Nails are growths of protein, like your eyelashes- they are an extension of you that makes your hands look and feel pretty, but what they AREN’T are screw drivers, scrapers, bottle openers, or any other tool!
1. What causes white spots on my nails?
Blows to the cuticle area. The blow jars the nail cells as the nail is being formed and a mark is created. Nails grow at a rate of about an eighth of an inch per month and take about four to six months to grow a totally new nail. Nails are formed by keratin in your body. It comes together, dries as it comes out of the skin, and produces a hard nail. When you notice ridges, spots and other irregularities it means that something happened during the formation of the keratin. This can be caused by trauma, medicine, poor diet, or an illness. You need some fat in your diet or your nails will suffer and the end result will yield dull brittle nails.
2. What causes nails to become dehydrated?
Nails can absorb 20-25 percent of their own weight in water. When a nail absorbs water, the water causes the keratin fibers to swell and split apart weakening the nail producing splits on the edges. If you file your nails after soaking this has the potential to occur; file before you soak. Nail dehydration can occur any time the nail contains more moisture than the surrounding air. The dry air pulls moisture from the nail causing it to contract this can sometimes lead to the white spots where the nail has pulled away. Be sure to thoroughly dry your hands after they have been immersed in liquid.
3. What are the signs of unhealthy nails?
If you have pale nail beds, pitted nail surfaces, dull and lifeless hands are signs of nutritional deficiencies, inadequate exercise, inadequate rest, smoking and other poor habits. In the case of discoloration poor blood circulation is usually the culprit.
4. What’s best for my cuticles?
Just as your teeth need brushing and your face needs exfoliating your hands need to be pampered as well. To strengthen your cuticles get a nail brush and brush them in the morning and evening. Dry thoroughly and hydrate with oil. Vitamin E works best for hangnails, one capsule will last 3-4 days, it is also sold in liquid form where a couple of drops will spread over all 10 fingers. Cuticle treatments containing alpha hydroxyl acid (AHA) are chemical exfoliates for the skin and are excellent for overgrowth of the cuticle area.
5. What’s in Nail Hardeners?
Formaldehyde, typically found in hardeners, dehydrates nails while it hardens to the tough exterior. This causes more drying and brittle effects in some cases. Mathenol is another name for it. Toluene is another ingredient that’s not the best for nails, it makes the polish easy to apply but is found in gasoline, paint thinners, shoe polish and some other products. Strengthening your nails/cuticle area and keeping a clear top and base coat can help strengthen your nails along with a balanced diet.
*Lesson for ingredients- just look to see what your nail hardener and nail polish have in them.
6. How do I grow my nails/stop biting them?
The first step is to either put a oil like myrrh all over the nail or some other product from the store that aids in stopping nail biting. If you want to try something else I recommend getting prescription nails for about 2-3 weeks. Your nails should be long enough after this time to place a gel polish on them. The thought of ruining/wasting your money for your nails should help with the biting. As you begin to see how different your hands look with nails you will want to keep them that way. Keep them a short sporty length, as the longer they are, should one break, you will break/bite the other ones down to make them match.
