How to Have Beautiful Natural Nails

Beautiful, natural nails start with taking care of them. If your nails are peeling, they are most likely dry and dehydrated. This mainly comes from your hands being in a lot of water or in a lot of harsh, cleaning supplies. Most people never realize that your nails can become dehydrated from being in a lot of water, since water is hydrating. What happens, though, is that your nails are being stripped of their natural oils.

To solve this problem, two simple things will help. One, you should be using a cuticle oil at least once a day. It will help your natural nails replace the oils that they have lost. Two, you should wear gloves when your hands are in ANYTHING that you would never consider washing your face with. If you wouldn't put it on your face, it shouldn't be on your hands.

At the Purple Pinkie, we retail Haken oil. As you would expect, it is PURPLE! It also smells like the beach! Regular use of cuticle oil will not only replace oils, but it will keep your cuticles soft and help to diminish hang nails.

For those of you, who were not blessed with strong natural nails, you can use a system to help strengthen them. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they overuse strengtheners. They are then left with dry, brittle nails, which is a whole new problem

We retail Zoom Nail Food system. It consists of Nail Eat, which is a strengthener and Nail Drink, which is a moisturizer. Depending on if your nails are soft and peeling or dry and brittle, you will start with whichever one you need. You will use it daily for two weeks, then switch to the other one. After four weeks, you will now be in the maintenance period, where you will use one daily for a week and then the other and keep on keeping on! This is one of the best products I have found that will allow you to grow beautiful, natural nails.

Caring for Your Acrylic Nails

Acrylic nails are wonderful, however, the success that you have with them is up to YOU and your at home care. Too often I encounter people who have acrylics that do not take care of them and it creates more work for their technician as well as limits their ability to fully enjoy having beautiful nails.

First, quit picking and playing with them. So often I can tell that someone is picking their nails. It's like the dental hygienist knows if you haven't flossed. I will see someone picking right if front of me and say something only to hear "That's not picking!". Ah, yes it is. Picking, is picking at edges, running your nail under the free edge, separating the nail from the acrylic, all of the above.

Next, keep them out of your mouth! Quit chewing on them! Do you realize that 85% of people have feces under their nails at any given time? It's like having a "Poopsicle" in your mouth!

If you get lifting or lose a nail, for goodness sakes, DON'T glue it! If you trap bacteria between the nail and the acrylic, you WILL get a greenie, which is a bacterial infection. Call to have your nail repaired. If you can't get in to get it repaired, keep the lifting dry or but a band aid on the finger.

You MUST use oil daily. Period. You will FAIL with acrylic nails if you do not oil daily. I do not state this just to sell you oil, heck for two years I gave everyone oil to prove how important it is. Oiling keeps your acrylic flexible. It keeps it from drying out. It keeps your natural nail from curing away from the acrylic. Oil should be applied to cuticles and under the free edge at least twice a day, especially right before bed.

Ask yourself......Is my acrylic brittle, is the free edge of the natural nail pulling away from the acrylic, do my cuticles look crusty? If so, you aren't using enough oil!!

Finally, you MUST wear rubber gloves when your hands are in any harsh cleaning products. A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn't wash your face with it, you should be wearing gloves. Bleaches and cleaners will breakdown the acrylic. I am talking RUBBER gloves, not the latex gloves. If you are wearing latex, you may as well wear nothing. Don't forget gloves when gardening as well!

In conclusion, don't pick, don't chew, don't glue. Wearing acrylic nails and not oiling daily or wearing gloves when cleaning or gardening is like getting $500 of dental work done, then never brushing your teeth again.

Rhonda's Nail Rules

• Treat your nails as jewels, not tools.
• Wear gloves when cleaning or gardening.
• Do not pick acrylic nails off, have them soaked off. When you pick them off, you take a layer of your natural nail with the acrylic, this makes your natural nail very weak. Acrylic does not ruin your nails. Improperly removing acrylic does.
• If you break a nail, do not glue, you run the risk of trapping bacteria on your natural nail and you will end up with a "greenie".
• Electric files are safe for use on your nails, as long as your technician is trained to use them. You should never experience heat, blood or the dreaded ring of fire.
• Use Solar Oil every day, it hydrates the nail to help prevent the natural nail from "curling" away from the acrylic.
• Use care when trimming your toe nails, most trim them too short and trim corners incorrectly, resulting in ingrown toe nails.
• Your nails are like library books, please don't return them damaged!
• Wearing acrylic nails and not wearing gloves or using oil every day is like getting $500 of dental work done and never brushing your teeth again!
• When cleaning, ask yourself "Would I wash my face with that?", if the answer is NO, then you should be wearing gloves!