Nails can weaken for any reason. The worse they get, the more problems you will have down the line. Many things cause weak nails, but there are also many ways that you can make them healthy and strong again. When you want to know how to strengthen nails, you must first know what is making them weak.
Why do Nails get Soft and Brittle?
There are many different reasons for weak nails. One of the biggest reasons is your diet. A poor diet can cause many ailments, and nails also get affected. Another reason has them in the water a lot. Washing dishes puts a toll on your hands and nails.
For women, putting nail polish on them a lot of the time is another reason. That, and the use of polish remover, which is acetone, really dries out your nails. The polish doesn’t let air get to the nail, so it can’t breathe.
Steps that you can take to make them stronger
Even if you have had soft, brittle nails for a long time, there is no reason that they have to stay that way. You can also have healthy, strong nails. Let’s look at some ways that you can do this.
First, make sure that you take a multivitamin. Fingernails need vitamins to maintain their health. You can also take a vitamin only for nails, but it would be cheaper overall if you took a good multivitamin. Healthy nails need biotin, B vitamins, vitamin E, A, C, and D, as well as many nutrients.
If you have your hands in water a lot, make sure you wear protective gloves. (Get rubber gloves that go as high as the water does, to ensure dryness).
Moisturize your hands and nails with a good moisturizer, as this will keep your cuticles moisturized and enable your nails to become healthy and strong again.
Keep your nails trimmed short. You only have to do this until they start to become strong again. Keeping them short will allow them to get stronger faster. Never file your nails back and forth, as this will make brittle nails crack. You should file from the outside edges to the middle. Always use a regular nail file instead of a metal one, as this will be gentler on your nails.
Invest in a good cuticle cream. The cuticle is a crucial part of the nail, even though it is skin. It provides the nail with the proper vitamins and minerals to make them grow healthy.
Using a 4-sided buffer is also an excellent way to strengthen your nails. The four sides do different things. They range from filing, rubbing the surface of the nail to get fine lines out of it, and the buffing lets the nail breathe better, bringing blood flow to the cuticle, and it also makes the nail very shiny, looking like you have clear polish on it.
There are many ways to strengthen nails. Using only one or two of the above tips will help you to grow healthy nails, and you can then grow them out as long as you want. As long as you continue to care for your nails, they will become stronger every day.