One of the first things anyone will notice about your appearance is your nails and that’s why Nail care is very important. Nail care is not just important due to health and hygiene reasons, but also the beauty of your fingers which depends majorly on your nails.

Imagine you’re at a restaurant and your fingernails are yellowish, broken and ugly. What impression would that make in the minds of your friends, colleagues, or may be your date? Well, that’s not a happy thought. So, let’s make sure that this doesn’t happen, by taking care of the nails.

To maintain healthy nails, you need to follow the nail care tips mentioned below:

1. Cut nails regularly

Long nails are beautiful, but very difficult to maintain. If you are a person with weak nails, then it would be difficult to grow them long without breaking them. Cutting and trimming nails is as important as trimming your hair. If you cut your nails and file them in shape regularly, you can grow stronger and healthier nails without the fear of breakage.

2. Keep your fingernail tips always clean

Use a mild handwash to wash your hands at least a few times in a day. Gently exfoliate your fingers and nails using a good scrub once in a week. Nail care home remedies like using sugar, or rice flour as scrubs will do. After doing so, use a soft toothbrush (which you can keep aside for your nails) with some mild hand wash to clean inside and around the nails where dirt and the scrub can settle in.

3. Follow nail growth tips

Nail growth tips include eating the right food that contains Vitamin H (Biotin), Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Keeping your nails and the skin around it moisturized and regularly trimming your nails will also help in faster nail growth. Gently massaging the area under the nails will help in blood circulation and faster nail growth as well.

4. Nail polish, nails and health

Never use nail polish that you get for a cheap deal in the market because they may contain harmful compounds that can damage your nails. Avoid nail polish that contains dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde, and toluene. These chemicals can make your nails brittle and weak. Bad quality nail polishes can also cause yellowish color on your nails.

5. Healthy nails are better than lengthy nails

Lengthy nails can easily break, crack and can look really ugly if they are not maintained. The better option over here is to keep it short and healthy.

6. Nutrition, nails, and health

One of the most important things that is associated with healthy nails and hair is your diet. Include a lot of Vitamin H, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Eat a lot of fish, eggs, and milk products which are food items known for their calcium content. The strength of your nails mirrors the strength of your bones.

7. Nail length according to your daily chores

If you work in an office where you don’t have to type on a keyboard often, you can afford to grow longer nails. However, if you love gardening, or you have to take care of your house, or if you love to play the guitar, it’s better to keep your nails short and cute.

8. Always protect your nails

Wear a gloves when your gardening or cutting vegetables. A small cut on your pretty nail can make it break off really easy. You don’t want that, do you? then always make sure that you protect your nails from physical damage.

9. Be gentle during nail care procedures

They’re your nails, don’t rub and push the skin around to make your nails look bigger. It’s going to bruise the area and get in infected.Be gentle when you’re using scrub and nail tools on your nails and fingers.

10. Leave the cuticles alone!

Do you know that your nails and the area below your nails are among the most vulnerable areas of your body when it comes to bacterial infections? This is because you pick up a lot of stuff with your hands. Cuticles act like a protective seal between your nails and the flesh below it and removing them will make your nails prone to infection. However, if you want to make them grow sooner that bad, gently push you cuticles a bit after your showers and apply a good cuticle cream.

11. Clean your nail care tools regularly

Always keep your nail care tools clean because if they aren’t chances of you getting your nails infected are high. Infection can cause puss around the nails and can get really painful.

12. Importance of base coat

The base coat separates the upper layer of your nail from the nail polish you’re going to apply. Using a good transparent base coat is important to avoid staining of the nails from the strong colored nail polish.

13. Importance of top coat

Top coat gives you the shine and perfect finish you want for your nails. They will also help prevent in chipping of your nail color which is really important. There’s hardly any point in getting your nails done if it’s gonna last just a day or two, right?

14. Stay away from acrylic and gel treatments

Acrylic and gel treatments use UV light to dry the gel quickly and that’s something very bad for you. The UV light when exposed to your skin can cause cancer and it can be very harsh on your nails too. Even though gel and acrylic treatments last longer, make sure that you don’t get them done often. Also, make sure that you use a good sunscreen around the skin of your nails or wear protective gloves that will expose only your nails before getting the treatment done.

15. Moisturize your nails regularly

Moisturizing and massaging the area around your nails will help improve the blow flow and thereby the growth of the nails. It will also make your fingers look good rather than dry and scaly. Having awesome nails but wrinkly fingers don’t look great.

16. Give your nails some breathing space once in a while

It’s okay for your nails to be without any polish for a night or two. When you decide to spend the weekend at home reading books or watching movies, remove the color from your nails and let them breathe for a while. Also, try to use only transparent nail polish for a few days after weeks of bright colored nail paints and nail art stuff.

17. Wash your nails well after filing

After cutting and filing your nails, wash them well before applying nail polish. Otherwise, the tiny powdery nail bits will mix with them and give your nail polish an uneven and messy look. However, apply a moisturizer only after your nail polish is dried, because applying moisturizer or any oily substance before applying nail paint will result in early chipping off of the paint.

18. Use a moisturizer after using a sanitizer

It’s important that you carry a sanitizer in your purse every time you go outside. The same way, it’s important that you carry a small bottle of moisturizer with you so that you can use them on your hands after you use the sanitizer. Sanitizer contains primarily alcohol and can leave your hands dry; using a moisturizer will help you deal with this problem.

19. Nail art is #goals

Having plain and shiny nails are always going to be classy, but if you never got your nails done by a nail artist or you haven’t tried nail art at all, you have no idea what you’re missing. Nail art can be casual, for parties, or pretty pink, and that means, anything according to what you’re wearing.

20. Know about different types of nail shapes

There are different types of nail shapes, and you can choose them based on the strength of your nails and their health. Obviously if you have stronger and healthier nails, you can try out more shapes. There is square, round, oval, squoval, stiletto, almond, ballerina, lipstick, mountain peak, arrow head, and many other shapes of nails from which you can choose from!

21. Nail care after Nail art

Nail art can be just with nail paint, gel, or acrylic colors or with added stickers, stones and other three dimensional stuff. A transparent topcoat will help you seal the deal with nail art using only nail paints. However, if you want really fancy nail art for any event or function, it’s best that you get your nails done just before the event. These stones and stickers can easily come off and can bother you a lot in your day to day life. For example, you can put your fingers through, when you’re washing your hair, or you cannot wash your dishes because your nail art stickers will come off.

22. Don’t immerse your hands in too cold or too hot water

Now, a lot of people will say that dipping your hands in icy or hot water will dry your nail polish instantly and will save you time and patience. However, this can be really bad for your nails and can dry out the skin around your nails. Dipping your fingers in icy water will lower the blood circulation around your nails and turn them red.

23. Talk to your doctor about biotin if you have thin nails

According to some studies, biotin supplements can improve the strength of your nails and prevent splitting and breakage. If your nails are very weak and you think you aren’t able to get enough vitamins through your regular diet, consider asking your doctor about biotin supplements.

24. Don’t bite your nails or the skin around them

Biting your nails can and the skin around them is bad for two reasons- you are ingesting harmful bacteria that can get you ill and you are exposing the sensitive area around your nails to bacteria that can cause infections. This can lead to puss formation around the nails and painful infections.

25. Use nail polish remover only twice or thrice a month

Try using nail polish removers that does not have acetone in them. They might be more expensive and you will need to rub your nails with the cotton ball for a longer time, but they are far better than acetone. Even though acetone can remove your nail polish much faster, they can dry out your nails and the skin around the nails and it’s best that you rarely use it.

26. Don’t chip your nail polish off

Chipping your nail polish is bad for your nails because the nail polish comes out with the top layer of your nail. This will make your nails ugly and unhealthy.

27. Don’t grow your toenails too long

You can hit your toes somewhere and your whole nails will come off, if you grow your toenails too long. It’s always better that you keep your toenails simple and neat. Long toenails will hurt badly if you wear shoes.

28. Always wear flip flops when going to a beach or pool

Wearing flip flops will help you keep your toes dry and avoid fungal infections.

29. Don’t wear too tight shoes or other footwear

Shoes that are very tight can suffocate your nails, and can trap moisture and sweat. This is one of the most important tips in your toenail care so that you can avoid infections.

30. Soak your toes in warm salt water before cutting them

Toenails can be really thick which makes it super hard to cut them. If you soak your feet in warm salt water, you can cut the toenails much easier.

Also read:

Hair Fall Control Tips: What are the Things That You Can Do at Home to Stop Hair Fall Immediately?

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