Fingernails – Nailing the Nail Care Routine

Next time you have the urge to open a can of soda with your fingernails, go find a spoon or other utensil instead. When dialing a phone number, use the eraser end of a pencil on the keypad. Fingernails should not be used as tools!

In this article we’ll go over some great nail care information to help keep those ten friends looking their best!

Every week, take a few minutes and care for your nails this way:
Remove old polish with a cotton ball that has non-acetone polish remover on it.
File each nail gently from corner to center, and do not file in a back-and-forth see-sawing motion. You are not a lumberjack! The nail may split or develop ridges. Also, don’t file the sides of your nails.
Soak your hands in warm sudsy water and allow them to dry thoroughly.
Put a base coat on your nails.
Apply hand cream.

For nail color, prep nails as stated above. After the base coat, apply two thin coats of polish and then a top coat. Then apply the hand cream.

See? Wasn’t that easy?

Nails are made of keratin, a hard protein. If you ever have to have a fingernail (nail plate) removed due to trauma, it takes about 4 – 6 months to grow back, and that’s if the nail bed isn’t damaged. I know this from personal experience. My fingernail became dislodged when the tip of my finger broke in early May of this year. It’s a little over three months later now and the nail is about 75% grown back in. I was very happy that it did grow back, seeing as how I work in the glamour industry, I don’t know what I would have done without that nail. It was my middle finger that was affected, by the way. It made for a very interesting conversation piece.

Here are some more helpful hints and tips:
Don’t shake the bottle of nail color, you’ll just end up with a bubbly manicure. Roll the bottle of nail color between your palms.
Keep the neck of the nail polish bottle clean by wiping it with a cotton ball dipped in polish remover. This will keep air from getting in and making the polish thicken.
If your nail polish has become too thick, you can use nail polish thinner.
Don’t blow on your nails to dry them. Your breath is moist.
When applying polish, two thin coats of color will cover better, dry faster and last longer. You also won’t see those annoying bubbles in the polish on your nails.Add a top coat every few days and it will protect your nail polish and keep your nails shiny!