Grow Stonger Nails, Fast!

Problem Nails? If you have a trouble growing your nails, these tips may be the help you need. Well groomed nails add the finishing touch to your look.

1. Use a good base coat. A good base coat acts as a protectant for your polish and your nails.

2. Try clipping your nails and skip the emery board. This can prove to be a better option for some with weak, thin nails as the nail clipper leaves a thicker, less ragged nail edge. 7/19 UPDATE: I tried this tip within the last week and I am really happy with the sturdiness of my nails. I used NYC Long Wearing #130 (a shimmery coral without being a glitter or a frost) after clipping. I love it.

3. Use cuticle remover around the nail bed and under the tips of nails. Dead, dried skin cells collect under the nail tips too. After pushing your cuticle back, use the cuticle pusher or the rounded edge of a metal nail file, etc. to gently clean the dead skin around your fingertip and under the nail. This speeds growth. Depending on how much dead skin cells you have accumulated, this technique will instantly add visual length to the nails. For upkeep, use nail brush daily.

4. Don't file nails too often. Keep filing to a bare minimum.

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Remember, it can take up to 6 months or more for a fingernail to grow out. Most changes you adopt in your nail care regimen are more immediate. You'll see a difference within a week or two or three. Watch your nails as you try something new. If you like the progress, then continue. If not, maybe you can add another nail care tip to that to help push progress along. Or, just abandon it and try something new.

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5. Experiment with files, emery boards are a cheap alternative that can be hard on the nails. Look for diamond files and ceramic files. Ceramic files can cost up to $20, but they are reported to give a good finish to the nail edge. In some instances, buying cheap can cost you the results you desire.

6. Push your cuticles back. This, too, helps free the nail so it grows at its maximum rate.

7. Got the sheaves? That is, when your nails grow in thin sheets that sit on top your nails. Here's what to do...when applying polish, apply the first few strokes on the tip of the nail in a "V" shape. Start at the edge of the nail nearest the cuticle and swipe to the center of the nail making the first 1/2 of the "V". Then repeat for the other side of the same nail completing the second half of the "V". Then, apply the polish to the rest of the nail in the normal manner. Applying the polish in this manner helps seal the thin sheets to the nail better than brushing in straight strokes (with straight strokes you skip right over the underside of the thin sheets).

8. Re-think digging in your purse and battering your nails. Keep a pair of white cotton gloves readily available in your pocketbook. Put them on when you have to reach down into your pocketbook. Eliminate the chips and breaks that weaken your nails and prevent extended nail growth.

9. Apply all four layers of polish to nails, letting each dry thoroughly: base coat, two coats of polish, and top coat.

10. Buy a nail polish with silk, nylon and protein hardeners. Ruby Kisses (really inexpensive from .99-$1.99) makes a formula with all three ingredients that brings improvement in a week or two.

Do Remember...lighter colors, especially in the sheers, give the illusion of length.

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