The nail is a horny plate consisting of keratin protein and provides protection to the finger from various types of damage. This is an important part of the human body, an indicator of human health and proper lifestyle. The strong coating looks smooth and shiny, and its tip is white.
Many people have to deal with the problem of peeling nails. After all, this doesn’t happen just like that. The body signals serious health problems, the presence of certain diseases, and lack of vitamins. This symptom always has some factors, the elimination of which will help avoid trouble.
This is what peeling nails look like
Why do nails peel?
There are many reasons for lamination; they are divided into internal and external. Internal ones, such as diseases, deficiency of any microelements, lie in the human body itself. External ones, for example, negative environmental influences, injuries, influence from the outside.
Note The most compelling reason for plate lamination is the presence of diseases. It is necessary to start with diagnostics, pass the necessary tests, check the internal organs: liver, stomach, pancreas, endocrine and reproductive systems. Metabolism in the body may be disrupted, as well as reduced immunity.
Nails peel due to changes in hormonal levels, increased levels of blood toxicity, and the use of medications, such as antibiotics.
You should consult a doctor
In addition to health problems, there may be a lack of protein, microelements and vitamins. You need to consult a nutritionist who will tell you how to replenish your supply of nutrients and give your body new strength, prescribe a vitamin complex and explain the process of properly taking the drug at home. Basically, vitamins are taken for a long time, at least five months, with short breaks.
The doctor will tell you how to normalize your diet by diversifying it with healthy foods. The main element of healthy plates is protein, found in white and red meat, legumes, and fish. Magnesium is very important, responsible for the production of energy by cells. This drug is not easy to obtain from foods, since the daily dose of magnesium is very high - 400 mg. Therefore, when nails are very peeling, it is necessary to additionally take vitamins containing magnesium. One of the main elements that impart strength is calcium. The source of calcium is milk and dairy products. Other important substances are also needed: chromium, iron, zinc, phosphorus.
Stress is an important factor influencing plate delamination. Under stress, blood circulation is impaired, which limits the access of nutrients to the limbs.
External aggressive factors have a huge impact on fragility and delamination: mechanical load, including improper processing of the plates, hard water, chemical detergents, as well as other sources with which you have to interact in life.
The nail may be infected with a fungus, causing the top layer to turn yellow or black, and the exfoliating plates to break. At the slightest suspicion of a fungus, you need to visit a dermatologist. If it does show up, don’t despair. The main thing is to start treatment on time - a long, difficult and expensive process. However, you should not push the problem inside.
Treatment
Regardless of the reason why your nails are peeling, it is important to begin treating them immediately to prevent further destruction and the appearance of side effects.
The overall recovery course can take up to 3-4 months, since during this time a new, healthy plate grows completely. If you start treatment with an advanced form of the lesion, it will take up to six months.
If the nail bed is peeling, you need to follow a comprehensive treatment, which includes:
- Using home methods (compresses, steaming baths, lotions, masks) to neutralize detachments.
- Taking a vitamin complex and externally applying restorative compounds to the cuticle.
- Balanced nutrition, maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- Proper manicure.
You can do a manicure yourself or contact a cosmetologist, but first make sure of the quality of the consumables and compositions that the master will use.
Folk recipes
When a girl’s nails peel, it is important to do caring manipulations before they are completely rehabilitated, which will quickly eliminate the porous structure of the plate and return it to a glossy, uniform coating.
There are several ways to rehabilitate the plate at home:
- Steam baths. It is recommended to do hand baths daily. To do this, add auxiliary, strengthening components to warm water: iodine, sea salt, essential oils, lemon juice, potassium permanganate.
- Lotions. You can make small lotions for your fingertips. For this purpose, use a cotton pad soaked in a decoction of medicinal herbs, iodine, essential oils or other beneficial liquids.
- Restoring varnishes. You can use special medicinal compositions that are applied to the affected area 2-3 times a week and gradually the surface stops peeling and its microflora is restored.
- Compresses. They are left on the fingertips overnight, allowing the nutrients to act more effectively on the damaged area. Recipes for compresses can be found on the Internet.
The main advantage of using homemade recipes when your natural manicure is peeling off is absolute safety, since the products applied have natural ingredients that cannot cause harm.
In addition, there are no restrictions or prohibitions on carrying out such manipulations, so a woman can combine techniques herself, choosing the best option for quickly healing the porous structure and strengthening it.
Vitamins
To ensure that the recovery effect is not temporary, you need to pay attention to saturating the matrix (base) with vitamins and nutrients. To do this, doctors prescribe the use of vitamin formulations in two ways:
- Outer. Applying regular vitamins in the form of capsules to the cuticle and the nail plate itself. They need to be rubbed with massage movements into the skin to ensure complete penetration of microelements.
- Interior. You should definitely take a course of vitamins to boost local immunity from the inside, which will prevent your nails from peeling.
To prevent your manicure from peeling off, you cannot neglect nutrients and microelements, since due to the modern pace of life, girls’ hands often become dehydrated and they suffer from a lack of nutrients.
Manicure
You definitely need to pay attention to your manicure. To do this, it is recommended not to do it often - once a week is enough, which affects the rate of natural nail growth.
Before carrying out work, it is recommended to make a steaming bath with the addition of essential oils to ensure the effectiveness of the procedures performed.
After this, follow the technology:
- Prepare the instruments you use and treat them with an antiseptic.
- Clean your hands by washing them or applying an antiseptic.
- Use a highly abrasive file to file off the free edge and adjust the shape of the nail. It needs to be moved in one direction so as not to disturb the arrangement of the layers, which can cause the nails to peel.
- Use a buff or soft file to sand the top surface.
- Use an orange stick or pusher to push back the cuticle and remove it with nippers. You can first soften it with a remover, which often uses hydrogen peroxide.
- Re-treat your hands with antiseptic.
It is important to maintain a sterile procedure, since if you move inaccurately, you can create an open wound, which is at risk of infection.
What to do if your nails peel?
When the horny plates break and exfoliate, you must adhere to certain rules that will change the situation for the better: proper nutrition, healthy eight-hour sleep. Stress, bad habits such as alcohol and smoking, and exposure to harmful substances must be eliminated.
Proper care of records at home is an important component of their restoration. To avoid lamination, you should not use metal files; the file should be glass or ceramic.
If your nails are peeling, you need to avoid cheap varnishes of dubious manufacture, as well as nail polish remover with acetone. At any pharmacy you can purchase a transparent medicinal product for strengthening and restoring the stratum corneum, containing moisturizing substances, proteins and vitamins.
Note: All housework should be done wearing protective gloves, and then lubricate your hands with nourishing, rich cream and cuticle oil.
Beauty salons offer treatments that “seal” the nail. Perhaps this is a way out of the situation, although sometimes, after removing the protective film, the plate peels off with renewed vigor.
A real option to strengthen the horny plates and prevent lamination when they break is baths. They are easy, quick and inexpensive to make, and the effect from them is almost the same as from salon products. To achieve the desired result, this procedure is done three times a week.
Traditional methods
When the cause of the unhealthy condition of the nails has been identified, the necessary consultation with a specialist has been carried out, you can try home treatment with traditional medicine. They give good results in eliminating brittleness and delamination of the nail plate. The duration of baths and hand masks ranges from 15 minutes to half an hour and is recommended to be performed at night.
Wax mask for nails
Melt a piece of wax in a water bath and cool slightly so as not to get burned. Take turns dipping the tip of each finger into liquid wax and allowing the wax to harden on the nail. Leave it on all night, and in the morning the remaining wax is removed.
From clay
Blue clay powder is diluted in warm olive oil and 3-4 drops of iodine are added to the mixture. The resulting mass is spread on the nail plate and wait 20 minutes. The mask is made daily for one week.
With salt
It is recommended to perform three times a week. Strengthens nails and stimulates blood circulation. It is advisable not to wash your hands for some time after the procedure.
Dilute 1 tbsp to ½ liter of warm water. l. salt (sea or table) and add 2 drops of some medicinal oil: lemon, pine nuts, pine, tea tree, etc. Keep your hands in the bath, lightly massaging, for about 15 minutes.
Gelatinous
Brew 1 tbsp in a glass of boiling water. gelatin powder. Wait until it cools down and the temperature becomes comfortable for immersing your fingers. Duration of immersion in a gelatin bath is up to 30 minutes. Apply every other day.
Healing oils
Before going to bed, rub medicinal oils into the nail plate. Sea buckthorn, jojoba, castor, and avocado oils are good.
If the nails break not only on the hands but also on the feet, then you can use rubbing medicated oils
You should rub it not only into the nail plate, but also into the skin surrounding the nail and cuticle.
Bath with vitamin A
Add vitamin A (1 ampoule) and lemon juice to warm vegetable oil and stir. Keep your hands in the resulting mixture for a quarter of an hour. To enhance the effect, rub the mixture into the skin around the nail and directly into the nail itself, then put gloves on your hands and leave overnight.
With green tea and chamomile
Mix ½ tbsp. brewed green tea leaf and dried chamomile flowers (200 ml of boiling water per 1 tablespoon of chamomile).
Paraffin
Usually this procedure is done in a salon, but it is not difficult to perform a paraffin wrap yourself.
300 g of pharmaceutical paraffin must be carefully melted in a water bath and cooled slightly. It is advisable to first prepare your hands for this procedure by removing keratinized scales with a scrub and generously lubricating them with a rich, nourishing cream.
Hands should be immersed in liquid paraffin for 10 seconds, then removed and lowered again. Continue the procedure of immersion and removal up to 7 times, after which they put plastic gloves or bags on their hands and wrap them in a terry towel to retain heat.
After half an hour, take off the gloves and remove the remaining paraffin with a napkin. Finally, moisturize your hands with nourishing cream.
Lemon
Dipping your fingertips into a lemon cut in half has a very beneficial effect on the nail plate and also helps whiten it.
With the help of special procedures, nutritional correction and a responsible approach to your health, you can get rid of brittle nails and enjoy beautiful, well-groomed hands. You just need to identify the cause and spare no time for procedures, the regularity of which will please you with the achieved result.
Main types of medicinal baths at home
A bath that will help strengthen your nails
Various essential oils are added to warm water: cedar, pine, bergamot. Immerse your hands in the resulting liquid for several minutes. This procedure can be done even in the hands of a child.
- Mix warm water, celandine infusion, a few drops of iodine and sea salt. The procedure time is ten minutes.
- You can mix some natural red wine and sea salt. The wine must be heated to fifty degrees and mixed with salt. Place your hands in the resulting solution for twenty minutes.
- Take five tablespoons of olive or peach oil, four tablespoons of vinegar and a little white wine. Vinegar is mixed with oil, then wine is added. Hands are dipped into this mass for fifteen minutes and then lubricated with nourishing cream.
To improve the appearance of your hands, experts advise strengthening or extending your nails with gel. This procedure does not cause allergies, is well tolerated and restores the plate.
Masks for healthy nails
Pepper masks are used to speed up nail growth. Mix ten drops of water and half a teaspoon of ground red pepper, add a little nourishing cream, heat the mixture, and then cool. Apply an even layer to the nail plate for 20 minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.
Wax masks. Heat the wax in a water bath, dip your fingertips into it and very quickly transfer it to cool water. Leave the hardened wax on your nails overnight. This will help strengthen them.
Oil masks. Mix one teaspoon each of olive and almond oil, add tomato pulp and four drops of rosemary oil. Gently coat the tips of your fingers with the mixture. Wash off after five minutes. Apply nourishing cream at the end of the procedure.
https://youtu.be/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di2_8YDrHeU
Firming masks with lemon juice and olive oil are made before bed. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add a few drops of lemon juice. Apply the resulting mixture to the nail plate with massaging movements, put on cotton gloves and leave until the morning.
Masks with milk and potatoes. After boiling the potatoes in milk, we will mash them. Apply the mixture while warm for ten minutes.
Banana-cabbage masks. Grind a quarter of the banana with a cabbage leaf. Add a teaspoon of cream and the same amount of honey, stirring until smooth. We keep it for about half an hour.
Why do my toenails peel?
Layering of toenails
As is the case with the hands, the stratum corneum can also delaminate on the feet. The reasons may be the same, but there are certain nuances. This can happen due to shoes that are too narrow and tight, which puts pressure on the plates, causing them to become deformed. The area begins to delaminate, and there is a threat of ingrowth; to prevent this from happening, you should do exercises to improve blood circulation. In addition, the disease can occur due to varicose veins, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor circulation.
When toenails peel, the main source of the problem is a bacterial or fungal infection.
It must be excluded first by contacting a doctor who will prescribe the necessary treatment. A fungal infection most often develops on the big toe. The main symptoms of the disease are: itching of the skin, as well as separation, thickening and darkening of the plates.
Solving health problems
Layering and brittleness of nails can be a consequence of deteriorating health. How to deal with this? A common cause of their unhealthy appearance may be a fungus. Chronic fatigue, lack of sleep, nervous stress, vitamin deficiency weaken the immune system in general and primarily affect the condition of the skin, hair and nails.
In this case, the solution to the problem should be:
- Complete rest after a hard day. Sleep at least 8 hours at night. If due to the operating mode this is not possible, then you need to catch up with him during the daytime;
- Balanced diet. It is imperative to take into account that the concept of a balanced diet is individual for each person. It depends on gender, age, physical activity, and general health. With a properly selected diet, the body receives the substances it needs in the right quantity, and vitamin deficiency - a lack of vitamins and minerals - is also excluded;
- Maintaining a daily routine is very important for your immune system. Staying in the fresh air, orderly sleep and wakefulness, split meals - all these are important components of maintaining good health;
- Improvement of the nervous system. At the initial stages, sedatives at night, relaxing baths with the addition of aromatic oils or decoctions of chamomile, pine needles, and motherwort help well. In cases of depression, only a doctor can help.
More serious causes of brittleness and peeling of nails are problems with the endocrine system, metabolic disorders, diseases of the liver, cardiovascular system, and gastrointestinal tract.
In any case, if the usual nail care procedures do not bring visible improvement after 1 month of use, a health disorder can be suspected. However, you should not make a diagnosis yourself.
First of all, you need to visit a competent dermatologist to rule out fungal diseases.
After a dermatologist, get advice from an experienced therapist. The therapist will prescribe treatment to restore nails or refer the patient to specialized specialists for a more thorough examination.
