Nails grow slowly, no more than 3-4 millimeters per month. If you dream of having them long and elegant, knowing that they grow so slowly could be very frustrating. Unfortunately, not much can be done to accelerate their natural growth. However, you can prevent damage to keep them strong and healthy so they reach their maximum growth potential in a week.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Protect Nails to Prevent Breakage
Step 1. Don't bite your nails
It might seem like a foregone conclusion, but its importance needs to be underlined. If you bite your nails, it is impossible for them to become long and strong. Therefore, you can try to lose this bad habit with a few simple tricks:
- Apply bitter-tasting nail polish to your nails. You can buy it at the pharmacy or online.
- Distract yourself with a different habit or activity. For example, when you feel the urge to bite your nails, try playing with a stress ball or chewing sugar-free gum.
- Prevent the factors that push you to bite your nails. For example, you may have a tendency to nibble on them when you are bored or stressed, so try to indulge in a relaxing or fun pastime when you feel the need to put your hands to your mouth.
Step 2. Keep your nails dry to prevent them from weakening
When they are wet, they automatically become softer and weaker. Try to keep them dry as much as possible if you want them to stretch and reduce the risk of them breaking.
- For example, dry them well with a towel immediately after taking a shower or swimming in the pool.
- Wear rubber gloves when washing dishes or doing household chores that require you to get your hands wet.
Step 3. Moisturize the cuticles
While it's important that your nails stay dry, cuticles can become brittle and break if they dry out excessively. You can keep the skin around your nails well hydrated by applying a cream to your hands and cuticles daily.
- Petroleum jelly-based moisturizers are among the most effective for keeping the skin on your hands well hydrated.
- You can also protect and moisturize your cuticles with a vegetable oil, such as apricot, sweet almond or cocoa butter.
- The cuticles should be moisturized regularly, especially during the winter months or after using an aggressive product, which dries the skin, such as acetone.
Step 4. File your nails to give them a natural shape
By shaping them the right way with the file you can prevent them from breaking or flaking. Give them a slightly rounded or square shape.
- Move the file smoothly and in one direction, otherwise the nails will have uneven edges. Move the file first from one end of the nail towards the center, then from the center towards the other end.
- Glass or crystal files are gentler on nails than metal or cardboard files.
Step 5. Make a simple manicure
Applying too many different products on your nails (including strengthening polish) risks dehydrating them and making them even more fragile. Also, if you go to beauty salons too often, you can run the risk of contracting a bacteria or fungal infection that could damage your nails. While you wait for them to grow and stretch, it's best to avoid using nail polish to give them a chance to breathe.
Nail polish removers significantly dehydrate nails. If you don't want to give up having colored them, use an acetone-free moisturizing solvent
Warning:
do not push the cuticles back and do not cut them. If you get a manicure in a beauty salon, ask that your cuticles be left untouched. They have the task of protecting the nails, so it is important that they are intact and strong.
Step 6. Treat conditions that can adversely affect nail health
Some diseases, such as diabetes and psoriasis, can damage and weaken the nails. If you have been diagnosed with any of these conditions, see your doctor and do everything you can to treat it and keep your symptoms under control. By treating the causes that weaken your nails, you can eliminate the problem at its source.
- Take the medications prescribed by your doctor and undergo all the recommended checks.
- If you suffer from a disease that impacts blood circulation, such as diabetes, gently massaging your hands can improve blood flow and promote nail health.
Method 2 of 2: Promote Nail Health
Step 1. Follow a calcium-rich diet
There is still no firm evidence that calcium strengthens nails, however people with a calcium deficiency or who suffer from a disease related to calcium deficiency may notice positive changes in how nails grow by making minor changes. to the diet. Regardless of the effects on the nails, calcium is a vital element for the health of the whole body.
The best sources of calcium include dairy products (such as milk, yogurt, and cheese), canned fish (with bones, such as salmon and sardines), calcium-fortified soy products, and green-colored vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage and beet leaves)
Step 2. Make sure you are meeting your daily protein requirement
Nails are made up of keratin, a type of protein. By getting enough from your diet, you can make your nails stronger and healthier. Protein is essential for the health of all tissues in the body, including those of bones, muscles, skin and hair. The best protein sources include:
- Fish and lean meats, such as poultry;
- The eggs;
- Dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt;
- Legumes, nuts and seeds.
Step 3. Try taking a biotin supplement to promote nail health
It is unclear whether biotin (otherwise known as vitamin B7) can actually make nails grow faster, but it can make them stronger if they are weak and tend to break easily. Check with your doctor to find out if a biotin supplement might be helpful for you.
You can take biotin in supplement form, but you can also get it from a wide range of foods, for example it is present in cattle liver and other organs, egg yolks, salmon, brewer's yeast, avocados., in sweet potatoes and in different varieties of nuts and seeds
Warning:
in general, you should consult your doctor before taking any type of supplement. Biotin can interact negatively with some medications, so it is vital that your doctor knows which medications you are taking.
Step 4. Ask your doctor to find out if you have a vitamin deficiency
Lack of certain vitamins can make nails weak, misshapen, or prone to break easily. If they are fragile and you have difficulty growing them, make an appointment with your doctor to determine if you have a vitamin deficiency. If so, a multivitamin supplement could make your nails stronger, longer, and healthier.
