There aren’t many beauty products that work equally well on both the hair and nails. Obviously, the common link between the two is your body, which usually means your nutrition or environment. But first, you should check your personal care regimens anyway.
Regeneration is Key
“Regeneration” is the key to building up strong hair and nails on the outside, so look for a hair care product and a nail care product that replenishes your body with stem cells and nourishes your system.
Fingernails, like skin, tell a lot about your health. Nail abnormalities like brittle, discoloured, or misshaped nails can be symptoms of a range of problems that are best taken up with your doctor. Serious illnesses are well outside the concern of a beauty article. However, some brittleness of the nails and hair is naturally occurring with ageing.
Nail care tips
Manicurists recommend these basic nail care tips:
- File your nails from the edge to the centre. Rough filing back and forth across the tip weakens them.
- Don’t cut your cuticles. They’re there for a reason, to prevent infections from taking root in your nail bed.
- Don’t pick at or chip old nail polish. Use solvents to remove old polish instead.
- Lay off the hand sanitizer. These contain alcohol, which will dry out your hands and nails. When you do sanitize, keep it away from your nails.
- Don’t use nails as tools. Carrying a pocket tool around for opening letters and picking off labels.
Haircare tips
Salon professionals also notice some tips we could use to improve hair strength:
- Stay away from heat – Hot air dryers, curling irons, and hair straighteners all deliver punishing amounts of heat to your hair. Stick to towel-drying, and be happy with the hair texture you have for a while.
- Avoid tight buns and ponytails – Stressful hairstyles pull and twist your hair follicles, producing unneeded tension. At the least, vary your hairstyle from one day to the next to allow your hair to rest structurally.
- Brush your hair just before bed – This helps to distribute the natural oils in your scalp to keep hair moisturized.
- Avoid damage and splitends by choosing the best Hair Cutting scissors.
Nutrition for stronger nails and hair
“You are what you eat,” as the saying goes, and that applies to nails and hair too. Your hair and nails are made out of keratin, a fibrous structural protein. The same protein also makes feathers, horns, and hooves in the rest of the animal kingdom. To strengthen your hair and nails, your body has to be able to manufacture keratin efficiently.
- Stay hydrated – Your body’s most important resource is always water. Pop, juices, or caffeinated drinks won’t substitute here, because sugar and caffeine will dehydrate you. You need plain old H2O.
- Lean meat – Fish and poultry work best here, but pork or beef will do too. While most of us get more meat than we need, fragile hair and nails can be a symptom that you need some solid protein once in a while.
- Fruits rich in antioxidants – Blueberries, blackberries, grapes, cherries, and plums are all excellent sources of antioxidants, which protect your tissue against damage.
- Fruits rich in vitamins – Especially focus on the B complex series and vitamin C: Oranges, apricots, bananas, and kiwis are among the top sources. When you come down to it, fresh fruit, in general, will usually help in some way.
- Dark leafy green vegetables – Here’s another great reason to eat kale, spinach, broccoli, and other salad leaves rich in iron and folate.
- Other veggies – You get rich vitamin concentrations in bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
- Nuts and seeds – If you find yourself with the urge to snack, pass on the chips and crackers to reach for nuts and seeds. Sunflower seeds and almonds are especially good for replenishing healthy unsaturated fats and trace minerals.
- Legumes – Here’s another great reason to eat lentils, which are practically a miracle food on their own. Most foods from the beans and legumes family will stock you up on biotin, which is another nail and hair building block.
