8 Simple Ways to Banish Dry, Brittle Nails for Good

Nails that are both strong and able to withstand abuse have a potent confidence benefit that may go unnoticed. Healthy nails (and thus the results of proper cuticle maintenance) exude an aura of confidence regardless of whether or not you own a nail manicure or are getting on without one.

Whatever your current nail maintenance needs are, keeping your nails in top shape is worthwhile. And the good news is Healthy nails require an investment of time and effort, not money.

A better way to get stronger, much longer nails is through sound, sustainable methods for maintaining nail health. But getting wholesome nails also means overcoming a few harmful habits, like using your nails as a tool in your pocket. For sound, practical nail guidance, we spoke to the specialists on the dos and don'ts for nail care. Follow these steps, and you'll soon have stronger, longer nails.

How to Strengthen Nails

1. Moisturize your nails

Moisturizing is a generally known technique for healthy skin, but it's frequently neglected in nail care. Dry, brittle nails may reflect a number of factors, but they're ultimately a cry for moisture, so provide moisturizing at the base of your preferred nail care routine. Be sure to give your nails a little extra tender loving care when applying hand lotion. There are many moisturizing nail products available on the market, but using moisturizer is only half of the struggle.

2. Leave your cuticles alone

Dana Stern, MD, board-certified dermatologist and nail expert, recommends that nails are not cut or pushed back. The cuticle is at the root of the problem, according to Stern. Your hand cuticles may degrade in the event that you use the wrong tools, even if you are the services of a nail technician. Dr. Stern recommends picking a nail service that does not accentuate your cuticles.

Michele Green, MD, a cosmetic dermatologist, understands that poor cuticle care can result in damage to your nail bed and affect the way your nails grow out. Through moisturizing your cuticles, Dr. Green suggests that you protect your nails and strengthen them.

3. Avoid contact with water

Don't continue using your hands and take a shower with gloves on. Try to decrease the amount of time your fingernails spend in contact with water, because excessive moisture can weaken the nail's substructure. Several precautions you should take when your hair is wet also apply to nails. As an example, consider wearing gloves when handling dishes or other wet work.

You know how soft and bendy nails get after a long bath? Consider this "The nail is like a sponge. It is one thousand times more absorbent of water than the skin, for example, and so water can easily diffuse into the nail," said Dr Stern. Excessive exposure to water can weaken delicate toenail cells, increasing the likelihood of peeling, breakage, and brittleness, she said.

That's why you ought to avoid soaking your nails before manicures. Not only does this make your nails more vulnerable to infection, per Dr. Green, but it also impedes nail polish from adhering as strongly or lasting as long as usual.

4. Be gentle

Susan C. Taylor, MD, board-certified dermatologist and certified to treat skin of color, recommends gentle nail care as the best approach. For one, Dr. Taylor discourages invasively digging under your nails. "On some occasions, people do work the pointy end of a nail file under the surface of their nails," she explains. You don't really want to do that, as it can damage the nail plate below the bottom, and then you can develop a yeast infection.

For similar reasons, you shouldn't feel cramped into using your nails as a substitute to other tools. (There are plenty of other effective ways to open a can of soda.) And if you do indulge in an acrylic or gel manicure that you had better do sparingly appropriate removal is imperative. "When you cautiously try to wind up acrylic or gel nails, your nails become weak, which means you must quit using the acrylics completely," Dr. Taylor says.

5. Treat your nails like you treat your hair

It's the new golden rule. Hair and nails are both composed primarily of keratin proteins, so it only makes sense that many of the same rules for treatment apply. Dr. Stern states that both hair and nails can become dehydrated and damaged from over-processing. Frequent nail maintenance consists of the use of polishes, gels, and similar substances doing your nails what hair dye, chemicals, and heat application do to hair. Just as hydration can help restore hair problems, such as frizz and split ends, it may also help soften brittle and tough nails. There is certainly no nail treatment comparable to second-day hair, but taking good care of your nails as though they were your hair can help to keep them in good shape all year long.

In order to promote healthy growing nails, I condition your cuticles just like a hair conditioner or a leave-in conditioner would. Dr. Green recommends this.

6. Watch the weather

In winter, the hair on people's bodies, nails, and scalps tends to be especially fragile. Dr. Stern says that the extreme changes in room temperatures from being exposed to the outdoors indoors in the winter can further cause nail polish or other cosmetic materials to disintegrate. Once you change from a heated interior to a cold outdoor environment, the nail cells may repeatedly contract and expand, leading to a weakening of the material between the cells, resulting in Estonia. Regularly wear gloves in the winter, and, of course, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize to hydrate skin on your hands and your nails.

7. Rethink your products

Nail files: Instead of those old-style emery boards, which Dr. Stern says "create microscopic tears in the nail that lead to splits and peeling," opt for a single layer of glass or crystal nail file.

Nail polish remover: In the ideal case, you won't wind up using nail polish remover altogether. But since most of us don't intend to give up the excitement of a nice manicure, it's better to instead depend on non-acetone removal liquids containing nourishing oils and ingredients.

Nail brush: Rather than using a filer to scrape earth from your nails, a gentle nail brush would be the best option or, as an alternative, you can use an old toothbrush that you're already in possession of.

Nail growth products: Go ahead and pass on these. "So many of the so-called nail treatment or nail growth products on the market are in reality clear nail polishes with marketing additives that have no scientific validity," Dr. Stern says.

8. Be patient with nail growth 

If you're an enthusiastic nail-biter, you know the potential value of finally growing your nails past your fingers. With healthy habits and endurance, growing out your nails can be a long and laborious procedure. However, the primary objective is to strengthen your nails, not how to make a solution for quick nail growth. Nails that are less damaged can strengthen your nails if you take good care of them, but it will take time and effort. If your nails constantly break or are brittle, it's better to take care of them by ensuring that they are clipped short until they become stronger.

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