You can tell a lot by looking at a person’s nails. For example, if they have short, jagged nails with a bit of dirt under them, you can tell that the person likely doesn’t mind working and getting a bit dirty. When a lady has long and well groomed nails you can see that she takes the time to care for her appearance. Your nails can also let you know if there is something about your health that is amiss. If there are white spots, you may have a zinc or iron deficiency. If there are raised grooves, you might be lacking protein or not absorbing vital nutrients through your diet. They can even show if you have respiratory or other serious health problems like diabetes and skin cancer!
You should periodically check your nails for any oddities and, if you find something that may be worrisome, speak with your doctor. The reason we should take care of our nails and ensure that they are healthy and strong has to do with their primary purpose“ to protect the nerve endings in our hands and feet. There are several things you can do to help keep your nails in tip top shape.
1. For one, adding hazelnuts into your diet will help keep your nails healthy. They have a high amount of vitamin E and vitamin B, which are very beneficial to not only your nails, but also your hair and skin too.
2. Keeping properly hydrated will also help you to avoid brittle nails. So make sure to get your eight glasses a day!
3. A cheap and easy home remedy for increasing the strength in your nails can be created with a bit of lime juice and some olive oil. Put lime juice on your nails and then coat them with a layer of the oil. You then wrap your hands with plastic wrap, cover with socks, and sleep with the remedy on.
4. Covering your nails with socks or gloves while you sleep is also helpful in avoiding snags and breakage that can be caused by your nightly movements. After you wash the remedy off, be sure to add a moisturizer that is high in keratin and collagen. For those unlucky ladies that have a case of nail fungus, put some Vick’s vapour rub on your hands before bed and cover them with socks. It will take approximately six weeks to clear it all up, but many people swear by this home remedy.
5. Another odd tip to help strengthen nails is adding a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh garlic to your bottle of base coat. It is supposed to work even better than most of the nail hardeners!
6. Some other easy things you can do to prevent damage to your nails is to wear gloves while cleaning, dry your hands really well after being shower or doing dishes, rub petroleum jelly into your nails daily, buffing, massaging the beds and only push your cuticle back (don’t cut them!)
7. A lady should always carry an emery board and nail clipper in her purse just in case you break a nail. Be sure to clip it back and then file as soon as possible in order to prevent further breakage. When filing your nails, make sure to always drag the file in the same direction. If you use a sawing motion, you are likely to cause even more damage that will resonate throughout the entire nail and compromise its overall strength.
8. You should also avoid wearing nail polish constantly. Some of the chemicals that can be found in polish, like acetone and formaldehyde, can erode away at the natural protein layer that helps to protect your nail.
There are many other things you can add to your diet, or beauty procedures that may help maintain healthy nails, but, it you follow these few, you are sure to see an improvement in their condition.
