Nail help please.

[belindarose]

My nails are in awful condition. They grew really strong and lovely in pregnancy but now flake, split and look terrible. DS is 6 months old now.

What sort of treatment would help? I don't wear false nails or even polish.

I highly recommend Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. You rub it into the nail and nailbed and it improves the growth rate, clears up flakiness, makes nails strong and leaves your fingertips with a lovely, subtle lemony scent. Cheap too and lasts a long time.

Want to add, my mum has lovely hands and nails and always did housework and of course all washing up with rubber gloves on, and slathered cuticura hand lotion all over her hands every night. She spent time every day filing and buffing her nails. It was part of her 'me' time.

Sounds nice. I'll look out for some. Could do with some 'me time'!

I'm slightly obsessive about this, having posted my own 'please help my nails fall to bits' thread back in may...

I now have glorious nails - the year 10 girls at school even comment on them "are they real miss?"! I could never wear polish unless I fancied a six week wait each time for them to grow back and then it would involve whole sheets of nail lifting off - they were awful!

Then I read (on here) about mavala scientific nail hardener, but even so didn't buy it for about 4 months because the bottle is small and funds were tight, ironically I probably wasted way more than it costs (around £6) on all sorts of other stuff!

It has TRANSFORMED my nails - I'm constantly having to file them short! (a new, exciting experience). I wear polish! And take it off again! And wear another colour! All things I could never have imagined before :D

Basically it's a tiny blue bottle of glory, which ive been using at least weekly since July and which looks as though it hasn't even been used - it is literally going to last forever I think!

I also bought some Leighton Denny polish remover from amazon which is said to be kind to nails.

And as a total new can I recommend Essie polishes- oh my goodness they're a revelation!

Ok, sermon over, good luck!

Oh, one ps - Sally Hanson topcoat, in the orange bottle (not that Essie polishes NEED a topcoat mind you!)

I've just started with the Marvala Scientifique this week! I am excited as I have always had shit nails.

My cuticles are a mess though.

I second the lemon butter cuticle cream to sort out dry cuticles. Mine were a complete mess, hard, overgrown, ragged and this cream has completely changed them. It works so quickly and is the best product I have ever tried.

I discovered Mavala Scientifique a few years ago and also swear by it - the best nail treatment I've used.
My cuticles however could do with some help so will give Lemon Butter cuticle cream a go!

Don't know about mavala but I'd give it a try based on what everyone has said. Sally Hansen has always had good reports by my clients. But definitely do use cuticle treatment twice a day, even if its just a natural oil until you find the one you want, and keep them in a nice even shape. Keep a file in your bag incase of splits and buff with a 4 way once a week to keep the surface smooth. But do not over buff your nails as it'll make them thin and its going to take 3-6 months for any damaged areas to grow out. Always keep polish on them even if its clear. Good luck. People would give anything for nice nails its worth the maintainable to get them looking good and you'll save a fortune on falsies

Just ordered the Burt Bees cream!

I had acrylics taken off in March 2012 after 5 years.

2013 will be the year of the natural nail for me

Right, just ordered the mavala and burst bees cuticle cream - I have high hopes!

Just ordered both off amazon. Thanks

Ooooooh

Lets make this a wannabe nails quiche and put photos of today's nails on our profiles.

Update weekly/fortnightly ??

I'll do mine tomorrow

My mavala scientifique arrived today - I hope this is the answer to my flaky nails!

I can recommend Nunale nail cream. It's cheap, lasts for ages and works quickly. I've been using it for about 2 weeks and the difference is amazing. Length, strength and shine! I got mine from a local independent chemist for £2.50 but you can buy it online. Wouldn't use anything else now.

www.boots.com/en/Nu-Nale-Nail-Strengthening-Cream-30ml_1038066/