Nail-enhancing techniques are useful for daily care of the nails.
Rough, cracked, and irregular nails improve if soaked in warm water for 10 minutes twice daily, and if water-absorbing creams are applied to the moist nails. These chemically enhanced moisturizers, such as Lachydrin, Lacticare, Uremol, Calmurid, contain urea and or lactic acid.
- A glass slide used for microscopic work, obtained from a dermatologist, may be used to smooth and sculpt the nails by rubbing it back and forth across the surface of the nails, causing an erosion of the rough, irregular, or prominent areas.
- Calcium and gelatin supplements do not strengthen nails despite earlier unsupported claims; to the contrary, nails often reflect internal medical problems such as heart, liver, and or kidney disease, as well as subtle changes in early iron and thyroid deficiencies and internal infection. Therefore, unusual problems with nails should be investigated by a physician.
- Regular manicures with a qualified esthetician help to keep the hands looking young and attractive.
- Apply Uremol 10, or Norwegian hand formula lotion, while the hands and feet are still moist. The urea and other agents in these moisturizers act like a sponge to hold the moisture in the skin.
- Open fissures may be irritated by creams that contain urea or lactic acid. To prevent this discomfort, Vaseline may be applied to cuts after soaking and before applying these moisturizers. To speed up softening of the skin, wrap the soaked and creamed hands or feet in plastic sandwich socks or gloves during the night. After removing the plastic or after soaking, use a pumice stone on calloused skin.
- Pedicures by a qualified esthetician regularly help to keep the feet smooth and comfortable as well as attractive.
- Use a nail buffer to remove every trace of oil before going for color. Always use a colorless base coat to seal in color, fill in ridges so that the polish will glide on smoothly, and prevent nails from getting yellow, especially when you’re using a dark color.
Applying Nail Paint
- Start with the little finger and work your way towards the thumb. Apply a thin coat with a quick, light stroke to cover each nail. Allow to dry for five minutes, do the other hand.
- Dip the brush into the polish, removing excess on the edge of the bottle. Less is more. Do not overload the brush. Thick clumpy polish takes forever to dry and chips off in a jiffy. Thin out your polish by adding a few drops of remover to the bottle.
- Leave a hairline gap between the color and the cuticle. This will make nails appear longer and prevent color bleeding into the nail base.
- Brush polish on with a long sweeping motion in the centre , from the base of the nail to the free edge. Then carefully fill in each side, wait about 5 minutes to let it dry.
- Apply 2 or 3 thin coats. The first coat always looks patchy; the second coat intensifies the color and covers irregularities.
- If you are in a rush to dry your nails, dip them in ice-cold water.
- To remove spilled polish from your skin, use an orange stick covered with a scrap of cotton moistened with remover.
- Seal and protect your nails with a transparent top coat. It will prevent polish from chipping. Be sure that your nails are dry before using your hands.
- Apply a new top coat every day so that your polish will stay. put for six days, the porcelain it from stick too fast to the natural nail, and a bonder (helps the porcelain to set).
For short, Broken or Bitten Nails
Metal nail forms are used to set the length of the porcelain nails, which are removed after the porcelain has set. For normal nails, plastic tips are attached to the natural nails and cut to the desired size and filed and buffed to shape, after which the porcelain procedure follows. They can then be polished.
While the natural nail grows, the porcelain one is pushed outwards, so fill-ins are required at the base every 3 to 4 weeks. They can be removed with nail glue remover.
A Perfect Pedicure
Pretty feet make the rest of you look and feel great.
- Soak your feet in warm sudsy water.
- Dry well, especially between the toes.
- Remove old polish.
- Trim your nails with a pair of scissors so that they are level with the top of your toes, following the shape of the toe. Try not to cut into the skin.
- With an orange stick or small brush and soap, remove dirt under the nails. Don’t clean with a nail file, as this can damage the skin at the end of the nail and encourage infection to set in.
- Apply a base coat. Dry.
- Apply one or two color coats. Dry.
- Apply a top coat. Dry.
- Pamper with petroleum jelly or lanolin before you go to bed.