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Nail Care

Nail Care Tips and Products to Make Your Nails Strong and Beautiful

Your nails are made up of keratin, the same protein that comprises your hair. Neither your hair nor your nails are living

tissue, so it may seem odd to talk about antiaging nail care. Yet there are nail products that make antiaging claims.

Even though the nails are not living tissue, they are subject to oxidation and free radical damage much like a piece of metal. Free radical damage is responsible for almost all cell damage, whether triggered by sun exposure or the side effect of normal chemical reactions in the body.

Think of a piece of badly rusted iron. The metal thins to the point where it simply breaks off. Sound like your nails?

Theoretically, a nail care product that protects against or repairs oxidative damage would have some antiaging effect.

In addition, nail strengtheners can reinforce weak nails, giving them a chance to grow to greater lengths and stand up to minor assaults. Some nail care products do this surprisingly well.

Then too, there are products that are applied to the nail bed where keratin is produced. This is where the real antiaging nail care work can be done.

UV protection is essential for any skin exposed to sunlight, including cuticle skin.

Exfoliating ingredients have been shown to speed up the process of cell turnover and stimulate the body’s production of collagen and elastin.

Also, you want good moisturizing ingredients, since moisture supports and nourishes the cells.

An effective antiaging nail care program should include a strengthening-moisturizing-protective treatment for the nails, as well as a moisturizing and protective repair cream for the cuticles.

Well-groomed cuticles are essential to healthy nails. Overgrown cuticles can actually suffocate nail growth.

The cuticles form a protective barrier around the nail bed and prevent bacteria from entering the body.

Clip hangnails, yes; but never cuticles. Not only can this open the door to infection, but it can also damage the nail bed.

If your cuticle cream or hand cream has exfoliating ingredients like alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids (AHAs and BHAs) to help remove dead skin cells, so much the better.

Researchers at Columbia University recently observed that women who used creams with AHAs or BHAs on their hands also found that their nails became stronger and more supple.

Cuticles should be softened and then gently pushed back with an orange stick.

For an intensive treatment for dry nails, dermatologist Bruce Katz, who has been named repeatedly by New York Magazine as one of the best doctors in New York, recommends soaking fingertips in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes and patting dry. While nails are still moist, rub on a thick moisturizer or Vaseline. To maximize the benefit, pull on light cotton gloves for a few hours or overnight.

My Personal Nail Recovery Story

After several years of wearing acrylic nails, I decided to go natural again.

Imagine my disappointment when I realized how weak and damaged my own nails had become. They were so thin, that the least little impact was painful. And there was no way they would grow past the quick.

I’m happy to report that, after three years of trying virtually every nail hardener, nail growth promoter and antiaging nail care product on the market, I now have ten long, lovely fingernails. And better yet, they are as strong as my nails were in younger days.

I suspect that, once my nails were well-supported, the body’s own amazing regenerative abilities assisted by the most effective cuticle creams on the market undid some of the damage done to my poor nail beds. The reason I say this is that the vertical ridges I had after years of wearing acrylics (a sign of damage to the nail bed) have all but disappeared.

My AntiAging Nail Care Picks

Trind Natural Nail Repair

Trind was the key component of my nail health recovery. It was the only product that got my nails strong enough to grow beyond the quick.

The company explains that it works differently from other nail hardeners.

In my case, many such “hardeners” seemed to make my nails even more brittle and prone to breakage.

Trind says the other hardeners seep between the cells of keratin and make nails rigid; therefore stronger in one sense. However, since these treatments so completely fill the intercellular spaces, they remove the nail’s flexibility.

Trind, on the other hand, claims to tighten the protein molecules while leaving space for the natural moisturizers. In the company’s words, Trind “works in conjunction with your own natural nail oil by maintaining the nail oil for suppleness without drying the nail out.

The product also bonds the protein molecules without gluing the three layers of the horn cells together, allowing the nail to strengthen and remain supple.”

Trind contains film-forming ingredients (e.g. nitrocellulose), softeners, polymer resins to strengthen and broad spectrum UV protection ingredients. I suspect that some of its effectiveness is due to protecting the nail from further free radical damage.

Apply Trind nightly to clean, dry nails. This is much easier than it sounds because the Trind soaks in and dries faster than a nail polish. Once nails have improved sufficiently, use as needed.

Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth Promote Treatment

I like all the Sally Hansen products. The company has always kept its focus on building strong nails and it shows.

They’re frequently the first on the market with new nail care developments; and their products are affordable.

The Age Correct Growth Promote Treatment is an excellent nail hardener. In addition to being an effective treatment, it gives a nice polished finish to the nails (which Trind does not).

It is a lovely pale pink and, if you use a white nail pencil under the nails, you get the look of French nails – without the bother!

Now that I have long pretty nails, I use Sally Hansen Age Correct regularly and (the more expensive and effective) Trind much less often.

Age Correct Growth contains hydrolyzed protein to strengthen; Natural Moisturizing Factors (NMFs) rose oil and soy extract; and antioxidant vitamins. The antioxidants are to protect the nail from free radical damage.

Neova Cuticle Therapy

This is state-of-the-art cuticle care. Neova, in a refreshing ice blue cream, contains active copper which has been known since the 70s to promote scarless healing.

Active copper has only recently found its way into skin creams and is receiving rave reviews.

Users report softer, smoother, firmer and denser skin on face and neck. As well, they report that copper-based skin creams remove even old scars and stretchmarks.

Neova contains aloe as the second ingredient (meaning in sufficient strength to be effective) for soothing inflamed tissue. It has both essential components of an effective skin moisturizer: botanical oils as emollients; and glycerin as a Natural Moisturizing Factor. And finally there is vitamin E as an antioxidant.

Apply several times daily as required.

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