splitting nails disaster...

[LittlePickleHead]

Argh! 7 weeks to my wedding, so I've been (I thought) looking after my nails in preparation. DP bought me a Gadi21 set for Christmas so I've been buffing and using the cuticle oil etc, plus using a growth treatment.

I think I've been a bit over zealous as my nails are splitting really badly. A big chunk feel out of the middle of one this morning.

I was going to get gels for my wedding, how the hell to I stop them splitting and get them healthy again in time? The splits are going beneath the skin line so I can't cut them off :(

Help!

My nails were in a state a month or two ago, very brittle. I have been taking holland & Barrett super nails tablets and also applying OPI nail envy. Definitely a lot better. I would try this and ease off the buffing? Cuticle oil can't be hurting though. Good luck

Jessica phenomen oil, Clarins hand and nail cream (does nothing for my hands but makes my nails really strong), stop buffing, keep them filed really short so that they can't catch on anything.

I'd get a bottle of clear varnish, as good quality as you can afford (Jessica has a fab basecoat range of things like "coat of armour" and "bend don't break", but it doesn't have to be a fancy one) and have one layer just to keep the top smooth and to act as a bit of a shield until the splits grow out (if that makes sense?) then have a bit of time with no varnish one to let the nails breathe properly. I normally try and have at least one day a week with nothing on my nails, otherwise I worry they'll rely on having stuff on them and might weaken more.

7 weeks is plenty of time to fix them, don't worry! When I was little I sucked two fingers and those two nails are consistently in bad condition, but doing the above means that they are much better than when I don't bother.

If you are trying to not spend too much money, keep using the cuticle stuff you have, use any clear varnish and just treat yourself to the Clarins cream. It works so well.

Thanks so much for coming back to me. I actually alrady use the Clarin hand cream and I am religious about using it. I was using nails inc growth treatment to try and grow the splits out but it hasn't worked so perhaps I do need to invest.

It really does seem to be the buffing that has done it as, until I started doing this, my nails were really strong.

I'm going to try and get hold of the "coat of armour" (like the protective sound!) and fingers crossed that lets them grow out a bit.

Are you using a glass file, I like the opi one. Use it just a little every other day, it seems to 'seal' the nail. The nail envy works too but it does stain your nails (did mine)

Why not get gel overlays now? I had vertical splits in mine and had gels done last week to protect them, LOVE them already!

No I'm just using an emery board, will look into the glass file. What is nail envy?

I could look at getting the gels now, bit skint in run up to wedding though so was trying to save it until a week before.

OPI Nail Envy, as others have said, definitely works.