Repair damaged nails: ‘Tis the season to have beautiful nails!
Everyone wants their nails to look pretty and well-manicured. However, it is hard to make them look good naturally if you are constantly exposing your hands to chemicals present in daily household products or the damaging UV nail manicures! UV gel manicures damage the surface of your nails and in the long run, they also affect your nails bed which makes a direct impact on their natural look and growth.
UV based gel manicures are a hard pass for me due to this fact. They may look good, but they come with a long-term damaging effects for the nails which are hard to repair. In this post, I will be sharing some tips on how to repair damaged nails and how to take care of nails and cuticles at home.
You don’t need to spend a chunk of money on nail salons to make your nails look good. Read the detailed post below!
How To Take Care Of Nails And Cuticles At Home
1. Moisturize Your Cuticles Daily
This is the first and the most important step that everyone who wants to have good looking nails and cuticles should follow!
Just like moisturizing our skin is important to keep it looking and feeling nourished and healthy, adding moisture to the area around our nails is equally as important! You can use a cuticle moisturizer or any nourishing oil of your choice. Keeping a hand cream “handy” all the times comes quite helpful too. My favourite is The Face Shop Hand Cream.
2. Keep Your Nails Clean
Whenever you wash your hands with a soap, remember to focus on your nails too. I believe most of us have learnt about the proper hand and nails hygiene after we were made to watch millions of hand washing tutorials during the packaging! So this is why I won’t go in depth about how to wash around your nails properly. However, I would like to give a suggestion: try to opt for a less harsh and fragrance-free hand wash or hand soap as chemical based hand washes/soaps with fragrance content can dry out your hands and cuticles.
3. Use Only 3-Free, 5-Free, 7-Free or 9-Free Nail Polishes
These types of polishes don’t contain some common toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, tolune, etc, that are found in nail polishes. The usage of such chemicals on nails should be avoided because they can cause yellowing of the nails and also damage them in the long run.
Indian brand Seduction Las Vegas has 3-free nail paints while Stay Quirky and Nykaa have 5-free ones.
Moving on, popular international brand O.P. I has 5 free ones while Butter London has 8 free ones, How awesome is that?
O.P.I nail lacquers are available on Nykaa in 70+ shades and also on Amazon Global. Butter London is yet to be launched in India, but you can buy their nail lacquers from Amazon Global.
Another thing that you should keep in mind is that nail polish removers, too, can damage your nails and cuticles. Avoid buying acetone based nail polish removers, or the ones from cheap brands. I have been using Kara Nail Polish Remover Wipes for a long time and I would highly recommend them as they are effective. Plus, they are acetone free!
4. Eat Healthy Food
Fruits and vegetables that are rich in Vitamins, Zinc and other such minerals are really good for the health of your nails!
You may also consider taking Biotin or Zinc supplements if you have really weak or thin nails that break easily.
5. Go Polish-Free Once In A While
Go polish free once in a while to give a break to your nails from all those chemicals present in the polishes! I do this very often because my nails get stained from nail polishes very easily. When I keep them polish free for a week or so, the stains fade away on their own.
Bonus tips – How To Grow Nails Faster And Stronger In A Week
Many women struggle to keep long nails, especially those who have to do household chores. Don’t worry!
These tips (pun intended :P) will help you to grow your nails long and avoid breakage as much as possible..
1. File Them In Round, Oval Or Squoval Shape
Coffin and square shaped nails sure do look sexy! But sadly, They’re more prone to breakage because their pointed corners tend to catch on things (like clothes, bedsheets etc) and snap off very easily.
Round, oval and squoval nails are less fragile! To be honest, they look great as well! 🙂
2. Wear Rubber Gloves
Women who do household chores like cleaning or dish washing should protect their hands with gloves. Wearing gloves is a must before doing any activity that involves your hand being exposed to water or chemicals (like dish washing liquid and such) for long durations
3. Don’t Bite
People have this bad habit of biting their nails, mostly those who have anxiety related issues.
This habit is not that difficult to let go off! Just paint your nails in beautiful colours, it will help you to quit the habit because you would not feel like ruining your manicure by biting your nails. And moreover, if you absent-mindedly start to bite on your painted nails, you will stop immediately after getting the taste of bitter nail polish in your mouth!
4. Grow Your Non-dominant Hand’s Nails Only
I always grow my left hand’s nails only (I am right-handed) because they are easier to maintain. I clip my right hand’s nails short and keep them in nice shape. Also, I rarely paint them.. Maybe that is why they appear much healthier than my left hand’s nails.
5. Don’t File Them In Back and Forth Motion
Either file them in one direction (right to left, reiteratively) or towards the centre from both sides. Doing this will not put pressure on your nails or nail bed, thus preventing their breakage. Use less gritty nail file.
I hope you all found this post helpful!
Daily nail care and cuticle care does not take a lot of efforts, so follow the tips mentioned in this post and get perfect looking hands!
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