Please give me your tips for lovely nails!

[Flossyfloof]

I have never had nice nails. Tried gel manicures which left them in a dreadful state. I don't use nail polish. My nails grow slowly, break easily but are bendy too. Recently they have grown really nicely. The other positive is that they are nice and white. I don't have any nail routine really. I do sometimes use Avoplex on them.
I am going to a wedding in a few weeks and would love for my nails to be this long by then.
Please can you give me any advice about how to keep then as nice as possible?

Hi flossy. I'm lucky to have naturally strong nails, but since the menopause they've become quite dry and more fragile, so I've had to take more care of them.

My top tip is ALWAYS use rubber gloves for washing up and cleaning, and gardening gloves if you garden . I also keep a hand and nail cream by all basins so I can slather it on every time I wash my hands. Rubbing on almond oil before bed each night will also help.

Good luck.

Thanks very much, Chablis. I have just found some almond oil so I will try that. I do tend to use a lot of hand cream but probably not every time I wash my hands so I will make sure I do.
Washing up? Cleaning? What are these things of which you speak? Chablis is well known to me, however.

There is a thread floating around about Vaseline saying to rub it on every night. Seems to be working for me.

My problem is I am a nail picker so even when I grow them they tend not to last long - as soon as there is an edge or rough bit I can't help it :( for my toes, if I paint them I don't mess with them.

Agree about rubber gloves and hand cream though, and maybe consider a coat of nail hardener (nail envy or Sally Hansen) until the wedding? That would help with the strength.

YOU NEED VASELINE!!!!

On a related now, the whites of my nails are always horrible. They go a sort of greyish translucent colour, and seem to attract huge amounts of dirt (traces of black olives and other cooking things) which I struggle to get out completely.

Eating jelly cubes is supposed to help.

Just rub pretty much anything - whether it's Vaseline or cuticle oil or almond oil or whatever - into your nails once a day.

I find my nails (and hair) improved vastly once I started taking an iron supplement every day.

My nails and hair have been great since I started taking calcium and omega 3's every day too.

My nails have stopped lifting and breaking and grow really fast since I started to take meds for my underactive thyroid and started following a super-strict paleo diet.

The Sally Hansen nail miracle is amazing stuff but you have to apply it every day.

OPI Nail Envy is magic. One or two coats, redo every four or so days. After a couple of weeks, strong, unflaky nails - get from eBay as it's extortionate in Boots. It's fab.

For discoloured nails lemon juice is supposed to be good. Must dry them though? Thanks ever so much for your ideas, I have tried Nail Envy in the past but I felt it went thick really quickly. I still have some from about 5 years ago, maybe I should go and look at it. [Hopeful]
Actually, I tried Prostrong as well. If I remember rightly that didn't work. I know that whatever you do you should do it consistently. If I am honest I probably haven't given things enough of a go. I promise to try.

Here is my thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/2022005-Petroleum-jelly-for-nail-growth-testers-needed

The stuff is miraculous!

I am doing really well with almond oil and also Avoplex, both several times a day. I have some Vaseline as well so I am off to try that! Many thanks, best of luck everyone, it is horrible having not nice nails.

I use lemon oil on my cuticles which really helps. I didn't find avoplex did much.

Vaseline is magic, seriously. I've been putting it one once a days once reading about it on S&B. Noticed the difference immediately and now they are lovely, shiny and strong. I have never ever had nice nails (lifelong eczema sufferer) and still can't quite believe how well this works.