If you've always wanted long, strong fingernails but they break when you try to grow them, strengthen your nails with home remedies. By reducing breakage and strengthening your nails, your fingernails will grow longer without snags, tears or brittle edges. Keeping your nails trimmed short for several weeks while strengthening your nails will help maintain a strong, solid foundation when you do decide to grow them long.
Biotin
Eating cauliflower may make your nails stronger and grow longer, says says Richard Scher, M.D., professor of dermatology and head of the Nail Section at Columbia University-Presbyterian Medical Center. Cauliflower contains biotin, which thickens nails and prevents breakage. Other foods that are high in biotin include lentils and peanuts, says "The Doctors Book of Home Remedies." Consuming 2,500 micrograms of biotin in supplement form also may help nails grow stronger and longer.
Cooking Oil
Rubbing cooking oil on the nails will help moisturize and strengthen them, says Herbert Luscombe, M.D., professor emeritus of dermatology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Nails that are dry, brittle and split or break easily need moisture to help keep them strong. Pour a small amount of cooking oil, like vegetable oil or canola oil, into a clean, empty nail polish bottle, then brush the oil on your nails. Apply a drop of oil underneath your nail. Massage your nails with your fingertips to distribute the oil.
Vitamin Enforcing Polish
Apply a store-bought enforcing nail polish that contains vitamins, recommends manicurist Tish Rourke in Cosmopolitan magazine. Choose a reinforcing polish that contains vitamins A, C, D and E for the most strength. Reapply the polish as needed if the nails look chipped. Resist the urge to pick or peel the nail polish. When you pick at your nail polish, some of the nail will come off with it, weakening the fingernail.
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