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My Poor Paws.

30 May, 2015 - 08:25am by - First Lady | 25 Comments

Article by BR Kellie

Oh how I envy those with beautiful nails. Nails that grow long and strong, that don’t flake or break as easily as my willpower in a makeup sale. Oh how I wish I could look down at my fingers as I type this and admire curved rounded tips painted in a beautiful nude as my fingers dance over the keyboard. Yes, as you can tell, my nails are not my best feature. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate them. In fact, if you ignore the ridges going horizontally and vertically on my bed, I’ve two really lovely thumbnails… But the rest? Not so much.

I do feel I only have myself to blame though, as I’m not one for caring for my nails. Or my hands. While my face is slathered in lotions and potions every morning and every night, my hands and nails are ignored. Or, if they’re lucky, they’ll have excess moisturiser haphazardly smooshed into them. But there’s no tender loving care here, and I guess it shows.

But no longer! I am putting my foot down, and raising my gnarly nailed hand up in an oath that from this day forward I shall take care of my nails and my hands (since they’re there and I may as well) in the hopes of ending the constant breakage, in the hopes that I too can join the perfectly polished paws that I see being posted to Beauty Review’s photo wall.

But, um… how? So I’ve hit the books, well, the internet, and it turns out keeping your nails in tip top condition isn’t as simple as rubbing any old moisturiser into them. What’s worse, I’m going to have to create a whole bunch of new habits if I want stronger nails… starting with what I do after I go to the loo!

Apparently if you want strong nails, you’ve got to apply hand moisturiser after every hand wash, because water dries your skin, which then dries your nail matrix – the cells that grow into nails at the base of your finger or toenail - which doesn’t help with the chances of future splitting or cracking.

Next thing on the sleeker stronger nails list? Water – lots of it. And vitamins.  The big old giant throat constricting multi ones. 

Another tip for stronger nails was to soak nails in olive oil for 10 to 15 minutes daily – or massage your nails or cuticles with olive oil.

It also turns out typing isn’t great for your nails either as it causes wear and tear. But, um, if I don’t type I don’t work, and if I don’t work I have no money for beauty products – so typing has to stay in, but I will try and type with my pads rather than my nails. 

Those in the know – or the great ‘they’ as I like to think of the faceless strangers who give advice over the internet – also suggest that you stop using your nails as tools. That means no scraping dried food off the table top, no using nails as sticker peeling devices, no poking away at the crevices of my teeth with my pointer finger, which incidentally is always the first nail to go.

So how’s a girl going to turn her hands-off hand-care situation into a hands-on one? 

First of all I’m going to start using my Trilogy Everything Balm for something other than soothing mozzie bites, and I vow to you my Beauties that I will starting massaging the product into my cuticles after my shower in the morning and before bed at night. I’m also going to start working my way through my hand creams, making sure I moisturize after every single hand wash. I already drink two litres of water a day, so I don’t have to worry about that. But as for those vitamins that I hate taking so much? Well…. Let’s just start with the basics and see how things go. Maybe I’ll eat a few more fruit and veg and healthy things instead…

So tell me, are you as naughty at looking after your hands and nails as me? Will you join me in trying and we can change our ways together? Shall we do a challenge? One month of hand and nail care and we can report back any changes we see? Let’s see if we can’t nail this situation together! 

Don't forget - upload a picture of your nail art to the Photowall and use the 'Put Your Claws Up' tag to earn bonus Beauty Points!  

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Comments

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4th June, 2015

My nails are rubbish! I have tried many different things to try and ramp them up, but alas I think it's just my genetic makeup :( Mind you I probably could do with a course of multi vitamins or something so might give that a go.

My hubby has the hardest, strongest nails and I am so jelly of them :)

3rd June, 2015

My nails sort of come and go. When they are good, they are really good but all jt takes is one to break then off witn the rest of them! Kellie, there are liquid formulations now for hair, skin and nails which is a lot easier to swallow than those huge multi pills.

3rd June, 2015

"nail this situation" hehe love it. I might try that soak...I feel like my nails get extra brittle in winter :( I like keeping them painted because they grow better for me.

3rd June, 2015

I use hand cream, but neglect my poor nails, washing hands a lot doesn't help.

1st June, 2015

Cuticle oil is great for nails! I don't use it as often as I should, but it nourishes your nails as well as cuticles.

1st June, 2015

This is great! I've never been one to care for my hands but I do hate how weak and flaky my nails are. I've not put the effort into googling how to strengthen or care for them and haven't bought a nail hardener because I know I wouldn't remember to use it! I need to drink more water in general, I already try and take a multi vit everyday (had to chuckle at the throat constricting part!) and I'm sure I can manage to massage oil into my nails and cuticles most nights. Im in!!

1st June, 2015

I try to keep my hands and nails moisturised but they don't look marvellous - age isn't kind to them.

31st May, 2015

I have to moisturize my hands because if I don't the eczema on my hands gets worse. For my hands life has gotten more trying with a recent move and turn of events I'm having to do more daily chores, coupled with winter weather and my hands have taken a hit. I have been increasing the amount of veggies and Omega 3s in my diet and I have noticed a difference as my nails are a lot stronger.

31st May, 2015

I think I look after mine pretty well (don't look at my toes). The way to get into hand moisturizing ( I reckon ) is to have a delicious smelling hand lotion. I have the Mor marshmellow one and I want to put my fingers in my nose so I can smell it all day, its soooo goooooddddd!

30th May, 2015

I remember when i was younger i was the worst nail biter then i hate my teenage years and i just stopped randomly because i wanted nice long nails. My nails can grow long these days but seem to break/flake quite easily, i got told it could be something im lacking in? I never knew you had to moisturize after washing your hands!!! that is something new to me. I don't really want to put olive oil on them but i think im going to have to try it .

30th May, 2015

Trilogy Everything Balm is great for hands and nails...I have used it before but only at bedtime. I do like a good hand cream as my hands really suffer in winter. My nails seem OK, but are starting to get a bit more fragile as I get older. My preference are the creams that you don't need to use after EVERY wash, such as Garnier and Aveeno. I'm currently test driving Avene Cold Cream hand cream.

30th May, 2015

Lol lets 'nail' this problem! I'm terrible at keeping my nails nice so I'm going try stop using them as everyday power-tools! I currently use them for anything from scraping off labels to jewelry making. No more of that! My hands are alright but my nails chip so easily.

30th May, 2015

Yes I'm in :) I have hand cream everywhere I have beautiful nails I can't have long nails so I keep them short I hate my gnarly dried up wrinkly hands :( I can't put a photo up of my nails on the wall ha ha awkward I don't want to show my hands

30th May, 2015

I was always bad at looking after my hands and nails. I must say that I've been better with moisturising them more often as well as my cuticles and I must say that they do look healthier :-)

30th May, 2015

My nails are terrible! They always have been, weak and brittle. Now I'm working in healthcare and having to sanitise them a bazillion times a day they're even worse.

Nicolef
30th May, 2015

I hear you. Sanitisers are crazy harsh on the mitts. Even using them once makes my hands feel like sand paper.

Head Pixie
3rd June, 2015

Yay! I'm so glad! :) xx

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