Top 5 Natural Nail Care Tips

Keeping your nails healthy is an essential part of total body health. Unhealthy nails become weak, dry, brittle, and more prone to breaking. This can be a problem for anyone, but it particularly affects those with longer nails–it is doubly important to keep these healthy and strong. Weak, poorly kept nails are prone to fungal infections as inconvenient and painful breakage. To keep your nails healthy and beautiful, follow these five tips for natural nail care, and remember how much you love your nails the next time you peel a tangerine.

1. Moisturize
   Keeping your nails moisturized will help them keep from becoming dry and brittle, one of the most important steps in making sure they stay strong and healthy. Moisturizing hand lotions are a great start–you may want to consider using one of these if you don’t already. But for extra moisturizing, rub castor oil into your nails once a day. Castor oil is rich in vitamin E, which promotes healthy nails and strong growth.
2. Sea Salt Soak
   If your nails are especially brittle, you should consider a sea salt soak for rapid moisturizing. Stir two tablespoons of sea salt and a few drops of essential lemon oil into a bowl of warm water. Let the salt dissolve completely and soak your nails in the substance for up to fifteen minutes. Go through this ritual two or three times a week, applying hand cream afterward, and watch the rapid results take shape right before your eyes.
3. Cut Out the Acetone
   If you use nail polish regularly, avoid using acetone nail polish removers. Acetone dissolves nail polish very quickly, allowing for fast and easy removal, but that is because it is a very strong solvent. Along with the polish, acetone is also doing a number on your fingernails. It will eat away at your nails and leave them weak, dry, and brittle, undoing every measure you take to keep your nails healthy and strong. Look for alternatives to acetone when shopping for nail polish removers.
4. Beer Soak
   Beer has many unexpected applications for bodily health, most of which do not involve pouring it into your mouth. This magical elixir can be used to help strengthen your nails in a nourishing soak. Using two parts beer to one part olive oil and one part apple cider vinegar, heat up your oil until it is just warm to the touch, then mix in the vinegar and your favorite beer. Soak your fingernails in this solution for up to fifteen minutes to keep your nails strong, healthy, and well nourished.
5. Mind Your Toes
   Don’t get too caught up in all this manicuring business and forget about your toes. Toenails are prone to fungal infections, so be sure to wear cotton socks whenever possible, air out your shoes, and wash and dry your toes thoroughly with each bath or shower. Look into natural toenail fungus treatment if things get out of hand down there, and remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep your toenails clean, keep them trimmed, and let them breathe to stay healthy.