Top 10 Nail Care Myths

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The Bliss Kiss™ Ultimate Nail Care Routine       Want Longer, Stronger Natural Nails in 30 Days? The Ultimate Nail Care Routine is the cornerstone of the Bliss Kiss™ 30 Day Challenge. The BEST way to get started on your journey to longer, stronger nails is just a...

NAIL ANATOMY – Different Parts of Fingernail

Curved Nails, Doug Schoon, Nail Anatomy

Nail Anatomy Authors: Doug Schoon and Ana Seidel Nail Anatomy - The Different Parts of the Fingernail Do you know where your cuticle is? Or your hyponychium? Most people don't. Not only is the general public confused about the names for the parts of the natural nail,...

NAIL ANATOMY – Different Parts of Fingernail

Curved Nails, Doug Schoon, Nail Anatomy

Nail Anatomy Authors: Doug Schoon and Ana Seidel Nail Anatomy - The Different Parts of the Fingernail Do you know where your cuticle is? Or your hyponychium? Most people don't. Not only is the general public confused about the names for the parts of the natural nail,...

Quick Tips: What are black spots on nails?

Black spots, Quick Tips

Black Spots on Nails?Have you ever had black spots or streaks show up in your nails? If so, it was probably hard to not freak out...What Causes Black Spots on Nails?Black Spots In Nails ASK ANA: Black Spots In Nails Hi, Ana! So you’ve talked about white spots on...

Quick Tips: Are Clear Nails Bad?

Clear Nails, Nail Health, Nail Problems, Quick Tips

Are Clear Nails Bad?Sometimes we get worried when our nails look different. Ana explains why clear nails from water is damaging while clear nails from oil absorption is strengthening.Are Clear Nail Tips Bad? It depends... If your tips are clear because your hands are...

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NAIL ANATOMY – Different Parts of Fingernail

Curved Nails, Doug Schoon, Nail Anatomy

Nail Anatomy Authors: Doug Schoon and Ana Seidel Nail Anatomy - The Different Parts of the Fingernail Do you know where your cuticle is? Or your hyponychium? Most people don't. Not only is the general public confused about the names for the parts of the natural nail,...

NAIL ANATOMY – Different Parts of Fingernail

Curved Nails, Doug Schoon, Nail Anatomy

Nail Anatomy Authors: Doug Schoon and Ana Seidel Nail Anatomy - The Different Parts of the Fingernail Do you know where your cuticle is? Or your hyponychium? Most people don't. Not only is the general public confused about the names for the parts of the natural nail,...

ASK ANA – Nail Files With Polish?

Ask Ana, Brittle Nails, Clear Nails, Cuticle Oil, Files, How to File Nails, Nail Anatomy, Nail Health, Nail Problems, Splitting

NAIL FILES Nail Files With Polish Hi Ana, I'm hoping you could give your input about a post from a well known Facebook page. I don't quite feel comfortable with the statement and it's actually put some doubt in my mind as to filing my nails. I'll be honest, I do file...

Stress Fractures In Nails

Nail Anatomy, Nail Care, Nail Problems

Stress Fractures in Nails Stress Fractures In Nails Have you ever been making the bed and bent a nail? I have. Way too many times. Simply put, a stress fracture in nails is when you accidentally bend the nail but it doesn't break. Instead, you're left with a bunch of...

NAIL ANATOMY – Different Parts of Fingernail

Curved Nails, Doug Schoon, Nail Anatomy

Nail Anatomy Authors: Doug Schoon and Ana Seidel Nail Anatomy - The Different Parts of the Fingernail Do you know where your cuticle is? Or your hyponychium? Most people don't. Not only is the general public confused about the names for the parts of the natural nail,...

See Through Nails – Can I Fix It?

Ask Ana, Clear Fingernail Tips, Clear Nails, How to Paint Nails, Nail Anatomy, Nail Health, Nail Problems

SEE THROUGH NAILS See Through Nails - Can I Fix It? ASK ANA "I have a bit of a question. I've had this transparency in my nails for years. I read your article about what can cause them to be transparent. I'm following your advice, but it doesn't appear to be...

The post Quick Tips: Why are my nails suddenly breaking, brittle, peeling? first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

You’ll find all kinds of reasons on websites around the internet. I find that a lot of them are inaccurate and leave you with the feeling that something might be horribly wrong with your health.

The TRUTH is that for most of us, simply living life does the most damage to our nails.

When it comes to nails, there are three types of people.

1. People with zero length and they’d like them to grow longer.
2. People with 3mm+ of length and want them to stay that way.
3. People who just don’t care.

If you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume that you are in one of the first two categories.

#1 Tip Wear

The main cause can be summed up in two words—tip wear.

We use our hands all day long. No, really. All—day—long.

Watch yourself as you go through your day. When are your hands doing absolutely nothing?

Why is tip wear a big problem for those with shorter nails?

People with short nails use their hands differently from those with longer nails.

They can grab, touch, poke, scratch, etc. with the very tips of their fingers. 

My husband’s nails are very short and the skin at the very tips of his fingers has toughened with use.

The advantage is that he has precise control when he touches different screen locations on his phone. I can actually hear his fingertip skin clicking on the screen!

My nail tips range from 3mm to 10mm depending on my laziness at trimming them. The skin on my fingertips rarely touches anything.

As a result, on the rare occasion that I have a deep break, my fingertip is overly sensitive. 

It can be painful to touch things for a few days until the skin gets tougher. 

Once the nail free-edge grows to about 3mm, we start to adapt how we use our hands to accommodate for our nails “being in the way.”

Leave a Trail

I physically CAN’T pick things up with my fingertips.

I use the pads of my fingers. Basically, I leave my fingerprints everywhere!

As a result, my fingernails don’t touch everything.

Here’s where we get back to the problem with tip wear.

The free edge of shorter nails takes a lot more abuse. They get rubbed and beaten more.

Like a Book

Although this isn’t an exact analogy, pretend your nail layers are like the pages of a book. 

When the pages are new, they are flat and lay nicely together. Now imagine if you kept fiddling with the edges. You fan the pages repeatedly. Maybe you accidentally drop it in the bathtub and then rush to dry it out in the sauna. Now the pages are warped and curling. You try to smooth out the edges but that just seems to make them worse. You notice that some of the pages are starting to tear. But you need to keep reading the book. It slides off your lap and crashes to the floor. You pick it up and try smoothing the pages again, but doing so causes some of the pages to rip out of the binding. 

Our fingernails can take much more abuse than this poor little book. But they aren’t indestructible.

We scratch places that itch, oftentimes through fabric. We grab, dig, push, pry, poke, and so much more. Our hands and nails take a lot of abuse.

This abuse can cause the layers at our tips to splay out and start to peel.

#2 Water Damage

Although our nails are about 50 layers of a tough, fibrous protein called keratin, they have a major weakness—water. Think of it as Superman’s weakness to kryptonite.

Refer to the picture below. Water can travel around AND through all of the tiny holes in every nail cell.

Our nails have the ability to absorb 1/3rd of their weight in water in a matter of minutes. That doesn’t sound like much, right?

Now imagine what would happen to you if you absorbed 1/3rd of your weight in water that quickly. You’d be pretty puffed up, soft, and squishy. The same effect happens to our nails.

It takes one to two hours for that water to evaporate out of our nail tips.

But our nails need a small amount of moisture and body oil to remain flexible enough to bend when we bang them into things.

The repetitive cycle of exposure to water with evaporative drying causes our nails to become too hard and brittle.

People with short nails usually aren’t doing the techniques that help decrease nail peeling and breaks.

#3 Stress Fractures

The official label for damage from the nail tip bending repetitively is transverse fissures. I call them stress fractures because it’s a little easier to remember.

Nail layers are a hodge-podge of interlinking cells as you can see in the photo above.

If you have short nails and you’re wanting to grow them longer, the 0 to 3mm time period is a “danger zone” phase of growth.

Why?

Because you haven’t started to change your behavior when using your hands.

You don’t have nail tips forcing you to change the way you navigate through life.

As a result, you’re going along using your hands the way you always do. 

The problem is that these short nail tips keep bumping into EVERYTHING. 

Your tips are continually getting bent and you probably don’t even notice.

People with thicker nails don’t tend to have issues with short nail tips bending and fracturing. 

But if your nails are naturally thin and weak, like mine, then excessive bending is a big problem.

Although there are many techniques and practices to successfully growing your nails longer—ie: breaking them less—there are three main ways that will really help; 

1. Intensive hydration treatments with a high quality, jojoba wax ester-based nail oil
2. Short term use of nail strengtheners
3. Learning how to use your hands differently.

Let’s look at these a little closer.

Nail Oil

Water pushes our nail layers apart and nail oil can help “glue” them together. When all the little gaps around the nail cells are filled with oil, water can’t get in.

I explain the importance of nail oil to naturally strengthen nails in far more detail in another article.

The fastest way to get oil into your nail tips is to warm up the oil. This can be done in two ways; warm the oil in a bowl, or wear nitrile gloves to help contain your body heat thus warming the oil.

I don’t like the first option because it uses a lot of oil, it can be wasteful, and you are stuck with your hands in a bowl of oil for quite a while.

The second option uses 1 drop of nail oil under each nail which will also wick around to the top. Because you are wearing nitrile gloves, you can continue going about your daily tasks and even use your phone.

Click here for the full directions to the Intensive Hydration Treatment

Nail Strengtheners

I have learned that the danger zone is one period in time where nail strengtheners can be really helpful.

Strengtheners have ingredients that hold your nail layers together giving them better temporary strength than traditional polish. 

Many people think I am against nail strengtheners, but this is not true. 

I have a problem with the marketing claims. I discuss this in greater detail in my Nail Strengtheners article.

The keyword to remember is “temporary”. 

These strengtheners don’t do anything to change the actual structure and makeup of your nail plates.

As soon as you remove the product, your nails are the same as before applying the nail strengthener.

But they can still be helpful in reducing peeling.

Nail strengtheners work in a similar way that an ankle brace provides support. 

You still have the mobility of your foot and ankle, but it’s held more securely so you don’t hurt yourself again while walking. The brace doesn’t repair the ankle. It just provides support.

It is also important to remember that once your tips have reached 2-3mm, you no longer need the strengthener.

They can actually cause your nails to be too hard. They won’t bend on impact with a hard surface or object.

At this point, it’s best to shift to using 5 layers of polish using my Fab 5 Wrap Technique.

Use Your Hands Differently

Pretend you’re wearing wet nail polish all the time. 

It’s really quite simple. But I’ll be honest—it’s not easy.

You have to pretend you have longer nails in order to minimize the breakage and peeling while they are in this short phase.

It is when you have learned how to minimize the breaks and peeling that your nails will be able to grow past the “danger zone.”

In Conclusion

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” ~ Jessie Potter

If longer nails are important to you, you’ll simply want to change the way you do things.

You’re learning new practices. 

Incorporating new ways to improve your personal care takes thought and patience. 

It can take a little time. Just know that the results will be worth the hard work.

The post 3 Reasons Why Short Nails Peel More first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

Perhaps you have recovered from Covid-19 and you’ve noticed some deep horizontal grooves, called Beau’s Lines, in one or more of your nails.

If it seems like there might be no end in sight, you’re not alone.

Living through and surviving the Covid-19 pandemic has put the entire planet under more stress than we’ve experienced in decades.

Nail problems can usually be sleuthed out by looking at four categories; Stress, Health, Home, and Work/Hobbies.

A lot of times, the answer is due to one cause, sometimes two. 

But this pandemic has put ALL FOUR into play.

The Magic Question

When people ask me what’s suddenly wrong with their nails, I start with one major question.

What big thing happened to you 4 to 6 months ago? 

Why is that the magic question?

Because the nail tips you have today were created four to six months ago.

On average, the journey from creation in the matrix to where you finally see the nail at the keratinized proximal nail fold (cuticle line) has taken one to two months.

It takes about another 4 months for the nail to continue growing to the hyponychium (where the nail leaves the pink nail bed to become the free edge.) 

Let’s look at the 4 categories that have contributed to why you feel like your nails have “suddenly gotten worse” or seem like “they just won’t get better.”

Stress

Whether good or bad, stress is often the major reason for nail issues.

We’re living in a state of perpetual fear of loss; loss of income, possible loss of home, loss of connection to those we care about, and loss of freedom.

We aren’t sleeping well. 

More and more people are dealing with chronic anxiety and depression.

Divorce and substance abuse rates are rising uncomfortably fast.

Parents are now needing to support educating their children at home on top of juggling their work responsibilities from home.

Our youth have lost one of the major things that help make school more bearable—hanging out with their friends.

Health

As of this writing in February 2021, 106 million people have caught the Corona Virus while 78 million have recovered. [Source: Worldometers.info]

On the surface, that might sound positive.

But we have no idea what “recovered” actually means other than “still alive and discharged from the hospital.”

Since Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, this means it affects your nose, throat, and lungs. 

Both my oldest son and best friend got violently sick at the beginning of  2020 while Covid was raging through China. It’s now 13 months later and both have a persistent cough, have frequent episodes of struggling to breathe, and several other health issues.

Although most people seem to be recovering, there’s growing concern over a new group of people, “long-haulers”, who have lingering symptoms.

Long-lasting symptoms often include: coughing, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, headaches, muscle aches, and diarrhea. But perhaps the most significant symptom that is being seen across the board in coronavirus long-haulers is fatigue. Oftentimes, this group feels very run down and tired. They can’t exert themselves or exercise and simple tasks (like walking to the mailbox) will often leave them feeling exhausted. Chronic fatigue like we’re seeing in this group can be incredibly debilitating and frustrating. Many long-haulers also report brain fog, difficulty concentrating, or feel like they aren’t as sharp as they used to be. [Source: Health.clevelandclinic.org]

We don’t know yet if we will see a significant rise in asthma or functional breathing disorders (FBD) in those who recover.

How will asthma or FBD show up in your nails? 

Oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your nail matrix by your blood. 

Your body’s survival mechanisms will focus delivery of blood flow to your brain and internal organs before your extremities like fingers and toes. 

Compromised oxygen intake will have negative effects on our nail health over time.

Home

How has your home changed over the last year?

We’re washing our hands with water and soaps significantly more. 

The global hand sanitizer market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 22.6% from 2019 to 2027. [Source: Grandviewresearch.com]

The active ingredient in hand sanitizers, ethyl alcohol, is very drying to hands and nails.

Are you doing more cleaning because everyone is stuck at home and making more messes than when all of you went to work and school?

Are you wearing gloves when cleaning?

Do you have young children and constantly changing diapers?

Are you responsible for chores like laundry, making the bed, or yard work? 

Hobbies/Work

Water, paper, fabric, and other materials can strip away your body’s natural oils, including the oil within your nail plate.

Since we’re spending more time at home, many of us may have dusted off neglected crafts and hobbies that can strip oils from skin and nails.

Getting Back to Normal

So many of us are grieving for the life we had before 2020. We want it back.

After my first child died of SIDS at 9 weeks old, I asked my grief counselor, “how long will it take to get back to normal.” Her response hit me hard.

“This is the new normal.”

For us to get back to life as we knew it, 75% of the global population needs to be vaccinated.

Bloomberg’s new calculator shows how long it will take states and countries to vaccinate 75% of their populations—7 YEARS! [Source: Bloomberg.com]

It would appear that this is definitely the new normal.

Lessons from History

The good news is that this isn’t the first time our planet has suffered through a pandemic. These are the top 10 worst pandemics since the death of Jesus Christ.

(1981-2012) HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 36 million
(1968) FLU PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 1 million
(1956-1958) ASIAN FLU – Death Toll: 2 million
(1918) FLU PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 20 -50 million
(1910-1911) SIXTH CHOLERA PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 800,000+
(1889-1890) FLU PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 1 million
(1852–1860) THIRD CHOLERA PANDEMIC – Death Toll: 1 million
(1346-1353) THE BUBONIC BLACK DEATH – Death Toll: 75 – 200 million
(541-542) BUBONIC PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN – Death Toll: 25 million
(165 AD) ANTONINE PLAGUE – Death Toll: 5 million
[Source: Mphonline.org]

What Now?

So what are we going to do about it?

We could accept that our nails will be a hot mess for the next several years. I personally don’t like that option.

Or we can accept the universal truth that change is inevitable.

We need to find new ways to decrease our stress levels, improve our home and work life, and improve our health. 

Since we can’t stop washing our hands and using hand sanitizers, we need to embrace the strategies that reverse the drying effects we experience.

We need to do intensive hydration treatments with a high-quality, jojoba wax ester-based nail oil, like Bliss Kiss™ and nitrile gloves to improve the strength and flexibility of the natural nail plate.

We need to use water-free balms and lotions to soothe our overwashed and hypersensitive skin.

And the best part? 

We need to wear polish to protect our nails from damaging water absorption.

Polish provides temporary strength to help our nails survive this crazy, brave new world.

If you found this article helpful, please share!

The post Why the Covid Pandemic is Destroying Our Nails first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

Some are born with naturally beautiful nails and hands that just seem to stay picture perfect.

For many others (myself included) growing and maintaining healthy nails can be a challenge at times.

Did you know that there are two kinds of stress that can affect the health of your nails?

In this Ask Ana article, you’ll learn the different ways physical and emotional stress impact the health of your nails.

QUESTION

Hello Ana, I’m a very stressed person, dealing with anxiety for a long time now. I have experienced hair loss, acne breakouts and such on. Recently I’ve noticed certain lines on my nails that look like fractures. Seeing these lines made me wonder, is there any affect on the nails by severe anxiety? What are the effects that anxiety have on hair and skin? I have read your article about stress fractures. The lines I mentioned look very much like stress fractures. Could my stress fractures actually been caused by stress? ~Emma

ANSWER

Emma, this is a great question!

There are actually different definitions for the word “stress”. The main two are physical stress and emotional stress. They affect our nails differently.

Definitions of Stress

Constraining force or influence: such as

a:  a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially:  the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch

b:  the deformation caused in a body by such a force

c:  a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation

d:  a state resulting from a stress; especially:  one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium job-related stress [Source: Merriam-Webster.com]

Physical Stress

Transverse and lateral fissures usually occur when the nail is sharply bent. Transverse fissures (horizontal) are caused when the nail plate is nearly bent and small cracks form in the stress area. Lateral fissures (vertical) are often caused when the free edge is sharply impacted. ~Doug Schoon, author of Nail Structure and Product Chemistry

The fissures, which I call stress fractures, happen when you aren’t paying attention and you wack your nail against something hard. It can also happen when doing a task that forces your nail to bend.

Sometimes the stress exerted on the nail is so intense that it can cause the nail to bend but not snap. The nail layers are split too much to recover.

If you are regularly using a jojoba wax ester based nail oil, then your nails will bend. If not, the tips will be too dry and break.

I usually get a stress fracture in one of my nails when putting clean sheets on my bed. I try to get my husband, Cory, to take care of that chore as much as possible!

I used to do a silk or fiberglass nail repair over the stress fracture to preserve the damaged tip. Since I have horses and a garden that require a lot of hard work that puts more stress on my fingernails, I just file off the fracture or cut my nails shorter. The daily chores in my life just don’t allow my nails to stay long. Thankfully, the nail community has shown me that well manicured short nails can be very beautiful. 

The good news about stress fractures is that stress fractures can be filed off.

As for the second kind of stress, emotional stress, well that is a much bigger beast to tackle.

Emotional Stress

We all experience stress in our body every day. Some stresses are healthy and some are not.

Falling in love is a stress on the body but in a very good way. Your body produces chemicals that make you feel great when you’re in love.

There are plenty of other stresses that can take a toll on your body too. Divorce, moving to a new home, health issues, surgery, new medications, and school/job stresses are just a few examples.

I often get asked, “why have my nails suddenly started peeling?” Since the average nail takes about 4 months to replace itself, I ask, “what big thing happened to you 4 months ago?”

Ninety percent of the time it can be pinpointed to a big personal stress.

Why Does Stress Matter?

Our nails are constantly changing.

People want to think that they don’t change, but this just isn’t true.

Take a look at the nails of a toddler and then the nails of someone over 90 years old. Ridges become far more pronounced as we age. This is because children are in a continual growth mode.

As we get older, our digestion declines and it’s harder for the body to absorb all of the nutrients from our food. We also tend to develop more health issues as we age.

It took me 18 months to heal from my abdominal surgery in 2014. About 4 months after the surgery, my nails were noticeably thinner and were constantly peeling. They continued to stay that way for well over a year.

Why?

Because my body was in preservation and healing mode. Since fingernails and toenails are the farthest from your core internal organs, fewer nutrients are delivered to the nail matrix. This means the quality of nail cell your body creates when stressed seriously declines.

Like I mentioned before, some stresses are good. But they can be bad at the same time.

How?

Let’s look at getting married.

There’s the joy of being in love, but the thousands of decisions a couple will make for the wedding day can make both of them go a little crazy.

Or how about moving into a new home?

There’s the joy of finding your new living space and feeling like you’re starting a new stage of your life.

But, then you have to pack boxes, move all the boxes hoping nothing breaks, try to find immediate living stuff as quickly as possible, finish unpacking and decorating.

Sounds exhausting, right? Well, it is. It can take up to a year to finally feel settled in and for your body to feel more relaxed.

Work Till You Die?

Did you know that more people have heart attacks on Mondays?

According to researchers, an “outpouring” of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, occurs within working people on Mondays. These findings were substantiated in a study of 683 patients, predominantly middle-aged men with implanted defibrillators (pacemakers) and a history of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias (heart attacks). The data led researchers to conclude that Monday is the most stressful day of the week when it comes to risk factors for heart attack. [Source: DrSinatra.com] https://www.drsinatra.com/heart-attack-risk-factors-rise-on-mondays

Chronic stress at work can take a toll on your body too. All jobs have stressful tasks. We can’t help that. But we can decide which type of stress it’s going to be.

If you dread going to work every morning, it’s time to start looking for a new job. Working at a job you hate could just kill you.

Self-Care

The word disease comes from Middle English (in the sense ‘lack of ease; inconvenience’) and from Old French desaise ‘lack of ease,’ from des- (expressing reversal) + aise ‘ease.’

If your body is not at ease, all sorts of problems start happening.

This is why it’s so important to do as much self-care as possible.

It starts with making sure that you are sleeping enough, making healthy food choices and drinking enough water. The new rule of thumb with water intake is to calculate your body weight and divide it in half. Use this number to determine how many ounces of water your body needs daily.

For example; someone who weighs 150 pounds (68 kilos) needs 75 ounces of water (2.21 L). Someone who weighs 300 pounds (138 kilos) needs 150 ounces (4.44 L).

Of course, as we hear so often from doctors, media, and health experts, we all should exercise regularly, even if it’s just taking a daily walk.

And it’s important to find ways to relax. Whether it’s meditating, reading, journaling, drawing or painting our nails, it’s important to find what works for you.

When your body is at ease, all of your bodily functions are able to heal and improve, including making better nail cells.

And that’s what we all want, right?!

The post Healthy Nails – The Effect of Stress first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

 by Doug Schoon

Peeling Nails

Trying to figure out why your nails are peeling, and how to stop it, can be very frustrating.

In this article, you will learn…

• How peeling off polish can damage the nail plate
• The proper way to remove nail enhancements
• Thirteen (13) solutions to help prevent peeling

This article about peeling nails is an excerpt from my 74th episode (available June 2017) of Face to Face with Doug Schoon video series.

ASK DOUG

My nails are very strong and healthy, and they can grow very long, but as soon as I use nail polish they become brittle and start peeling. They continue to do so until all “old nail” has grown out and the whole nail is replaced.

I have tried 5-free, 7-free and water based polish, and I have also tried different removers. But no matter what, my nails get ruined every time I use polish. Do you have any suggestions of what I should do? ~Eva

ANSWER

Eva, here are my top suggestions for addressing nail plate surface peeling.

Peeling Off Polish

Never peel nail polish from your nail plate. This will weaken the surface layers. 

These weakened surface layers will eventually peel away when they reach the free edge. It may be months later, so you might have forgotten what you did.  

For example; if you peel nail polish from your nails in May, expect the cell layers on the top-side of the free edge will peel in until September when those damaged nail cells finally grow off the free edge.

Doing this repeatedly can lead to a state of constant surface peeling.

Some nail coatings adhere to the nail plate better the longer you wear them. 

Ana’s photo to the right is a perfect example. She peeled her well bonded polish off while watching a movie.

It took 4 months for the damage to grow out.

Long wearing nail polish has greater adhesion, so these are more likely to harm the surface when forcibly peeled off. 

Proper Removal

Gently remove all nail coatings, without the use of any force, e.g. no peeling, scraping, biting, etc.

The is no such thing as gentle peeling or scraping, so don’t fool yourself into thinking you “lightly scrape” or “peel carefully”.

This is extremely important when removing soak-off gel polish.

It can take up to 30 minutes to completely dissolve the coating!

I have more electron microscope examples in my article about removing gel polish properly.

Water Damage

Keep your hands out of water.

Each time you saturate the nail plate, surface layers swell apart and separate. 

Repeated soaking and drying cycles can weaken the bond between the upper layer and lower layers.

Washing Hands 

Don’t wash your hands too often. Yes, you can wash your hands too much!

More than ten (10) times a day can be hard on nails and skin. Many wash their hands 20 times a day or more.

That’s just too much.

Soaps, cleansers and detergents can eventually strip away substances that help hold the surface cells to the underlying cells and this can lead to peeling.

The same can occur when nails are exposed to cleaning solvents.

Free Polish?

It doesn’t matter if the polish is 5-free or 99-free, that’s just “marketing” and doesn’t say how good or how safe a nail polish is.

Don’t think this is the problem or the solution to peeling nail plates.

Quality Counts

Buy high quality products.  Less expensive nail polish are less expensive for a reason. They often use inferior ingredients or are poorly formulated.

Nail Length 

Keep nails shorter.

The longer the nail plate, the more flexible the free edge, the more likely the polish will peel.  This is especially true for those with thin, flexible nail plates.

Wrap Edges 

Wrap the free edge by wrapping the base and topcoat around the free edge to the underside and give it some extra protection.

But, avoid skin contact as much as possible. Repeated contact to the tissue can cause skin irritation.

Gloves

Treat your nails like jewels. Don’t use them as tools.

Wear gloves when digging or working with your hands. This is especially important when working with cleaning supplies.

Sun Exposure

Protect nails from the sun. 

The nail plate has a high natural SPF, so the nail bed is protected from UV exposure, but that means the upper layers absorb the UV.

Long periods of excessive sunlight can weaken surface layers and cause them to come apart. 

Buffing Destroys

Don’t over file or buff the nail plate.

Too much filing or buffing thins the nail and it is much harder for polish to adhere to thin nails, than thicker nails.

Don’t try to fill away so-called “ridges”. The nail plate can’t grow ridges. The thinner, weaker part of the nail plate is the grooves.

Therefore, filing the plate smooth reduces and thins the entire nail plate to the match the thinness of the deepest groove.

That’s trouble waiting to happen—so don’t do it.

Use Nail Oil

Nail oils can help reduce surface brittleness and help toughen the bonds between the surface and lower layers of nail cells, but make sure to remove surface oils before apply any nail coating.

Nail oils also absorb into the plate to make it more resistant to excessive water absorption.

Polish Removers

Solvents can remove surface oils and may also leach out substances that help to cement nail cell layers together.

Occasional (once a week) use of solvent-containing polish removers won’t have much effect on normal nails.

But they may have a noticeable effect on plates that have weakened adhesion due to other factors described above.  

Allergies?

Peeling nail plates are never a sign of allergic reactions.

The nail plate is not living and does NOT have an immune system, so allergic reactions are not possible.  

Exceptions?

Doug Schoon, Author of Nail Structure and Product Chemistry

Eva, there are always weird things that happen that don’t fall within the norm, which means they don’t apply to most people.

It may be possible that your nail layers are barely held together and solvents (acetone) are disrupting the weak bonds that exist.

Make sure that you are following all my suggestions above and you will have beautiful, healthy nails that make you proud.

Learn More

For more nail care education, you can subscribe to my video series at www.FacetoFaceWithDougSchoon.com

To receive 25% off the subscription rate, enter “nailcarehq” in the discount code box at the bottom of the page.

If you liked this article . . . please share!

The post ASK DOUG: Peeling Nails – Is Polish Causing It? first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

Join Ana for her (second) first Instagram Live experience as she answers your pressing questions about nail care, nail art tips, cuticle health, and all the Bliss Kiss products!

Breakdown by topic:

• HOW DID @SIMPLYNAILOGICAL DISCOVER YOUR PRODUCTS? (1:25)
• DO YOU SHIP YOUR PRODUCTS ON THE WEEKENDS? (2:00)
• HOW DID THE BRAND BLISSKISS BEGIN? (2:40)
• WHAT HAPPENED TO SIMPLY PEEL ON AMAZON PRIME? (4:00)
• BROKEN NAILS! (7:45)
• ARE YOU SELLING REPLACEMENT HEADS FOR YOUR STAMPER? (9:05)
• WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BASE COAT/TOP COAT? (9:45)
• WHY ARE PRODUCTS EXPENSIVE? (11:15)
• HOW IS SIMPLY PURE DIFFERENT? (14:25)
• HOW DID YOU START YOUR OWN SMALL BUSINESS? (16:15)
• WHY DOES POLISH LAST LONGER ON TOE NAILS? (19:15)
• WHY USE A PINK TINTED BASE COAT? (20:51)
• WHAT DO YOU DO FOR PEELING NAILS? (21:55)
• WHY USE ALCOHOL BEFORE APPLYING POLISH? (23:00)
• HAVE YOU CONSIDERED GOING ON SHARK TANK? (26:10)
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE LONG NAILS AS A SWIMMER? (29:20)
• BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR NAILS! (30:35)
• TIPS TO REMOVE STAINING OF THE NAIL? LABMUFFIN SHOUTOUT! (31:45)
• WHAT IS THE CUTICLE? (33:20)
• SIMPLY SEALED VS SIMPLY PURE (35:00)
• SIMPLY SEALED & ECZEMA (35:20)
• CARING FOR NAILS WITH A C-CURVE? (36:15)
• HELP WITH NAILS PRONE TO BENDING, PEELING, RIDGES ETC. (38:00)
• ARE DIFFERENT NAIL TYPES MORE PRONE TO TEARING? (40:15)
• HOW DO I FILE NAILS CORRECTLY? (41:00)
• CAN YOU USE SIMPLY PURE ON YOUR FACE? (43:25)
• ECZEMA TEST GROUP (44:20)
• HOW DO I WRAP MY NAILS WITHOUT GETTING POLISH EVERYWHERE? (45:20)
• IT FEELS LIKE MY SIMPLY PURE IS GETTING OLD, IS IT STILL SAFE TO USE? (48:25)
• ADVICE FOR NAIL FUNGUS? (49:30)
• WHAT DO I DO ABOUT WHITE SPOTS IN MY NAILS? (50:25)
• HOW TO CLIP YOUR NAILS? (55:05)
• IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE THE C-CURVE LESS CURVED? (56:25)
• WHY ARE MY NAILS BRITTLE? (57:35)
• MY CRYSTAL GLASS FILE LOST ITS GRIP, HELP! (58:30)

The post Ask Ana LIVE! Answers to Your Nail Care Questions 5/4/2017 first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

In today’s article, I’m covering a new method to quickly help combat dry skin and nails.

As many of my loyal readers know, I like to test new things on myself before writing articles for you.

One of my best friends with really dry skin started doing an overnight hydration treatment with our Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™ oil and Simply Sealed™ lotion stick. She wouldn’t stop raving about her results. I was suddenly intrigued.

I’ve been testing this intensive treatment several times when my nails are feeling drier than normal—this winter was tough for many of us!

I have to say, I’ve been really pleased with the results. My dry skin is gone and my nails are full of oil.

How do I know? The tips turn transparent! I explain this more in my article about whether clear fingertips are healthy.

When I originally wrote this article several months ago, I titled it an “Overnight Hydration Treatment”.

I have since done the intensive treatment for shorter periods of two to four hours and have named it a “Mini-Hydration Treatment”. I usually do a mini in between manicures.

Although my tips didn’t become as transparent as an overnight treatment, I still love the results.

What You Need

• Naked nails
• An Intensive Hydration Kit
  • A jojoba wax ester based oil blend (like Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™)
  • A “balm” type of lotion (no water in the ingredient list) Simply Sealed™
  • Nitrile or latex gloves

Directions

For more detailed instructions and videos about my Ultimate Nail Care Routine, click here.

• Liberally apply nail oil to nails and skin surrounding your nails. Be sure to add a little extra to the really dry skin patches
• Apply your favorite “balm” type of lotion to your hands. You don’t want anything with water in the ingredients or it will cause excess sweating
• Apply nitrile or latex gloves
• Let your body warmth do the work to help the ingredients penetrate faster.

I often do a mini-hydration treatment for a few hours while watching a movie, gardening, doing household chores, etc. 

Many people, myself included, have done the treatment overnight. For me, the first night was a little more restless, since sleeping with the gloves was a new sensation for me.

I did not have trouble sleeping with future treatments.

What To Expect With an Intensive Hydration Treatment

The results I experienced seem kinda’ obvious, but my skin felt lovely and soft when I woke up. I expected my skin to be all wet and sweaty. And that just didn’t happen.

But more than the super soft skin, the greater surprise was seeing that the overnight hydration made my nail tips transparent. It looked similar to when your nails absorb water in the shower or bath.

But this felt completely different. Instead of my nails feeling flat, soft, bendy and in danger of tears like they would after taking a long shower, my nails felt strong while being flexible.

The transparency was only partial, starting from the tips and moving back toward the fingertip skin. Our free edge has 3 sides that absorb the oil; top, bottom and tips. You can see this in the photo to the right.

My C-curve remained the same. When your nails absorb water in the bath or shower, the nails become overly soft and flatten. When the water evaporates, your nails return to their normal shape.

With this intensive treatment, the transparency didn’t go away. Applying polish trapped the oil into my nail plate. I can continue to see the transparency if I paint my nails with only base coat.

The results for people vary. Some people see very little transparency while others will have completely transparent tips. 

Why is this? I believe it has to do with the thickness or thinness of their nail plates. Just know that your results will be great!

What Does This Mean?

From my experience and research, transparent nails after an intensive hydration treatment means that the nail plate has absorbed the oil through all of the layers.

The reason you can see your pink nail bed through your nail plate is because the nail bed is constantly pushing the perfect blend of about 18% water and 5% body oil up through the nail plate.

When your nail tips grow past your fingertips, the nail is no longer being nourished with this moisture blend. Your tips dry out and turn a white or yellowish color.

Side Note: Yellow tips don’t always mean your health is compromised or you are a smoker. For those of us obsessed with polish, we can blame our yellow staining on the wonderfully deep colored polishes we wear.

I have found the intensive hydration treatment for dry skin and nails to be really effective in getting my nails and skin back on track when I’ve been neglecting a normal oiling routine.

I’m looking forward to hearing about your results if you try this. You can email me through our contact page at http://www.myblisskiss.com/contact/

Remember, if you need more detailed instructions and videos about my Ultimate Nail Care Routine, click here. You can also join me and other amazingly supportive Blissettes in the Blissette Nail Bar on Facebook.

Here’s to your longer, stronger nails and kissing dry skin goodbye!

Featured Bliss Kiss™ Products

 [huge_it_slider id=”2″]

The post Dry Skin – Intensive Hydration Treatment first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

ASK ANA – Strengthen Nails By Tapping?

Have you ever wondered if tapping your nails on a hard surface makes them stronger?

Today we’re going to cover:

• Does tapping fit into the scientifically proven methods to grow nails faster?
• What part of your finger actually benefits from stimulation
• And a couple of positive strategies you can use starting today.

ASK ANA

Hi Ana, I was told recently by a nail technician that tapping your nails on a hard surface (a table) will help stimulate your nail bed and help strengthen your nails. I’ve been doing this every day but nothing different so far. Is there any truth to this? ~Nadine

ANSWER

This… is the kind of advice that drives me nuts! Especially, when it comes from professionals. I can’t believe that a nail technician gave this type of advice. … I take that back…yes I do believe it.

Doug Schoon, author of Nail Structure and Product Chemistry says that “if this were true, then all piano players would have very long, strong nails.”

The reason that we have fingernails is to protect our fingertips with all of the tasks that we do throughout the day. They also make it easier to pinch, scratch, grab, etc.

There is also no reason to stimulate your nail bed. And you really can’t do that anyway. What you are actually wanting to do is stimulate the matrix. That’s where your new nail cells are created.

The pink nail bed is what sends moisture and oil through the nail plate to keep it from cracking and peeling.

How To Grow Nails Faster

There are only three scientifically proven ways to grow nails faster.

1. Get pregnant . . . Not all of us want to do that
2. Move somewhere warm . . . Some of us like cooler climates. 
3. Damage your nail plate . . . Not a wise choice

I write about this and much more detail in my how to grow nails faster article. 

To make your nails stronger, the best way to do that is to increase the amount of oil in your nail plate.

Since we wash our hands on average 20 times per day, the water and soap strip out the oils, and then we get dry skin and dry nails.

The good thing to know is that good nail professionals would never give this advice, because they are more educated about the natural nail.

So, to wrap this up …

If you want your nails to grow faster, try to follow the scientifically proven methods, Although I don’t recommend damaging your nail because that’s really not a very good way to make them grow longer. Many people who bite their nails will confirm this.

If you want your nails to be stronger, then you will want to hydrate them with a high quality jojoba wax ester based nail oil. You may want to try my 3 Day Hydration Treatment. 

Remember, no matter how long–or short–your nails are, as long as they are well shaped and manicured, they will be beautiful.

If Ana features your question in an “Ask Ana” article, you’ll get an email from us within a week asking you for your shipping address. Woohoo! This is our way of thanking you for asking a great question and helping deliver more value to our NailCareHQ readers, Blissettes and the Bliss Kiss™ community. Info@MyBlissKiss.com

The post ASK ANA – Strengthen Nails By Tapping? first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

The post ASK ANA: Peel Off Base Coat – Is It Damaging? first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

ASK ANA: Peeling Nails

UPDATE: Since writing this article, I have replaced the 3-Day Hydration Treatment with a faster Intensive Hydration Treatment that works in 2 to 12 hours.

“Hi Ana, every time I try to complete the 3-Day Hydration Treatment, I never get past the 1st day because my nails start to peel. I revert back to using my polish for protection. (I’ve noticed my nails do not split or peel when I have them polished). I just feel like I have not been able to get the full benefits of your oil because I am afraid of going naked. Because of this, I only have a picture of my nails polished.

Do you recommend I still do the 3-Day Treatment even if my nails continue to peel? I know you have recommended to just trim the peel portion off & not filing it down or buffing. That’s damaging.

Now, the main problem for me is after my shower. I try not to take long showers so my nails are not in water for too long. If I apply a thin layer of base coat & completely wrap my underside. Can the oil penetrate through the one layer?

Image Source: Carmen

I just feel frustrated because I am not being able to benefit completely from your oil because of the peeling so I am afraid to go naked.  Do you have any recommendations or suggestions? Should I just do the oil treatment for 3 days and then polish? How long do you oil in between your manicures? I appreciate you taking the time out of your very busy schedule to answer my questions 🙂 PS: I am taking my nail vitamins & drinking water.” ~Carmen

ANSWER

Carmen, I totally understand your desire to go back to polish for protection. It is a very important temporary strengthening product and a big component to having healthy nails.

Based on your description, 2+2 is not equaling 4 for me. Peeling usually doesn’t happen with one exposure to water . . . it’s usually several, if not dozens of exposures. But of course, everyone is different.

Never Shower Naked

One of my rules is to never shower with naked nails. Like I’ve written in previous articles, water is extremely damaging to nails.

This is why I now recommend doing a 2 to 12 hour intensive hydration treatment.

Now I must confess—I like long hot showers—so I never shower without at least one coat of basecoat completely wrapped around my tips.

The combination of hot water, rubbing shampoo in your hair, and water absorption can pull a lot of oil out of our nails.

Polish Prevents Additional Peeling

Once you apply polish, the oil is trapped in your nails. Water absorption is decreased about 99%—this is a completely non-scientific guess based on my personal experience.

Your pink nail bed also continues to pump the perfect blend of 18% water and 5% body oil into your nail plate under the polish. This is why the nail plate over your nailbed is transparent.

So in a sense, yes, polish can reduce further peeling. It encapsulates the peeling layers so that water can’t force them to peel more.

The oil you apply after your nails are polished simply prevents premature cracking of the polish. It absorbs into the surface of the polish keeping it more flexible.

Polish Is Essential!

People love learning that polish is actually a great way to keep our nails healthier! Especially because everyone they know tells them the opposite.

After people have completed an Intensive Hydration Treatment then my Fab 5 Wrap technique takes over in importance.

It’s the combination of consistent oiling and wearing polish that helps reduce nail breakage and additional peeling.

Carmen, your skin looks beautiful! So maybe you’re getting all the benefit you need. If your nails bend instead of snapping when you bang them against something, then you’re fine.

Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™ hydrating nail oil helps people who have brittle nails because they are dried out. This causes them to break all the time.

As I mentioned before, our pink nail bed provides the perfect blend of 18% moisture and 5% oil. But once the nail plate has left the nail bed, our tips are no longer being hydrated. This is where Pure Nail Oil™ helps increase strength and flexibility.

The Magic is Between Manicures

I do a mini-hydration treatment for 2 to 6 hours between manicures . . . depending on time . . . and then apply at least one layer of basecoat wrapped around my tips to reduce water absorption during a shower and hand washing.

Daily Maintenance

Many people are afraid that using a high quality, jojoba wax ester based nail oil is going to leave them greasy or is too time consuming.

From start to finish, it takes me 30 to 60 seconds to rub about one drop of oil to my nails and skin. I do that about 4 times a day.

In Conclusion

I think when all is said and done, your nails and skin are beautiful. The polish is helping prevent premature breakage and the oil is keeping your skin hydrated. It looks like you’re doing everything right.

And if you’re happy with your nails . . . then you are certainly doing everything right. Keep it up!

If you liked this article . . . please share!

The post ASK ANA: Peeling Nails – Does Polish Prevent It? first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.