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  |  Skin Care  |  Nails  |  How can I strengthen my nails?
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How can I strengthen my nails?

by Sophie Forte

question
All my life I have wanted nice long nails, but have a habit of biting them. For the last year though I have managed to grow them to lengths that I am very pleased with and I don't bite them any more. But when they get to a certain length - about half a centimetre from the tips of my fingers - they break! I use nail strengtheners but sometimes I wonder if it's a waste of money. Any suggestions?

answer
The nail strengtheners that you believe are helping your nails could well be your hindrance. As nail expert Marion Newman, explained to me, nail hardeners and strengtheners are good for very weak and peeling nails when used for short periods of time, but if you use them for longer than about three weeks at a time, nails can become too hard, making them brittle and liable to break. Which sounds like the situation you're in! Do not presume that nail strengtheners are the secret of great nails - unless you need them (ie you really do have splitting, weak or peeling nails), they could do more harm than good.

A better treatment to ensure healthy and strong nails is to rub hand cream and nail oil into the cuticles and base of the nails after every time you wash your hands. This simple strategy keeps the nail matrix (the part that's still alive and therefore responsible for whether they look ravishing or ravaged by the time they reach the ends of your fingers!) conditioned, so that nails grow looking better. Which hopefully means that the barrage of treatment products you've been applying will become a thing of the past.

Why not chat to other iVillagers about nails on the Beauty Talk message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions happening now on the board:

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