Nail Care Tips4
Posted In Beauty,Nail Polish,New // Written by Kyeshia
I was chatting with a follower and frequent Vibrant Doll visitor about some of her polish woes and it occurred to me that most of you probably don’t know much about nail care either!
Want to know some of my special tips and tricks to help with the care and maintenance of your pretty claws?
Keep reading!
Your cuticles house a lot of natural oils and unnatural (unfortunately) which sometimes, turn your cuticles into dry havens and then you’re facing hang nail central on your poor paws. Cutting and trimming your cuticles is not only unhealthy, I feel they end up a lot worse after they’ve grown back. To really soften and get rid of cuticles, find a good cuticle remover and an orange stick! Follow the directions on the cuticle remover, and after you’ve finished, make sure to wash really well. In order to keep your cuticles from drying out, you MUST moisturize. Maybe place a few moisturizers around your house and whenever you see it – use it! It will make a difference!
After you’ve cared for your cuticles, buffing and filing maintain a clean, smooth look on your nail. Buffing helps smooth out the ridges in your nails. Ridging is affects of daily life and actions like scratching, grabbing and scrubbing. Buffing your nails helps with sustaining the length of your manicure’s life also!
It is VERY important to apply a base coat to your nails before you apply any color polish. Base coats prepare your nail for polish and it gives it a nice little bed for your polish to sleep in! It helps your manicure last and prevents the nail polish from staining your nails or turning them yellow. Applying a top coat to your nails will help your manicure last longer than 3 days without chipping! Every time I paint my nails, I apply a thin layer every 2-3 days to prevent chipping and lifting. Let me tell you, it helps me so much!
Speaking of yellowing nails… Ever remove your polish and realize your nails are yellow-y and gross looking? That could be effects of a number of things! Darker polishes can cause a chemical reaction between the colorant and the nail plate. It doesn’t happen to everyone with every color, but if you do use darker polishes, give your nails a break for a few days to a few weeks to give them air to breathe and rock the au naturale look! Another factor is formaldehyde, a common chemical used in most polishes, that reacts with the chemical protein in your nails and turns them yellow and brittle. It could also be due to medical reasons, which you should consult your doctor if you have concerns. To prevent most of these, using a base coat will decrease your chances of yellowing.
Ever vigorously shake your polish bottle to mix up the natural separation of color? What happened when you applied the polish immediately after? Bubbles, right?! How frustrating! The reason bubbling occurs is because of the shaking you are doing. The air in the bottle creates bubbling and that’s not very appealing nor does it make you happy! Here’s a tip: try rubbing the bottle between your hands instead. It mixes it without causing bubbling and it also warms the polish too! Which helps in application.
I hope these tips helped you out, dolls!
Great information! However, I have to point out that the whole giving your nails a break to breath thing is a myth.
Nails are made of keratin, which doesn’t require oxygen. Nails will become discolored from polish staining or some medical reason like you mentioned.
Also, trimming the cuticles don’t do any harm. A lot of people (including nail technicians) mistake the hyponychium for the cuticle, and end up cutting that which results in getting them to grow back thicker and uglier. The cuticle itself is just really thin loose skin on your nail plate so cutting that doesn’t hurt you.
The best way to keep the hyponychium and cuticle soft would be to use cuticle oil containing almond and jojoba oil (like CND’s Solar Oil).
Sorry to get all nail techy on you. I’m a complete nail geek. Love the posts you guys make!
Just a question then: What is the purpose for nail hardeners? I always used them as a base…?
Thanks for the tips, Jenny!
Nica, nail hardeners typically help strengthen soft, brittle nails. Hardeners WITHOUT formaldehyde are ideal. You can also use sunflower oil as a natural method to strengthen your nails. It can be rubbed into your nails daily, or you can soak your fingers in the oil for about 15 minutes a day. I hope that helps you!
I loved this article Kyeshia!
The tips you gave me on Twitter really helped and I haven’t had any problems since then. Especially with the bubbling. That was a big issue for me. So yeah, definitely no more shaking my nail polish. Woot!