Nail Care

More than a few people compliment me on my nails and often ask how I get them to grow so long and keep them as healthy as I do so this post is going to cover some of the things I believe help me and my nails :)

(I could talk about nails all day long so I'll try and keep this post brief and to the point and in future I'll expand on each point in separate posts).

I was inspired to eventually write about my nail care by a post I seen on The Black Pearl Blog titled 'Give Your Nails a Break.  They Deserve Some TLC'.  Which I do agree with on one hand; it's good they get 'aired' but at the same time I never do that and my nails are pretty good *head expands* *blows trumpet*.

Nail Length

This is my preferred nail length for me:

I have to be practical; long nails are not always that practical because I have a life!  I am OCD with housework and I also have 5 dogs who need walkies and therefore I need to be able to fasten dog collars and pick up dog poo without my nails piercing the bag!  (Keeping it real girls!)  These nails are long enough for me to be nail happy and 9 times out of 10 when you see me this is the nail length I sport.

I grow my nails long when I have the urge to and thankfully it doesn't take much time... once I have long nails in mind I just file less.  Simple.  I tend to like long nails for occasions so you'll find me growing them around my birthday and for Christmas.

I think being practical about what nail length is best for you is the sensible route.  If you're nails are breaking simply because you're quite a busy, active person who puts strain on your hands it's really not achieveable for you to sport uber long nails; no matter how healthy they are they're probably gonna break/snap/snag.

Nail Length - Filing

Filing your nails is soooo important.  You can use fancy shmancy treatments and be uber careful with your nails but if you use a tatty old emery board or old metal file to shape then your gonna have problems.  You need a crystal nail file and I use a one from Leighton Denny.  Be careful though when buying because some nail brands make a glass file and stick a crystal embellishment on it and then call it a crystal file!  You don't want glass.  Crystal all the way.  It seals the edges of your nails so no nasties can in between the nail layers which can cause peeling and therefore weak nails and weak nails equal breakage!  

Nail Shape

Although the rounded pointy nails in the style of Riri and Adele are all the rage at the mo if you're trying to regain strength in your nails or grow them this shape may not be your best bet.  Square short nails are the best option until your nails are in tip top condition then growing them should be a lot easier!  If the square look is too harsh for you or you simply don't like it try more of a squoval shape.  I never shape my nails to round until they're at my desired nail length as when they're rounded the tips become weaker and there is more nail edge to catch compared to a square shaped nail.

Nail Hydration - Cuticle Oil

You can never moisturise your cuticles enough.  This is probably the most important point of all.  And you can use all kinds of products from cheap products which cost pence to higher end products which may be a bit excessive!  Regardless though keeping you cuticles in shape is the start and end of nail care for me.  Get into the habit of using it and you'll see a difference pretty quickly.  I use cuticle oil after every manicure to make my polish dry faster too!  I switch between OPI Avoplex and Leighton Denny Slick Tips.

Nail Strengthener 

I swear by OPI Nail Envy.  I rarely use it as a treatment but I do use it as a base coat nearly every time I paint my nails.  It does on some people work too well and means your nails become strong but inflexible.  You still need flexibility in your nail otherwise they will snap and you get flexibility from hydration from cuticle care and hand creams.

Hand Cream 

Applying hand cream for me is about habit.  By keeping hand cream in my bedside drawers and my drawers at work it's there and I'm more likely to apply it.  My favourite all time hand cream is L'Occitane Shea Butter hand cream but OPI Avoplex is good too.

Nail Polish Remover

I ALWAYS use an acetone free nail polish remover.  Always.  I order in bulk from eBay as I can get through it pretty quick!

False Nails/Acrylic Nails

Don't do it.  Just don't even be tempted.  Even if your just wacking a set of falsies on for the weekend you're undoing all your good work.  Uber short natural healthy nails are WAY WAY WAY better than false nails any day.  Trust me. They're a vicious cycle; you get your acrylics or false nails or whatever, the maintenance becomes a bind so you get them removed, your own nails are horrific so you try and persevere with them for a couple of weeks but because they are SO damaged you end up giving up and going back to the falsies. 

Diet

Hair and nails are massively influenced by diet.  Have a pants diet and have pants nails and hair.  My diet may not be the best (I like wine and chocolate like it's going out of fashion) but I'm not stupid.  I don't have it every day and in general the food I do eat is healthy.  I won't pretend on being Mrs Nutrition therefore I'm not going to give advice in this area; I'm sure if you google you'll find reliable sites with plenty of useful information including possible supplements if your diet is particularly bad.

I will point out I am not a beautician or a nail tech or anything so don't think what I'm saying is like law ;) these are just points that I follow and they seem to work for me.