Nail Care: How to Maintain Healthy Nails and Get Rid of Brittle and Dry Nails!

A Must-Try Nail Care Routine: The Best Tips or Getting Rid of Brittle and Dry Nails!

Are you tired of your nails breaking now and then? Are you on the lookout for a nail care routine to counter brittle and dry nails?
If yes, then don’t worry, this common issue, which is faced by 27% of women, and is medically termed as onychoschizia, is completely curable by taking care of your diet and a few basic nail care steps.

In this post, we have covered everything that you need to know about brittle and dry nails, including their causes, a few care tips, nail care vitamins, and nail care products. Let’s get started!

What Causes Brittle and Dry Nails?

There are numerous reasons that cause brittle and dry nails ranging from overexposure to water to underlying health conditions. Following are the five major culprits that lead to this condition:

  • Age: even though age is just a number, but it does take a toll on your nails. As you grow older, your fingernails become thinner, and as result, they become more prone to breakage and brittleness.
  • Raynaud’s Syndrome: This syndrome reduces blood flow to extremities such as fingertips, and hence, nails, resulting in their breaking and dryness.
  • Iron or Red Blood Cells Deficiency: As the name indicates, this condition is associated with your body’s iron level reduction. This results in the lowering of your red blood cell levels leading to dry and brittle nails.
  • Hypothyroidism: Dry and brittle nails alongside weight gain, tiredness, hair loss, stomach issues, and depression is the tell-tale sign of hypothyroidism.
  • Too Little or Too Much Moisture: In both circumstances, i.e., when your hands are subjected to extreme moisture or when they are left dry for extended periods of time, your nails become dry, resulting in breakage. In addition to this, ditching gloves while using cleaning products, such as detergents, also causes cracked nails.
nail care

Nail Care Routine for Brittle Nails

Brittle nails are extremely hard to take care of because you’re always scared that they might end up breaking if you aren't being gentle. Don’t worry, we’ve compiled an easy 6-step nail care routine that’ll make sure that your nails are prepped, moisturized, and looking tidy without a lot of effort. Here’s what you’ve got to do:

Clean Your Nails: Start off your routine by thoroughly cleaning your hands and nails with soap in warm water. Keep a separate clean and soft nail brush to remove all the dirt under your nails. Make sure that you rinse off all the soap.

Keep Your Nails Dry: After washing your hands, dry them with a soft and clean towel. Wet nails are very soft, and thus, prone to breakage.
Trim Your Nails: If you want to trim your nails, then do it after a bath or shower because at that time they are soft, which makes it easier to clip them. Ensure that you trim your nails regularly because longer nails are more susceptible to cracking.

Moisturise: Moisturising is key to counter dry nails. Use a hand cream or lotion and apply it not only onto your hands but also rub it gently into and around your nails.

Cuticle Care: Cuticle care is essential for strengthening your nails. You can do this by applying cuticle oil on and around your cuticles and nails. You can also dip your nails into a bowl of oil for a few minutes.

Nail Hardener: Use a nail hardener to provide an extra layer of strength to your nails.

8 Tips for Nail Care

Follow these eight tips for nail care and cuticle care and your brittle nails’ issues will be sorted:

• Don’t soak your nails for too long in the water
• Wear gloves while using detergents or washing dishes to avoid exposure to excess chemicals and water
• Take your vitamins, specifically Biotin
• Eat a balanced and varied diet
• Avoid gel and acrylic nails as much as possible
• Keep your hands and nails moisturized
• Only file your nails in one direction
• Avoid opening cans and other similar activities with your nails

8 Essential Nail Care Vitamins

nail care routine

4 Essential Nail Care Products

If you don’t want to compromise on your nail care routine, then keep these 5 essential nail care products in your stash to sort out brittle nails.

Moisturizer

Always keep a hand cream, lotion, or moisturizer with you to avoid dry nails, which eventually become brittle.


how to get rid of brittle and dry nails

Nail Clipper Set

dry nails
Get your hands on a decent-quality nail clipper set. It usually comes with a cuticle pusher and other cuticle care tools, so you’ll be sorted in that as well.

Curved File

brittle nails
Get a curved file as it adheres to the natural nail shape and makes filing a breeze.


Nail Hardener

nail care
Keep a nail hardener to counter brittleness in nails.


All in all, brittle and dry nails are a common condition, however, you can counter this by doing proper nail care and cuticle care. Furthermore, ensure that you are taking all the essential nail care vitamins and have the required nail care products in the stash.

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