We at Shine Church Street and Newington Green Salons in London, N16 know that one of the essential beauty routines to maintain during the summer months, are for nail care.
If you go to a traditional doctor in China or India, they will examine your nails to see if they are too fragile, flat, deformed, soft, big or too thick. They will also see if you have depressed grooves or horizontal threads, or if your nails are too white or yellow. And this is just the beginning of the nail analysis that forms part of their diagnosis of a person’s health condition.
To some extent nails- like hair, are an outward sign of what’s going on inside the body. Having said that, there is still a lot we can do to improve the condition of our nails. Sometimes this barely crosses our minds and for some reason we mainly focus on waxing our legs or applying sun protection on our face and body.
However, well-groomed nails will give you a polished and healthy look where you can radiate pure elegance.
Embrace the sunny season while keeping your digits healthy and well hydrated. Growing your healthiest nails starts with your every day habits:
Filing Facts
We all hate a broken nail. To avoid this make sure you get a soft nail file to prevent splitting and tearing of the nail. Just make sure to file down your nails in one direction. Do not file back and forth as this will cause your nails to split or peel. Start from the outer edge and move using long but gentle strokes to the centre.
Supplements
Look for nail supplements and watch your diet – The B-complex vitamin Biotin (vit.B7) is very important for nail growth and it promotes healthy cell growth. Its deficiency can cause breakage or peeling of the nail. Either get a B7 supplement or up your diet on biotin rich foods like salmon, avocado, nuts, seeds, cauliflower and sweet potato.
Remember to include lots of protein based foods into your diet, as they are essential for maintaining healthy nails. Also remember the cliche to drink lots and lots of water – it definitely works!
Keep your nails short
If your nails are weak, make sure you shorten the length until you build up their strength. Shorter nails are less prone to breaking, because there is less chance of any chemicals or water being absorbed into them.
Warmer weather means your nails will grow more quickly, so it’s important to pay attention to the length – especially of your toenails. Imagine your big toenail is really long, and you’re walking around in your open toe shoes/sandals and you hit your toe right at the nail. The nail injury will leave you open to an infection that you can pick up easily in public pools, yoga places etc and combined with hot weather, the perfect breeding ground for bacteria into the mix, and it won’t be nice.
Wear gloves when you wash dishes or do gardening. – so simple but easily forgotten.
Wear sunscreen
Applying SPF is important for your skin, but for your nails too. Apply the lotion before you go outside, deep into the cuticles to keep the nails moisturised. This will help to avoid cracking and maintain their health.
If you don’t have time for a manicure, applying hydrating and strengthening oils can prevent the nails from peeling and becoming weak. You could try the below homemade recipe or try the OPI Natural Nail Strengthener – it’s formulated to make your nails grow stronger.
Homemade nail strengthener blend:
2 teaspoons rice bran oil
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
10 drops evening primrose seed oil
1 teaspoon moringa oil
8 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops rosemary essential oil
Make applying cuticle oil or hand moisturiser a part of your routine, if you want to avoid common nail problems like cuticle picking and peeling.
Use softener to gently push the cuticles back, then apply the cuticle oil regularly to keep them soft instead of cutting them, which when done incorrectly, can cause accidental cuts and unwanted bacteria.
Homemade cuticle softener:
10 drops jojoba oil
5 drops camellia seed oil
10 drops olive squalene oil
2 drops ho wood essential oil
Massage well into the cuticle. If you’re unfortunate enough to have a fungal infection of the nails, replace the 2 drops of the ho wood essential oil in the blend with all 5 drops of essential oil in the blend below:
2 drops lavender
1 drop oregano
2 drops tea tree
I love using roller ball applicators for the essential oils, as they are small and easy to carry around.
Another thing you could try is DIY olive oil, coconut oil, organ oil, vitamin E oil or castor oil nail soak. It does miracles. Soak each hand for about 10mins, ideally at night before going to bed.
Use a great colour to complete your look – Do you have a big variety of different colours and always end up using the same one? To help you out we have narrowed the list and chosen the brightest and happiest colours on trend this summer.
Here are Shine, Church Street and Newington Green, London, N16’s favourite OPI and Shellac beauties:
Exotic Birds Don’t Tweet, Orange You A Rock Star, Music Is My Muse, CND Shellac Coquette.
If you don’t have time for DIY at home, you can rely on our beauty therapists to get your nails summer ready!
Also to complete your summer look for the month of July we are offering with every Eyelash Lift a FREE eyebrow tint and £5 off the treatment. (patch test required)
