For years, I’d had issues with my nails. I’ve hopefully found out what I need to do to keep them strong, healthy, and looking great.
Since childhood, I’d had a bad habit of biting my nails. As I grew up, I stopped biting my nails, but that changed to picking at them. If a nail was weak enough to end up splitting at a point, I would use that split to pull off the nail at the top to get rid of the split. Sometimes I would go too far and get into the quick. At times it would bleed. The skin around my nails would also peel, and I would end up trying to get rid of those pieces that were sticking out, and that would also cause bleeding. At times a top layer of nail would begin to peel away, and I would pick away at that peeling section until it was gone, leaving a weaker nail that would split, which would lead me to do what I normally do to get rid of the split. Way more often than not, my nails and fingers would look atrocious.
Over the years, I’d tried different things. I started out by using hand lotion after washing my hands and at night before bed. I bought a nail kit that I would always keep with me so I could deal with any nail problems appropriately rather than trying to mess with them and pick at them, causing worse problems. While that seemed to help some, it didn’t stop the picking entirely or stop my nails from weakening. When I finally went to my dermatologist about the problem, he suggested biotin and strengthening nail polish, neither of which worked for me. My dietary imbalances caused my nails to become extremely weak. Correcting those helped some, but the picking and peeling continued. Limiting handwashing also seemed to help somewhat, but the issues persisted.
I outlined some of the recent things that have helped my nails grow stronger in one of my articles for the FitITproNews newsletter. Two of the things I’ve tried that have not yet been mentioned here are nail/cuticle oil and showering in lukewarm water. Those last two changes were really the ones that brought major improvement. Since making those changes, I’ve been extremely happy with the way my nails look and feel. While skin picking does still happen, I haven’t actually picked at or peeled off my nails in months now. Hopefully I can figure out how to fix the habit of the skin picking, but for now, I’m very pleased with where things are with my nails.
My nails have been a problem for me for most of my life, so now it feels wonderful to have solved most of those problems. I’m hoping my nails will stay strong and healthy for years to come!
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