Nailing It the First Time

I had noticed recently that my nails have become quite dry.  I also noticed that I've developed lots of vertical ridges.  Ugh!  I'd heard once that ridges on your fingernails can indicate certain health problems.  Of course, being the hypochondriac that I am, I had to do a little research to check it out and discovered that, generally speaking, vertical ridges are pretty common and quite a typical development as we age.  Don't you just LOVE all the benefits of aging?  It's when you start noticing horizontal ridges on your fingernails that you might want to point them out to your doctor.

I also did a little poking around to see what products might be out there to help with nail conditioning.  I settled on two different products.  The first was from Bert's Bees, a long-time favorite brand of mine.  It's Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.  I rub it into and around my nails each morning.  It's quite light and absorbs quickly into the area.  The second product is Solar Oil from Creative Nail Design.  That's a little heavier duty so I apply that to the base of each nail at bedtime and then rub it on each nail and around the nail area and then work any excess down on my hands.  It's part of my nighttime routine at the sink, after brushing my teeth and cleaning my face.  By the time I go upstairs to crawl into bed, it's pretty much absorbed into the skin.

Boy, have these products made a difference.  My nails no longer are dry-looking at all.  Any hangnails I used to develop are no longer in evidence, either.  Too bad it can't take care of misshapen, arthritic fingers but, hey....you can't have everything, eh?

On a fun note, several years ago Avon used to sell peel-off fingernail polish.  I loved the stuff.  I'm hopeless when it comes to applying fingernail polish out of a bottle.  Sadly, Avon discontinued selling it so I was back to muddling along with bottled polish.  But lately I discovered that peel-off polish is making a comeback.

These are some nails from Sally Hansen.  You get a variety of sizes for each hand and you also get an instruction sheet, fingernail file and little wooden stick to use on your cuticles and to use when applying the nail polish.  It's basically peel and stick on.  You remove them with simple nail polish remover.  When I was at the drugstore the other day, I saw all kinds of fun designs.  I have another set with flowers and little rhinestones just waiting for another week.  Whee!

Enjoy!