Broken Nail Repair Solution

Life happens.

Fingers slip.

Nails get caught on things and break.

Many times we look down and it’s just a chip or a minor tear. Meh, that’s ok. Our heart is saddened for a bit.

But what do we do when the break is bad? Like really bad.

Crying in pain—bloody bad?

In today’s article, you’ll learn;

• My worst nail tragedy
• Why a fiberglass wrap wouldn’t work
• My broken nail repair solution and how to be prepared

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and I can’t make any medical claims or prescriptions. I am sharing a story of my experience and giving you information so that you can use to start a discussion with your doctor.

What Happened

My last huge broken nail casualty happened in the Fall of 2016 (a little over a year ago at this writing.) I think it was the worst I have ever experienced in my life.

I was cutting some floral styrofoam late at night over a box so I didn’t cut my counter. My hand slipped hitting the edge of the box and snapping my pinky nail backward. It tore sideway across most of my nailbed.

About two millimeters of my pink nail bed was exposed. There wasn’t much blood but lots of oozing and massive pain.

Due to the graphic nature, I’ve blurred the photo of the break. You can click on the image to see it in focus.

I don’t know what hurt more—the break or cutting the remainder off in the midst of my massive sobbing from the pain.

I covered my finger with a bandage and went to bed. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well that night. The throbbing pain was too intense.

I knew there was no way to do any sort of typical “wrap” repair because my nail tip was gone and the bandage touching the nail bed made it hurt more.

My Broken Nail Repair

I saw only one solution—glue a plastic nail on my nail to protect the nail bed. My nail needed a hard physical barrier.

Of course, I had moved all of my nail stuff to our Bliss Kiss™ headquarters. Oye!

That 10-minute drive seemed like an eternity, but I knew the pain was about to get worse.

I had previous knowledge that doctors now use a medical grade version Super Glue™.

I also knew that nail glue also had the same ingredients.

I felt at the time that I had no other choice. The raw pain had to stop.

I trimmed the plastic nail to match the length of my other nails and filed it to be the right shape to fit the curve of my cuticle line.

Now for the hard part.

I applied the glue to the center of the plastic nail. I let that sit for about 30 seconds. I painted the glue on my nail and then placed the plastic nail on my nail.

Just like pouring rubbing alcohol on an open wound, it hurt like #!#!#*!!!!!

I applied firm pressure for a couple of minutes to the artificial nail until the glue set.

After about 10 minutes the feeling that I was going to die calmed down.

After about 30 minutes, I felt like I just might be able to survive this accident.

What really pleased me the most is that the plastic nail looked so close to my normal nails.

Once I had polish on, I asked my husband and daughter to see if they would notice the difference. They both looked at me very perplexed.

I was the only one who could tell the difference.

Taking Responsibility

While doing a bit of research about quick-drying glues for this article, I came across some really helpful information at Realfirstaid.co.uk

When treating our own injuries we take responsibility for our own actions.  When we are treating other people we have a Duty of Care to treat appropriately and cause no further harm or face the serious consequences of litigation.  For this reason we would not suggest that glue is used to treat casualties where you are in a position of responsibility be it your role within your workplace or providing opportunistic care for a casualty to have come across.

You may still be inclined to use glue to treat yourself or maybe your trusted [friend], in which case, read on:

Not All Super Glues Are The Same

“Super Glue” or Cyanoacrylate (CA) is an acrylic resin which rapidly polymerises in the presence of water. The principle component of commercial CAs (SuperGlue™, Krazy Glue™, Loctite™) is either methy-2-cyanoacrylate or ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate, the original forms of CA developed in 1942 by Kodak Laboratories™. (The discovery was made whilst investigating potential, high clarity, acrylics for the use in gun sights. Whilst not suitable for this application CA was quickly identified as a fast acting, low shear strength adhesive.)

During the Vietnam war it was used in field surgery with good effect, however, despite the promising results it was not approved by the Unites States Food and Drug Administration due to the unknown toxicity and two significant side effects during the polymerization process:

A Cheaper Alternative…Veterinary Glues

If you are looking for something for your personal first aid kit and don’t fancy spending $160 US on six 5ml vials of Derma Bond, veterinary glues are commercially available as a happy compromise; not licensed for use on humans but essentially the same stuff in a different wrapper.

2-octyl cyanoacrylate Surgi-Lock™ and Nexaband™
n-butyl cyanoacrylate VetGlu™, Vetbond™ and LiquiVet™  

As a side note: I also purchase needle-less syringes to do fluid nail art at the local feed store. Bonus!

Removal Without Damage

It’s really important to remove the artificial nail properly so you don’t damage your nail plate.

If you have a break that will take weeks to grow out, the nail may pop off around 4 to 7 days. This just means that the bond has finally broken on its own without damaging the nail plate.

Just reglue it and you’ll be good to go.

Try to not use the nail tip to poke, prod, pry or scratch. The torque will weaken the glue quicker.

If you are getting too much dry glue left on the nail plate, soak your nail with an acetone soaked piece of cotton and a manicure clip to dissolve the glue. I have a video explaining how to use manicure clips on YouTube.

You can use a cotton swab and acetone to remove the glue on the underside of the artificial nail. Just realize that acetone usually dissolves the plastic too, so only work on the bits of glue.

At some point, you may just need to start over with a new artificial nail.

If you decide you need to remove the nail, DO NOT pry it off.

File down the surface of the plastic nail and soak it in acetone. The acetone will partially dissolve the plastic. It will also work its way under the plastic to dissolve the glue.

I usually wait for it to pop off on its own when the nail has completely grown out and then soak off the glue.

The Scout Motto: Be Prepared

I hear this phrase often since I’m married to an Eagle Scout and have boys in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

Have a box of artificial nails in your drawer that match your nail shape and the appropriate cyanoacrylate glue. You can get a box of 100 fairly reasonably and it comes with several different sizes.

Be prepared.

Life happens. Fingers slip. Nails break.

Now you’re ready to do your broken nail repair and make more life happen.

The post Broken Nail Repair – What To Do When It’s Bad first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.

Learning how to stop biting nails is a simple concept, but it can be a daily challenge.

There is so much shame around nail biting.

I’m going to take a guess that if you are reading this article, you or a friend struggle with this uncomfortable habit.

You’ve probably tried dozens of ways to break the habit without much success.

In this article, I’ll cover

• Angela’s 30-day results using nail oil to help her stop biting
• Why it’s a hard habit to break
• How you can join my Facebook support group for nail biters

Good morning from Ann Arbor, MI! My good friend who lives in California recommended your nail oil and I ordered through Amazon Prime. I am so happy with the results. I have been a nail biter for years and what got me to stop was the image of a nail magnified 400x that is included in your education materials! I still pick at my nails and am trying to find the balance between not having them so wet (I do dishes after every meal 🙂 but overall – so much better!!! ~Angela

The post How To Stop Biting Nails – Angela’s Results 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.

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.

How to Stop Breaking Nails

I’m often asked,”How do you keep your nails so long?”

I have many strategies and techniques to strengthen my natural nails, which I will share in this article.

Let me start off by saying that my nails are incredibly thin. I was not blessed with thick nails.

Sadly, this is not something that can be changed since the thickness of your nail plate is determined by the size of your nail matrix.  The nail matrix is where new nail cells are created right behind the cuticle line.

Tortoise or Hare?

The most important thing I do is—Slow Down.

There is no part of our body that is used more frequently during our life than our hands. We do everything with our hands.

Most of us wouldn’t make it through the day if we couldn’t pry, pick, or scratch with our nails. They take a lot of abuse, especially if we use them as tools.

Nails will only tolerate a certain amount of bending before they tear or snap.

A woman with long, natural nails moves through life very consciously. She pays attention to where her hands are moving at all times. I know it might sound like a lot of work, but it really isn’t.

I have found that being in a rush can be the most damaging times to my nails.

Credit: Beavotron.deviantart.com

If I’m in a hurry and I am rushing to get everybody into the car, throwing jackets and bags, and slamming doors, I’m not paying attention to what my hands are doing.

And that’s when accidents happen.

One misplaced finger on the car door handle will result in a broken nail. All because I wasn’t paying attention.

Another example; a busy, preoccupied woman will talk to a friend and blindly dig through her purse trying to find something. She’s not paying attention, and that’s how a nail tears or breaks.

When I’m looking for something in my purse,  I look inside, I carefully move things around until I find what I want.

Every move is conscious. Every move is deliberate.

Will the Guilty Task Please Stand Up?

If your nails are breaking a lot, try paying attention to how you use your hands all day long.

You might be surprised.

Are you actually using your nails to remove the frustrating, security plastic wrapping around the salad dressing bottle, or mascara tube?

Are you opening soda pop can lids with your nails?

Do you peel stubborn sales stickers off of packages?

If you do any of these things, it’s time to become friends with paring knives, scissors, handles of forks or spoons, and some brand of sticker adhesive dissolving product. (Goo Gone™, Goof Off™, Un-Do™, etc.)

And if you are in the DIY frame of mind using 2 ingredients from your kitchen, I found a great tutorial at DIYNatural.com

What You Can Do

1. Know Your Proper Nail Length

If you are a mother of small children, or have a job that requires a lot of tough use with your hands, make peace with a shorter length that looks nice.

Now that my children are older and I spend most of my working time on the computer, I can maintain a longer length.

5/2017 Update: Now I own horses. My nails are significantly shorter now since long nails and horses don’t mix.

Keep your nails the same length. Short nails can be beautiful when maintained and polished well.

2. Reduce Water Absorption

Water is the most dangerous chemical affecting your nails.

I’m not kidding.

On average, we have about 50 layers of keratin that makes up our nail plate.

Our nails also have the capacity to absorb three times their weight in water.

Where does that water go? In between every single layer and it pushes them apart.

Our nails do have the capacity to dry out, but it doesn’t take too many exposures to water for those layers to start peeling away from each other.

Polish is an integral part of blocking water absorption.

Now, for those of you who think water isn’t a chemical, you might be interested in my Chemicals – Are they Life or Death article.

3. Increase Nail Strength and Flexibility

Oil is the glue that holds our nail layers together. We wash our hands on average 20 times per day! This strips the oils from our nails and skin.

Regular use of a jojoba wax ester based nail oil will increase natural nail strength, while improving flexibility.

Strong nails bend when exposed to external forces.

If you use nail strengtheners or hardeners on already dry, brittle nails, your nails are going to be too hard and snap with any external pressure.

4. Keep Nails Polished

Polish is a resin that bonds to and protects your nails.

Even if you’re someone who doesn’t like to wear colored polish, it’s important to wear at least one layer of base coat to reduce water absorption.

Use my Fab Five Polish Wrap technique and never shower with naked nails.

For my Ultimate Nail Care Routine, click here.

5. Wear Gloves

Credit: LaylaGrace.com

“But I hate gloves! I won’t wear them.”

I hear this all the time. Especially right after I’m asked how to grow longer nails or get them to stop peeling.

I guarantee you, there isn’t one woman on the planet who loves to wear kitchen gloves, myself included.

Yep, they’re annoying.

You have to remember to put them on and you don’t get the same grip as with your fingers. You sweat in them causing them to be a pain to remove.

Gloves protect your skin and nails from the drying effects of water and soap. Gloves also help protect your nails from breaking.

I even use them when doing the laundry. I’ve broken too many nails transferring heavy, wet towels to the dryer.

Every decision we make has a natural consequence.

It simply won’t work to desire beautiful nails and refuse to wear gloves.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

The few seconds you gain by rushing around only shortens your temper, increases your blood pressure, and leads to annoying chips and painful breaks.

Long, beautiful natural nails don’t just happen.

Gorgeous nails require time, care, maintenance, and just a few extra, deliberate seconds through the day.

I know you can do it! … now … go buy some gloves … slowly.

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The post How to Stop Breaking Nails first appeared on Nail Care Headquarters.