“Your hands and feet never take a day off, so take care of them.”
It is a quote you might see on a coffee mug while you get your nails done by a professional technician. Often neglected for other health concerns, nail care is such an essential part of our healthcare regimen that nearly 400,000 nail technicians work in more than 54,000 salons located throughout the United States.
Ensuring you maintain healthy nails makes you look good, but it also makes you feel good. Although a visit to your favorite salon can cure what ails your nails, you should follow eight tips for maintaining healthy nails between salon visits.
Tip #1: Practice Healthy Nail Hygiene
We brush our teeth twice a day and shower to maintain good hygiene. A commitment to practicing healthy nail hygiene goes a long way towards improving the health of your nails. You should use quality products like a gel french manicure kit for the best nail care.
- Remove grime under your nails by using a soft nail brush
- File away any jagged edges after trimming your nails
- Never work with a sharp tool under your nails
- Moisturize your hands at least one time per day
Tip #2: Use High-Quality Nail Care Products
Not all nail products are created equal. The FDA has strict guidelines, though it is challenging to monitor the use of products in salons. For this reason, choose a reputable brand that focuses on health; SNS Nails is one of the companies known in particular for high health standards, but there are a handful of others. Request specific well-known brands such as SNS or OPI in your salons; your technician may choose a cheaper brand if you do not specify.
Tip #3: Treat Your Cuticles Like a Good Friend
Beneath every cuticle sits the nail matrix, which is home to a root that fosters the growth of a nail. Damaging a cuticle compromises the health of the root. Daily application of vitamin oil is one way to maintain cuticle and nail health. One of the basic techniques taught to girls at a young age is learning how to use a metal or wooden cuticle pusher to push back cuticles gently. If you do not believe you have the technique down, wait until your next salon visit to get it done correctly.
Tip #4: Avoid Prolonged Exposure to Water
Moisturizing your hands is one of the foundations for maintaining healthy nails. However, you do not want to expose your nails for prolonged periods in water. If you ever have worked in a commercial kitchen, you might have noticed the dishwasher wearing rubber gloves. Although the primary goal of wearing rubber gloves is to limit exposure to harmful chemicals, the gloves also prevent nails from becoming thicker and bending back without much pressure applied.
Nails are hundreds of times more absorbent than your skin; keep them out of water as much as possible.
Tip #5: Address Dry Nails by Using a Moisturizer
If moisturizing your hands does not prevent your nails from drying out, then apply a moisturizer specifically designed for keeping nails moist. You can even use the same hand moisturizer that you use daily, but apply the moisturizer just to your nails. The science behind too much moisture for nails is based on the principle that water absorption eventually leads to drying. Overly dry nails are much more susceptible to cracking and breaking even when the impacts made on the nails are light.
Tip #6: Nails Do Not Like Extreme Temperatures
Temperatures that range from scorching hot to mind-numbingly cold are not good for our nails. Extreme temperatures cause nails to expand or contract quickly, which damages the cells that provide structure for your nails. The same principle applies to wild temperature swings. If you spend hours at a time indoors in a climate-controlled environment and then walk outside on a frigid winter day to retrieve the mail, you expose your nails to cell damage.
Tip #7: Do Not Bite Your Nails
Not only is biting your nails an unhealthy habit for your nails, but it is also harmful because of the bacteria that can grow on and under your nails. Nail-biting is also not a healthy practice for the jaw and teeth. Biting your nails damages the skin that supports the nails and potentially cuts nails below the finger line. Keeping your nails trimmed short, as well as reminding yourself about triggers such as stress and boredom, should help you avoid the unhealthy nail-biting habit.
Tip #8: Gentle is the Word
No amount of science can conceal one important nail care truth: Treat your nails gently. Some bad habits that damage nails include using them to open soda and beer cans and trying to remove crumbs that fall between laptop keyboard keys. Do not use your nails to open a cell phone case. Keep them away from harmful substances. If your nails are weaker than they should be, pay special attention to being gentle with them.
Keep on reading about nail care in this article from Cote.