Essential Everyday Nail Care Tips: Do’s and Dont’s

Essential Everyday Nail Care Tips

There was a time I was never spotted without nail polish, my college friends used to admire me for this, they used to ask me to shop for their nail colors. I reckon my diet was best those days, then during the pregnancy stage, the folic acid apparently gave me phenomenal nails, but today, due to poor diet and lifestyle, I need to take evion 400 for my nails like my doc suggested, so basically your nails are what you eat,once that is sorted, there are lots and lots of little tips you can follow to keep your nails, cuticles and hands happy. Let me jot down the tips I have learnt over the years through grooming books and nail care books I have read, some tips that I never even knew of and were right in front of me to follow!

healthy-nails

Keep your nails dry, I learnt this very late in life, once you enter the kitchen, your hands and nails are wet and under the faucet for a long time,make sure you keep a clean towel handy to dab the nails and hands often. Damp nails can breed bacteria, fungi and the like.

Use gloves when you are cleaning your bathroom tiles, kitchen dishes or whatever it is you know will make your nails work hard too. Dont soak them for long anyway.I always have a pair of scotch brite pink gloves in my size at home.

manicure

Never pick or bite at hangnails or cuticles, this is inviting infection, if it adds to dampness, you cannot take things for granted.

This is my biggest issue, never use your nails to open boxes in the kitchen or other things, basically respect your nails an when you are about to open a lid with your nails, call your husband like I do ! 😛

Trim your nails often, there is nothing more unsightly than misshapen or uneven nails, keep them at an equal length and if you think a nail has gone/broken, please trim the others too to keep them even,I know it is very difficult 🙁 File your nails weekly and things should be under control.File any ingrown nails.

pink nails

If you think your nails break often, keep them short and square, this will reduce your chances of nail breakage, leading to uneven nail length= ugly hands 😛 If you think a nail is peeling, trim it off above it, dont get tempted to peel the nail, it will worsen the sight. 😛

After your diet is sorted, keep your nails moisturized, dry nails tend to chip and break, drink liters of water daily.

Keep your nails clean, use tools available to clean under the nails because that is the biggest no-no in our dictionaries! Most manicure kits have a tool for the same, explore!

Take your multivitamins, I know we need in the today’s world where half the nutrition of the fruit and vegetable is lost by the time it comes to the plate, so supplements come to the rescue.

supplements

Make your at-home manicure kit, I want to do a post on this elaborately, but some essential tools include a glass nail file, a nail clipper,cuticle pusher, buffer, cuticle remover, nail brush etc.

If you are fond of fake nails, do not apply them over damaged nails, address the nail condition, improve on it and then go for fake nails.the glues and the bonding agents might worsen the nail condition in the long run.

This one is the BEST! If you dont have cuticle creams and removers, use your eye creams for the same, if it is gentle enough for your eyes, it will work great for your cuticles as well. Every night, scrub your hands with a mild scrub, apply eye cream on the cuticles and rub it in, apply a night cream on the hands or a hand cream, you could use cotton mitts to cover your hands if you like.

Use a gentle face wash a manicure soak, you dont need fancy stuff, use a face scrub for the hands.Likewise use your face moisturizer for your hands if you like.if these are good enough for your gentle face, they would be just fine for your hands as well.

manicure soak

Always use a moisturizer on the nails as well, when you apply a body cream or lotion, dont forget t apply some to your nails as well.

Never ever share your manicure tools with anyone, make sure you sterilize them in boiling water and when ever you go for a manicure make sure the tools used a sterilized.

Shape your nails a square, square oval, round, oval or short natural, according to what is convenient for you, dont imitate nail styles.

Invest in glass nail files, throw out those metal filers, file in one direction and be gentle. Invest in good manicure tools but some cheap orange sticks can always come handy to clean under the nails or to be used as a cuticle pusher.

glass-nail-file

Use base coats, ridge fillers, top coats, to protect and prime your nails,choose a shade that suits you most, you could use a simple pink base coat for everyday purpose.

Up your protein quotient in your diet to strengthen weak nails.

You could rub olive oil or butter on your hands lightly while in the kitchen to rescue your hands from the constant heat.

Keep a nail file handy, I have three glass files, one for around the kitchen, one in the bag and another in the cupboard with the manicure tools, hence I am not tempted to pick at peeling nails.

Make your soaks, with orange and mint, lemon slices, or some rose water and some essential oils.make your own exfoliators with lotions, oils or creams mixed with granulated sugar, you dont really need to go shopping every single time.

Once in a while, keep your nails free from polish, let them be if they look to yellow or pale 🙂 Jazz them up once in a while, check out my nail stickers 😛

Loreal-nail-stickers

Lastly, address any nail concern you might see. Nail ridges, very yellow or weak nails, or white spots, visit a doc.

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14 thoughts on “Essential Everyday Nail Care Tips: Do’s and Dont’s

  1. Neha di… these posts are way better and more practical than those coming in the newspapers or so.. because these come straight from your experience… *clap* *clap* *clap*

  2. I loved the tips Neha di *happy dance* *happy dance* i just haven’t used a lot many cuticle creams … i think i should invest in one *happy dance* *happy dance* awesome tips *pompom* lol many a times my nails have chipped while opening dabaas *hihi* *hihi*

  3. Excellent article!! So practical n full of ideas…n addressing all the bad habits that we have! *nonono* *nonono*

    Good job Gurrrl!!

  4. neha this is one of the bestest post I have read on nails. I think i badly needed this one and I guess evion has started helping me. nails are chipping less now. I guess I’d continue eating it *happy dance* *happy dance* *happy dance* That eye cream tip is just brilliant. I’d start doing it today only. thankoo *cry* *cry*

    1. haina i have so many eye creams I dont wanna try on my eyes, i rub them on my nails and cuticles *happydance* *happydance* *thankyou* so so much

  5. Very good article .. and quite quite practical as well ( from experience )..book marked it 🙂
    my nails are brittle .. i take Biotin in between that makes it bit hard but as they grow the ends bend and don’t look nice so usually have to cut them , would like to keep long nail and polish look good on it ..any suggestion plz ?

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