If you look at your fingertips and notice more lengthwise ridges than before, think back not to how much cream you used today but to how long your hands were wet. The fifteen minutes at the sink, the hand-washing of a child's clothes, the number of times a cloth was wrung out. Brittle nails are tied to the length of time the hands spend wet before they are tied to any shortage of moisturiser.
Nails that chip, tips that peel into layers. These complaints are not unusual. The two causes most often named are long periods with wet hands and contact with detergents or other chemicals without gloves. Both happen, quite ordinarily, at the kitchen sink and the bathroom basin.
This article looks at the link between wet hands and brittle nails, and then sets out three steps in order: stop the habits that cause it, moisturise the nails and the skin around them, and wear gloves at night. How to apply moisturiser around the nails is covered elsewhere; here we begin with why nails split at all.
Two causes: time spent wet, and detergent
Long periods with wet hands are among the most commonly named causes of brittle nails. Washing the dishes, wringing out laundry by hand, moving straight on to the next task with the hands still damp. Add up the time the hands spend wet in a day and many people find it is far longer than they imagined.
The second cause is contact with detergents or other chemicals without gloves. Hot water and detergents are known to dry the hands, and anyone in the habit of washing up bare-handed exposes the nails and the skin around them to water and detergent at the same time.
In most cases, then, brittle nails are not a matter of constitution but the outcome of habits repeated daily at the sink. That is precisely why there is room to change them.
Ridges, chips and peeling: the signs
Brittleness shows in several ways. First, lengthwise ridges become noticeable. Next, the free edge begins to chip easily. Finally, the tip separates into thin layers and peels, the condition often called a split nail.
These do not necessarily arrive together. Acting at the stage when only the ridges are noticeable often prevents the chipping and peeling that would follow. The nails draw the eye more than any other part of the hand: the fingertips around a glass, the fingertips offering a business card, are what the other person sees.
Covering the nails with polish or gel does not help if the nail beneath is dry and weak; the finish will not last. For anyone who wears nail colour, the condition of the nail itself is the base that makes the finish look its part.
It is worth looking at the nails in good light once a week, as you might check the skin of the face in a mirror. Ridges and the first small chips are easy to miss in passing, and the earlier the habit is adjusted, the less there is to catch up on later.
One: stop the habit that causes it
The first thing to do is not to add moisture but to remove the cause. Wear gloves for washing up, cleaning and gardening. Hot water, detergents and soil all dry the hands, so gloves help the nails as much as the skin.
Put gloves on only when the hands are completely dry. Pulled over damp hands, they simply prolong the time the hands spend wet. Powder-free or latex-free gloves are less irritating to the skin.
When gloves are not practical, at least shorten the time spent wet. Pat the hands dry as soon as the task is done, leaving no droplets, and do not forget the gap between fingertip and nail. Taking even a few minutes off the time the hands are wet is the first step in easing the strain on the nails.
Two: moisturise the nail, the cuticle and the skin around it
Once the cause is removed, replenish moisture. The target is not only the surface of the nail. The cuticle that covers the base of the nail and the skin that surrounds it are to be moisturised together, as a single area.
After smoothing a hand serum into the backs of the hands, move last to the fingertips and press gently around each nail. Work what remains of the serum into the sides of the nail and the cuticle with the pad of a finger. Repeat at the natural breaks in the day: after washing or wet work, before going out, before bed.
With a serum that leaves no stickiness, this can be done as often as needed during the day and the keyboard or the phone picked up at once. The skin around the nails is among the quickest parts of the hand to dry. Make it a habit not to stop at the back of the hand but to carry the serum to the fingertips.
If you use a hand cream as well, apply the serum first and the cream over it. In the evening, a little extra around the nails is reasonable; during the day, a thin layer that lets you get back to work is enough.
Three: moisturise before bed, and wear cotton gloves
Moisture that is washed away at every wash during the day stays on the hands until morning at night. Before bed, wash the hands, smooth the serum carefully from the backs of the hands to the fingertips and around the nails, and then put on a pair of cotton gloves to sleep in; this is a widely recommended step.
Put the gloves on only when the serum has settled and the hands are fully dry. Cotton gloves keep the moisture from passing to the bedding and shelter the fingertips from dry air through the night. In a dry season, or after a day of wet work, try it for a week to begin with.
If the nails do not settle despite these habits, please consult a dermatologist.
Soie's Enlight Hand Serum is formulated to care for the nails and fingertips as well as the hands, with dimethyl sulfone and horsetail extract (skin-conditioning ingredients) and hydrolysed keratin, and pressing gently around the nails is one of the steps in how it is used. Shorten the time the hands are wet, and once they are dry, moisturise as far as the nails. The steps for dealing with brittle nails are the same as the basic habit of hand beauty itself.
