivations, if you’re yearning to strengthen your nails, there are various tricks that can make a noticeable difference.
Problem is, it’s not always easy to pinpoint the cause of weak nails, let alone figure out the best way to address them. Artificial nail application, genetic disposition, malnutrition, illness, dehydration, medication side effects, and underlying nail infections are just some of the common causes of weak nails, according to Flora Kim, M.D., F.A.A.D., a Texas-based dermatologist. Whatever the reason, the result is still the same: fingernails that are best described as fragile, rigid, and prone to breakage. Sound familiar? Then you’re probably wondering how to strengthen your nails and you’ve come to the right place. Read on for experts’ perspectives on the best way to strengthen your nails.
How To Strengthen Nails Fast
It is everybodys wish to have strong, thick and healthy nails. But from the various activities we are doing and different health conditions, we end up having weak, cracking, splitting, and brittle, ragged and even painful nail cuticles. This condition can be very stressful especially when trying to have healthy nail.There are various products that can make your nails harder, stronger, thicker, and even facilitate the growth. However, you need to be very careful when using such products. Some may contain chemicals that can be harmful to your nails. Here are some simple steps you can employ in strengthening your nails:
The daily chores such as frequent washing and over-use of air conditioners may dry out your nail cuticle and also your skin. You should always keep a moisturizer in the desk of your work. Applying a moisturizer helps to strengthen your nails as well as keeping your skin cool.
If you are having weak nails, consider trimming them off as you try the other practices of making them harder or stronger. It is not easy for a shorter nail to break since there are fewer edges are exposed. You should also be very careful when trimming the nails, small cuts on the soft tissues may lead to nail bed infection.
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Use Gloves Whenever Needed
Excessive hand washing can be damaging to your nails as constant exposure to soapy or hot water can soften your nails, making them brittle and weak. In addition, constant contact with water can cause nail splitting, which may lead to a condition known as onychoschizia.
Similarly, nails exposed to the dry winter weather often become brittle. This happens especially when temperature fluctuations occur while moving indoors to outdoors or vice versa. Your nails expand and contract periodically according to the temperature they are in. These repetitive changes can weaken the cells, making the nails prone to breakage.
Therefore, wear gloves to protect your nails from water- or weather-caused damage. Use cotton-lined rubber gloves while working with water, such as during gardening, doing the dishes, or housecleaning. Wearing gloves also prevents dirt from getting into your nails, preventing infections.
Additionally, make sure to wipe your nails dry after swimming or showering to keep them dry and prevent bacterial growth.
Save Professional Mani/pedis For A Special Treat
Manicures and pedicures may provide the kind of psychological boost we can all use from time to time. However, overdoing it can lead to you guessed it brittle, weak nails.
Want the best of both worlds? Do what Dr. Stern suggests and go with a dry manicure. Imagine: All the mani benefits and none of the water stresses on your nails.
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Use Nail Strengthening Products
There are plenty of products that you can use to make sure your nails don’t break. Dr. Garshick says using products like Vaseline Healing Jelly or any petroleum jelly-based ointment nightly will help trap moisture and strengthen the nail. She adds that it also helps keep the skin around the nailthe periungual areasoft and smooth this will minimize trauma and inflammation and help make the nail appear healthier.
She also recommends using cuticle oil as it helps hydrate the cuticle as well as the nail bed. Dr. Graf agrees and recommends something like ISDIN’s Si-Nails nail serum as it’s been proven to increase nails’ thickness, density, and durability.
How To Tell If You Have Strong Nails
In most cases, you can tell if your nails aren’t quite up to snuff simply by looking at them. “Youll know if your nails are not as healthy and strong as they need to be if they fray at the end, break, peel, or just fail to increase in length,” says Dr. Nazarian. In other words, if you can’t pick up a dumbbell without losing a tip, it’s probably a sign that your nails need a little TLC.
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Try A More Natural Nail Polish
Quashie recommends giving ‘free from’ varnishes a go, which purposefully exclude any potentially toxic chemicals. ‘In terms of natural credentials, the scale runs from “three-free” all the way up to “13-free”, which means that brand does not have any of the most commonly used chemicals that have been identified as potentially harmful in their varnishes.’
So, which brands to go for? ‘Some great ‘free-from’ brands are Kure Bazaar, Nailberry and Butter London some of the larger brands such as Nails Inc and Orly are bringing out similar formulas too.’
