For a second take a look at your nails, examine them. Do they look healthy to you? Are they discoloured? Bleeding along the edges? Bitten jagged ends? Thinning? If yes, then you need to stop and take a moment out of your busy schedules to get them in shape.
Maintaining your nails and working towards their health is also part of your body hygiene and overall health. Not everyone has tons of money to spend on every part of their body but there are little steps that you can take that neither requires a lot of money nor a lot of time. Just learn to inculcate these habits as part of your self-care routine and you are good to go.
Clean your Nails
First and foremost, it is important to keep your nails clean. Make sure your nails and the skin around them are dirt free.
Be gentle
Your nails are delicate and scrubbing them roughly is going to do more harm than good. They can be exposed to infection. Also, while cleaning under your nail tips do not push too much as that can separate your nail plate from the skin, which is why using metal nail grooming tools are ill-advised.
Trim your nails regularly
Like your hair, your nails need trimming too. On an average, that should be taken care of every two weeks but you can observe how your nails react to it and tweak the timeline to suit your needs.
Strength over Length
If you are anything like me then your nails don’t grow long without breaking. If that is the case then you should consider working on the strength of your nails than the length. Shorter uniform nails look much neater than varied lengths of long nails. Always clip them short and work on building their strength before growing them out.
Take care of your cuticles
Do not cut or remove your cuticles just to make your nails look nicer. They are the protective layer, if you still want to tweak them, you can push them with wooden sticks or appropriate meant for tools after a bath. Massage your cuticles with cuticle oils to keep them healthy and moisturized.
Moisturize
You moisturize your body anyway so why not your fingertips? Before going to bed every night, make it a habit to moisturize and massage your fingertips as well.
Clean and disinfect your tools
All your nail tools should be cleaned regularly. You don’t want bacteria growing on them or getting an infection from them. Clean your metal, reusable tools with soap and water and then disinfect them with rubbing alcohol. Disposable tools should be replaced fairly regularly.
Don’t bite your nails
This goes without saying but a lot of people do this when anxious or just because. Try to stop yourself consciously and break the habit of doing that, it is not only harmful to your nails but you also ingest dirt and bacteria that collects under your nails.
Taking care of yourself in any shape or form doesn’t have to be time and money consuming. Small steps often go a long way, however, that’s no excuse to buy poor tools that will damage your nails in the long run. Shell out a little more than the cheapest and invest in good tools that will last you a long time.
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