How to Keep Your Natural Long Nails Healthy and Strong?

Maintaining your natural long nails healthy and strong does not mean spending hundreds of dollars on manicures and other treatments. Instead, you can do it at home by following a few simple ways to restore your nails to their healthy, strong, and shiny state.

If you are looking for some tips to keep your natural long nails healthy and strong, you are in the right post. Even if your nails don’t appear brittle and dry outwardly, they might not be healthy and robust, which is why taking care of them is crucial.

A nail care routine should be treated the same way as one’s skincare routine to protect, nourish, and strengthen them. Healthy nails also defend themselves from yeast or bacterial infections, which commonly attack those with poor quality and weak nails.

Tips on Keeping Your Natural Long Nails Healthy and Strong

Strong, healthy nails indicate a good, healthy body that can fight different sorts of infections. It is not hard to make a few changes and add some habits to your daily routine to get fit and have healthy long nails naturally. Here are some tips to strengthen and protect your nails in no time.

1. Caring for Your Cuticles

The best way to strengthen your nails is by taking care of the cuticles, similar to taking care of the roots of a plant.

If the roots are frayed and weak, the plant dies pretty quickly. Similarly, dehydrated and irritated cuticles are the root cause of damaged nailbeds and infections.

A good cuticle oil containing vitamins, fatty acids, and vegetable oils replenishes the area, acting as a moisturizer against cracked and dry cuticles.

Experts recommend applying cuticle oil around 2-3 times daily to maintain moisturized and healthy skin around your nails.

Cuticle oils from Innisfree, Bio Oil, and Burt’s Bees are good options for promoting overall nail health, growth, and longevity of strong, naturally long nails.

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2. Taking Health Supplements

Another way of taking care of your nail health is by taking supplements that ensure your nails can maintain keratin, a type of amino acid found in nails.

Nails are made of proteins and require a lot of vitamins, just like the vital organs of our body, such as the eyes and teeth. Therefore, taking a vitamin supplement ensures your nails are supported from within, making them thick and firm.

The two recommended ones to take for nail health are Biotin and collagen. Both improve growth rate and appearance and reduce nail breakage and brittleness. In addition, Biotin, a B vitamin, is very helpful in strengthening and growing nails.

3. Caring for Hands and Fingers

Nails can only appear beautiful and well-maintained with a healthy presence when you take care of your hands and fingers. Hence, moisturizing your hands, especially the cuticles, with oils and body lotions is equally essential.

Further, when applying the lotion, ensure you rub it into your nails and cuticles, as moisturizing them is the key to protecting them. In addition, it’s easy for bacterial infections to spread from your hands to your nails if you don’t care about your nails.

One easy way to ensure that doesn’t happen is by keeping your hands and nails dry and clean. Hence, one should always wear cotton-lined rubber gloves when washing hair, dishes, or cleaning, which use harsh chemical-based soaps.

4. Switching Your Acrylics for Natural Nails

With a rapidly growing beauty industry, many prefer to get their nails done by going for gel nails, dip powder nails, and acrylics.

These quick manicured procedures provide an easy alternative if one does not have long, shiny nails. However, these fake nails may be responsible for damaging your natural nails to a large extent if not done properly and maintained.

Unbranded acrylic and dip powder nails may contain harmful chemical ingredients that are harsh on the nail plate and may cause severe damage to the nailbeds.

Use branded acrylic nails, and get your nails done from a premium nail salon by a certified nail technician. Otherwise, sticking to your natural nails as much as possible is the best option, and instead of faux nails, opt for a clean coat of nail polish or enamel. It is a much cleaner and safer way of beautifying nails.

In case you have acrylics and gels, make sure you do not pick on the nails and get them removed properly. The best way is to stick with professionals, as taking these nails off can cause significant damage if peeled off without proper precautions.

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5. Protecting Your Nails from the Sun

We’re all aware that the harmful UV radiation of the sun can cause a lot of damage to our skin, especially our hands and face, which are often exposed.

However, nails can also be harmed by the sun’s rays, just like your skin. Due to the sun, hands are prone to tanning and wrinkles, while the nails can turn yellow, create ridges, lead to uneven texture, and experience burns.

Hence, sunblock is essential, not just on your face but also on your hands and nails. However, many sunscreens contain chemicals that can dull your nail polish. Hence, I recommend mineral-based Cetaphil sunscreen that protects your hands and nails from damage, especially on your cuticles.

Final Takeaway

I have mentioned a few easy ways to keep your natural long nails healthy and strong. Using these simple ways, one can easily prevent damage to their natural nails while strengthening, replenishing, and moisturizing them.

Even if your nails do not seem to have any minor damage, nourishing and taking care of them must prevent any future harm.

Read related:

• How to Apply Nail Polish the Right Way?
• How Toenail Fungus Can Affect Your Life if Not Treated on Time
• 8 Most Effective Home Remedies for Ingrown Toenails