They look relatively simple, but there are actually six component parts to each fingernail.
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We bite them. We rely on them to peel fruit. We pop open cans with them. That’s a lot to ask of something smaller than a postage stamp. Made from the same type of protein as hair. Our fingernails are made of a protein called keratin, and there’s more to them than meets the eye.
Each of our nails is made up of six parts. The nail fold is the ridge of skin around the nail. The part we can see and normally call a fingernail (or toenail) is called the nail plate. Beneath the nail plate is the nail bed, which nourishes the nail. That half-moon-shaped area at the base of your nail is called the lunula, and it’s part of the nail matrix. The nail matrix is at the base of each nail, although you can’t see it — it’s below the cuticle, a fold of skin made of dead cells that keeps bacteria from getting in. The matrix makes the cells needed to grow your nails. The most common complaints we have about our nails is that they are brittle, they’ve developed an infection or we’ve injured them. You don’t need to rely on a mani-pedi to keep your fingers and toes looking good if you follow some basic at-home tips to help keep all of your finger and toenails healthy all year long. Let’s start with at-home remedies (and preventative tips) for brittle, easily broken nails.
Contents
Remedies for brittle, easily broken nails
Nail trauma: A Thumb-nail Sketch
Nothing Fun About Fungus
Supplements: beneficial or bunk?
Underlying disease? How Your Nails Might Help With Diagnosis
5: Remedies for brittle, easily broken nails
Brittle nails that split, peel and break easily are a common complaint.
Brittle nails can happen because nails are too dry, but they can also happen if nails are too soft. Because of this, health care professionals often have two recommendations: Apply light moisturizer daily, and avoid harsh chemicals.
In addition to keeping nails hydrated, experts recommend we avoid exposing them to harsh chemicals, including cleaning products and acidic foods, such as lemons and oranges. When working or cleaning, UV water sterilizer wear gloves to protect your skin and nails from damage — use vinyl gloves for wet work and cotton for dry work.
Hydrated Nails: How Moist is Too Moist?Keeping nails moisturized isn’t the same thing as keeping them moist. Where things turn ugly is when nails have prolonged exposure to water (for example, inside a sweaty shoe) — moist nails are very attractive to bacteria.
4: Nail trauma: A Thumb-nail Sketch
Your fingernails and toenails are there to help prevent injury to your digits, so from time to time your nails are likely to get injured in the line of duty (or in the strike line of a hammer’s head). Nail injuries can cause bruising, infection and may sometimes stunt nail growth.
Keeping your nails short can help prevent nail injury because you’ll be less likely to snag a nail or separate it from the nail bed. And while you can’t always prevent an accidental injury such as shutting your finger in a door or drawer, you can help reduce the risk of nail bed trauma with a little common sense: Don’t use your fingernails as if they were tools.Here are some fast facts about your nails: Your fingernails grow faster than your toenails. About one-eighth of an inch of new fingernail emerges every month. Fingernails also grow faster on your dominant hand, as do the nails on your middle and ring fingers (your longest fingers).
3: Nothing Fun About Fungus
Although yeast and other fungi and bacteria are equal-opportunity nail invaders, it’s more likely you’ll develop a fungal infection in your toenails than your fingernails. This is generally because the fungus that causes an infection in a nail is the same as the one that causes athlete’s foot. Athlete’s foot is a common infection; it can develop quickly in warm, moist places, such as inside your socks.
To help prevent fungal infections from invading your nails, keep all nails and cuticles clean and dry with a baking soda scrub, don’t bite your nails or pick at hangnails (which can open the door to a fungal or bacterial infection), and treat ingrown nails with saltwater soaks to keep them clean and infection-free.
Make Nail Trimming a SnapLooking for an easier way to trim your nails? Soak nails in a warm saltwater solution for 5 to 10 minutes, and then give them a trim.
2: Uv Water Sterilizer Supplements: beneficial or bunk?
Bananas are one of many natural sources of nail-boosting biotin.
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Wish there were a magic pill to make nails strong and healthy, and keep them that way?
While it’s not a magic pill, some studies have found that the vitamin biotin may help build nail thickness and hardness while reducing the chance of splitting. And for people with brittle, soft nails, this could seem like magic. An easy way to boost your biotin intake is with a supplement, but foods many of us eat every day are also rich in the B vitamin, water treatment parts from salmon to carrots to bananas. While some consider calcium to be beneficial for nails, no scientific studies have found that to be true. And those claims that soaking your fingernails in gelatin will boost their strength and length? Well, that’s just bunk.
1: Underlying disease? How Your Nails Might Help With Diagnosis
Your nails may be telling more than when you had your last manicure. They may be cluing you. Your doctor in to potential health problems. For example, pitted nails may indicate undiagnosed psoriasis. Spoon nails (when the nails curve away from the nail bed to form a spoon shape) may give away an anemic condition, while clubbed nails (typified by an extreme, rounded curvature of the nail) may occur in people with cardiopulmonary disease or asthma.
Before you worry about every bruised nail bed and every hangnail, though, remember that most nail injuries and problems don’t lead to a diagnosis of lung disease or anemia. Most of the time, a bruised nail is just a bruised nail. If you notice changes in your nail health, texture or growth, visit your health care professional to determine the cause and treatment. Avoid polishes and other nail products that contain formaldehyde, avoid the glue used to apply artificial nails, and avoid or reduce your use of acetone-containing products such as some polish removers. All these things can cause dryness, irritation and allergic reactions in some people. And don’t get your cuticles cut — cutting them opens the door to bacteria and infection.
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