NAILS, NATURALLY
A few days ago, I've stumbled upon an article from a magazine (om beginnings) about nail care; and I would like to share it with you.
Don't nibble your nails, nurture them instead with a natural manicure, says OM's organic expert Sam Burlton
We use them all the time, bur many of us fail to give our hands any sort of care and attention at all. We lovingly slather on the lotions and potions to keep our faces young and beautiful, protect them from the sun and dutifully use our scrubs and masks. But how often do we give our hands the same care? Make time for a little bit of home hand care and it will pay dividends.
Little and often
It doesn't have to be complicated: buy a few tubes of organic hand cream and leave them in strategic places, your desk, handbag, next to the sink, and then apply each time you see the tube. Soon your hands will be looking better, feeling softer and you'll e well on the way to improving your nails too.
Intense moisture hit
At the very least keep a really rich organic hand cream or hand balm next to your bed and apply some each night before going to to sleep. That way your hands will get a little at least once a day.
File sparingly
File your nails little and often with a gentle glass or emery board. Keep several about the house or desk so the minute you feel a snag or rough edge you can smooth it our properly rather than resorting to nibbling. Never use a metal file - they're too harsh.
Scrub until smooth
Exfoliate your hands once or twice a week. Pour a teaspoonful of salt into your palm, mix in a little oil (plain vegetable oil or your favourite body oil) and massage together. Rub over the backs of your hands and between the fingers as well as the palms, and around the fingertips too.
Cuticle care
If you care for your hands regularly, you'll find the cuticles look great without much effort. If you do anything, simply massage in a few drops of cuticle oil and use an orange wood stick to gently push them back.
Limit polish
There's no such things as totally natural nail varnish. In my experience, water-based ones don't work, and for me, unless a product does its job properly there's no point using it. The most natural finish for your nails is to gently buff them to a natural shine. which on well cared for nails looks like a beautiful French polish.
WHY IS BASE COAT SO IMPORTANT?
Every time I think about not
using base coat, a shiver runs down my spine. Let me tell you a story.
This happened to me, way
before the Internet was invented. I had discovered this amazing colour by, a
brand that you probably have never heard about, Cibelle. It was a pale pink
that looked wonderful on my long nails. Every week, I removed this nail polish
off my nails, only to paint them again with the same colour. I did this for
weeks. Until one day I looked at my nails and was horrified. They were yellow, they looked as if they had
been burnt. My mum accused me of smoking while I, ferociously, blamed my nail
polish remover.
Fast forward to the 21st
century. I decided to investigate why it is so important to apply a base coat.
1 – Protects the nail plate
Nail polishes are made with
chemicals and like all chemicals they can cause some kind of reaction with
one’s body. Usually they react with our
bodies by burning our nails and therefore creating this yellowish look. This
reaction can be more acute with some nail varnishes and with others it may
never occur. So, the first reason why you should apply a base coat is to
protect your nails from unwanted stain.
2 - Protect the nails from
splitting or chipping
Some base coats are designed
to condition the nails, such as vitamin E, calcium, ridge filler, keratin, etc.
If applied regularly, this protects the nails from splitting or chipping and as
a consequence of healthier nails, it encourages them to grow faster.
3 – Helps all sort of nail
polishes to stick better to the nail plate
After verifying that applying
a base coat protected my nails from undesirable staining, I also realised that
my nail art lasted longer without chipping. I did another investigation and
found out that base coats actually help the nail polish to adhere better to
your nail plate, making your manicure last a lot longer (this only happens if,
in addition to a base coat, you also apply a top coat to protect the design.)
I don’t buy those bottles
that claim to be a top coat as well as a base coat. They are different things,
with different functions. I don’t think 2 in 1 products do both jobs properly.
Always apply a base coat
after doing your basic manicure: trimming, filing, buffing and priming.
A base coat should dry a lot
quicker than a regular nail polish and remain slightly sticky to the touch. The
most common ones are pink and according to my experience they work better if
you apply only one coat instead of 2.
Nevertheless, applying a base
coat doesn’t mean that your nails won’t stain, it just means that they won’t
stain so much.
HOW TO FILE YOUR NAILS (for
natural nails)
I’m afraid, this is another lesson I’ve
learnt the hard way. I always filed my nails on both directions (from the
corner to the centre and from the centre to the corner). And no matter how much
TLC I did, my nails were brittle and chipped very easily. Until one day I decided
to buy an electric nail file system. It didn’t take long to realise that my
nails were stronger. A few years later, I read an article saying that there is
indeed a right way to file your nails, and only ONE way.
1 – Clip your nails, if
necessary
Clip your nails to desire length leaving
a square edge.
2 – Choose an appropriate
file
Natural nails require a finer grit than
artificial nails. Some files will have the grit marked on it. The higher the
number, the finer the grit.
Also, choose a nail file with 2 different
grits: coarser for initial shaping and finer for finishing touches.
There are loads of files in the market,
such as: emery board, garnet file, 4 way buffer, permanent file, such as
glass or diamond file.
3- Start filing on a slight
angle
Choose the type of shape you want - round, oval, pointed, square, squoval. Then hold the file at a slight angle at one corner of your nail. Always moving from the corner
to the centre start filing your nails applying light pressure. Repeat this step
a few times. Do the same on the other side, always stroking from the corner to
the centre. This method should be the same either you’re shaping your nails
(coarser grit) or applying the final touches (finer grit).
4 – Final steps
If you have a buffer you can
polish the nail plate. If not, move to the final step which is apply a hand
moisturiser and massage around the nails and nail bed to improve its
circulation and promote faster growth.
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