Nail Health Tips

Reduce unnecessary external wear and tear, obtain a balanced intake of nutrients required by nails, and promptly detect health warnings issued by nails. All the remaining techniques are practical methods that are refined around these three points. There is no need to memorize too complicated rules and regulations. You can find the core and basically avoid pitfalls.

A while ago, I accompanied my best friend to have her nails removed after more than a month of extensions. When the manicurist rubbed the nail grinder, she shrank her hands in pain. After the removal, the nails were as thin as a layer of translucent rice paper, and they bent when she gently broke them off. After she got home, she didn't even dare to open a can, and she looked everywhere for the "7-day thickening of nails" folk remedy - this is a typical problem caused by excessive wear and tear. In fact, there have been two very clear opinions on whether manicures will hurt the nails: Most dermatologists recommend doing as little manicure as possible. Frequent nail polishing and nail patching will destroy the cuticle on the nail surface, which will not only make the nails thinner and brittle, but the humid environment under the sealed nail patches can also easily breed nail fungus, and in severe cases, it can cause paronychia. ； Professional manicurists from formal institutions will feel that as long as the nail bed is not polished during the operation, the glue selected is a qualified and regular product, and a "window period" of 1-2 weeks is left for every 1-2 manicures to allow the nails to breathe freely, there will be basically no irreversible damage. I get a manicure every two months. I don't apply any nail polish for at least 10 days after each removal. I apply a layer of nail polish every day before going to bed and rub it into the nail circumference. Over the past six months, the thickness and gloss of my nails have not changed much, and they have not been prone to breakage. You can choose according to your own needs. There is no need to overdo it and not touch the nail polish at all, and don't give your nails a chance to breathe for more than half a year.

Many people's nails are soft, easy to delaminate, and have small white spots. Their first reaction is to buy various nail protection essences and apply them on their hands. In fact, it is most likely due to poor nutrition. When I was losing weight in the past two years, I only ate boiled vegetables and rarely touched eggs or milk. During that time, there were a lot of white spots on my nails, which would break into pieces if I picked them lightly. I went to see a nutritionist and found out that 90% of nails are made of keratin. If you don’t even consume enough protein to synthesize keratin, of course they won’t grow well. As for whether you should buy nutritional supplements related to armor, it depends on the situation: if it is just ordinary soft and has white spots, eat more eggs, lean meat, dark green vegetables, nuts, and supplement enough protein and trace elements. You will see significant improvement in half a month. ； If you have suffered from repeated nail separation and your nails are brittle no matter how long you maintain them, you should consider supplementing with biotin or multivitamins under the guidance of a doctor. Don’t blindly buy internet celebrity health products. There are people around me who have been taking unknown nail care supplements for more than half a year. Their nails are not healed, but their transaminase levels are high, which is not worth the gain.

There are also many people who like to misunderstand the symptoms of small changes in their nails. They get frightened when they read that "vertical lines on their nails mean their liver is bad" or "white spots on their nails mean there are worms in their stomachs". There is really no need. The vertical lines on most people's nails are normal physiological aging, just like wrinkles on the face. As long as they don't suddenly become thicker, darker, or convex, you don't need to worry about them at all. ； Most of the white spots on the nails are the marks left by accidentally knocking on the nail matrix. They have nothing to do with bugs or lack of trace elements. They will just wait for them to grow out slowly. Of course, this does not mean that you don’t need to worry about changes in your nails. For example, if you have a black line on your nail, if it has not changed for several years, the width is no more than 3 mm, and the border is clear, it is basically ordinary pigmentation, and you don’t need to worry about it being a cancerous onychomycosis. ； But if it suddenly widens, becomes darker, has blurred borders, or even the skin around the nails turns black in a short period of time, go to a dermatologist for a checkup as soon as possible without delaying. Oh, by the way, there are also those nails that are indented like a small spoon. Don't just think about applying nutritious oil to your nails. It is most likely iron deficiency anemia. It is more useful to check the blood routine first than anything else.

Finally, let me tell you two pitfalls that I have stepped on. Don’t learn from them: One is to cut your nails and don’t cut them too short. I used to like to cut my nails into the flesh, which felt clean. As a result, the nails grew into the flesh and swollen for almost a week. Even putting on socks hurt. Later, I heard from a nurse friend that a white edge of about 1 mm should be left on the front edge of the nails, which is just flush with the fingertips. It is not easy to hide dirt and will not penetrate into the flesh.； Another thing is that if you have a barb around your nail, be sure not to tear it off with your hands. I used to tear the barb with my hand and it got infected. My whole finger swelled up like a little carrot and I couldn't even hold a pen. But I learned how to cut it off at the root with clean scissors and then applied some hand cream or finger oil. Nothing happened.

In fact, after all is said and done, nail health really doesn’t have so many fancy tricks. Don’t mess with it every day. Eat well. Don’t frighten yourself by blindly searching Baidu for small changes. If you really feel uncomfortable, go see a doctor. Basically, you can develop good nails with moisturizing and natural luster.