My Nails Gross Me Out. Let's Fix That.

April 18, 2013 10:44 AM

Hand gurus of MeFi, help me. My nails are disgusting. Soft, peeling, split, easily prone to breaking. They didn't used to be like this, and I miss my old, healthy nails. What to do?

Growing up, my nails were always gorgeously healthy. They grew easily and never peeled or split. My mom would talk about her terrible nails that just wouldn't grow, and I would beam at mine with pride and love.

Well, I had a baby last year, and ever since then, my nails have been tragic. They're pathetically soft, split, peeling, rough, and break when I look at them wrong. (For what it's worth, pregnancy didn't really seem to change my hair or nails or make them exceptional, like some of my friends reported.) My hair is also really dry, but I did get it lightened and ombre-d recently, so that might be the cause of the hair thing.

Here's what I'm doing: I take mad vitamins. A prenatal vitamin, fish oil, calcium-magnesium, and vitamin D. I drink spinach smoothies every morning. I have a nail and cuticle "conditioner" oil that I use like crazy, and I moisturize my hands multiple times a day. I have tried using a Sally Hansen "hard as nails" type strengthener, but it almost works too well, making my nails so hard that they snap if I hit them against something accidentally.

Here's what I don't do: sleep. I'm super busy and often stressed with balancing parenting and working from home. I don't polish them regularly, so they're often "naked" when I'm not trying a nail strengthener. And I do a lot of work in the kitchen, so I'm often using my hands and they're in and out of water. But all of these things have been true for years, and it's only recently that this has become a big problem.

What's the deal? Is this just a post-baby hormone thing? Age? My genetic destiny catching up with me? More importantly, what's the fix? Lotions, potions, dietary additions...I'm willing to try it all.

posted by Bella Sebastian to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Best answer: I know you already take mad vitamins, but maybe you could add biotin, known as the "hair, skin, and nails" vitamin?
posted by ablazingsaddle at 10:52 AM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

I used to have terrible peeling nails that would never grow. I have lovely long nails now, and the only thing I did was to stop painting them altogether (I did once a couple months ago and it took a while for my nails to recoop), stopped putting ANYTHING on them (no special hardeners etc) and I started wearing rubber gloves to do anything in water. Water seems to eff up my nails in a hurry. When I take a bath I try to keep my hands out of the water too. I also use a glass file to keep them tidy. I file them a little probably every day, just to smooth them out and keep them looking nice.

and to echo ablazingsaddle, I starting taking biotin for a while too. Only maybe a month but that seemed to sort of jumpstart my nice nails.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 10:52 AM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

You may be washing your hands and bathing the baby quite a bit, and your nails and hands might be really dry. I live in Maine where winter is cold and everything gets really dry. My nails split, break and peel. My cuticles get cracked and even bleed. I use Bert's Bees Cuticle Creme, and a serious hand lotion, but what really works is spring & higher humidity.
posted by theora55 at 10:52 AM on April 18, 2013

I first took the hair, skin, and nail vitamin from CVS, but about 6 months ago I started taking 5000 mcg of biotin a day and my nails have never been stronger. I also noticed they break less when they are painted. (which is funny and must be super subjective considering the advice above :) Also moisturizer, and use gloves with cleaning products (which I never remember to do.)
posted by Sayuri. at 10:56 AM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I can't speak to the "why," but I've tried all the Sally Hansen junk and now I swear by OPI Nail Envy. It makes a huge difference in the health of my nails. I wear it religiously now, typically without polish-- and before, I was the kind of person who couldn't not wear polish because my nails were so bad.
posted by samthemander at 10:56 AM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Biotin deficiency in the first world is actually incredibly rare. Calcium (and related vitamin D), protein, omega-3 and iron deficiencies are much more likely.

Are you breastfeeding? weakened nails are a pretty common side effect of breastfeeding. All your mad vitamins are going to your baby instead of you : /
posted by amaire at 11:24 AM on April 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

There was this AskMe from a similarly nailed gal. Might be some ideas in that thread as well.
posted by Katine at 11:42 AM on April 18, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far. And good question amaire--I stopped breastfeeding about 3 weeks ago, so maybe they will gradually improve. And thanks for the link Katine--I searched but didn't see that thread. Keep the good ideas coming!
posted by Bella Sebastian at 12:01 PM on April 18, 2013

Best answer: I was distressed at the increasing amount of hair loss due to getting older and possibly just being stressed and unhealthy so I started taking 5000 mcg Biotin daily and have seen significant improvement! I hardly lose hair in the shower, it's growing long (it's the longest I've ever had it) and my nails are stronger. One thing though - not all Biotin supplements are created equal. I've tried around 5 different brands at the same dosage and I see a difference in effectiveness. Personally, I've had best results with Natrol brand which I buy on Amazon and do not recommend the dissolve-under-tongue kinds or even the more expensive brands from natural foods stores though YMMV.
posted by loquat at 12:24 PM on April 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

I second the rec for Nail Envy--my nails got weirdly peely last year and it helped a lot!
posted by leesh at 1:03 PM on April 18, 2013

Best answer: I have had soft, splitting nails most of my life, but periodically, like twice a year for about 6 weeks, i would have amazingly strong beautiful nails, which would suddenly all at the same time deteriorate within a week to being brittle again. I would also have very dry scaly cuticles. I researched a lot and take a lot of vitamins, which helped but again, it was sporadic. I think I may have finally figured out which nutrient I may be deficient: tyrosine. I started taking 1000 mgs/day in November last year as recommended by a book about depression, my nails grew. I stopped taking the tyrosine because it ran out and I didn't pick another bottle up for a month or so. All the while, I had been dosing up big time on B vitamins, Ester-C, D, K, Mg, Fish Oil and tryptophan. During the month I wasn't taking tyrosine but taking all the other vitamins, my nails fell apart again. Come late February I started taking the tyrosine again and my nails are again pretty good again and have been so for two months now. Cuticles are not dry and peeling either. I may have low thyroid activity, or a mutation in the tyrosine synthesis pathway (PKU is a full blown deficiency in converting phenylalanine to tyrosine, but I suspect there may be a spectrum of amino acid metabolic disorders, many likely imperceptible) that makes tyrosine supplementation helpful for me, but I'm really just making this up based on some internet reading. My previous experience with intermittent nice nails may have been due to changes in diet, etc. YMMV. All I know is it has helped me a lot, so far anyway.
posted by waving at 1:30 PM on April 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

After giving birth and breastfeeding for a year, my nails were terrible, just like you describe. After another year, I switched to a copper IUD and they became awesome.

(Several years prior to that, I had a time when I was off birth control for a year and my nails became super strong).

I guess the question is, do you take birth control? If yes, the vitamins are not going to help, getting off hormonal birth control will. I can't recommend Paragard (the only non-hormonal IUD available) enough.
posted by rada at 1:56 PM on April 18, 2013

Ever been around people who have horses? They usually have great nails. Why? Because the hoof ointment they use on their horses gets absorbed into their nails too. I had nails that were badly affected by psoriasis a few years ago - they were thin and peeling - and some hoof ointment really did the trick in repairing my nails and making them strong and healthy again.
posted by essexjan at 2:19 AM on April 19, 2013

Response by poster: Thank you all! I appreciate all of the suggestions. I've marked as best answer the ones that I'm going to try first--biotin supplements (thanks to loquat for a specific brand rec), and OPI Nail Envy, and if those don't do the trick I'll try tyrosine (and maybe then hoof ointment) as well.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 3:44 PM on April 19, 2013

Response by poster: Follow-up: after 3 months, my nails are looking AWESOME! I added Biotin to my daily vitamin routine and have also been vigilant about using OPI's Nail Envy. I usually have my nails painted in addition to the Nail Envy, but I make sure my nails are never "naked." They are much, much stronger than they were, and have just a little cracking/splitting at the tips, but are really so much improved. I abuse them in the kitchen all day every day, so it's a minor miracle. Thanks all!
posted by Bella Sebastian at 9:01 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]