Dry brittle nails are a common problem and cause a lot of discomfort by splitting and cracking. There are many factors like our age, diet, repeated exposure to water, chemicals, obsession with nail polish, nutritional deficiencies, dehydration, long term illness and excessive dry environment spoil the beauty of your nails by making them weak, chipped and cracked. However, for making your nails healthy and strong, you don’t need expensive treatments. Just look around your kitchen cupboard and you will find everything you need to nurse your nails. Here are 10 excellent home remedies that will help to nourish your dry brittle nails and restore their health and shine.
Best Home Remedies For Brittle Nails
Olive Oil And Lemon Juice Treatment
No one can deny the goodness of olive oil. This truly versatile oil is highly capable of restoring the health of your nail by penetrating deep into the cuticles of your nails and strengthening and moisturizing them. Prepare a soak by mixing 1 tsp olive oil and few drops lemon juice. Apply it into your nails thoroughly, allow it to soak and massage gently. Wear gloves and let the mixture work overnight. Soak your nail for 10 minutes a day for a week in this soak and watch the magic. A weekly treatment with hot olive oil and lemon juice mixture can work even better. This will make your nails healthy, shiny and lemon juice will help to get rid of that nasty yellow tinge that has occurred due to overuse of nail paints.
Vitamin E Oil Night Treatment
Dryness or lack of moisture is often the main cause of brittle nails. Massaging them gently before going to bed with vitamin E oil helps to hydrate and moisturize the nails and provide nourishment to the nails and cuticles. To strengthen your nail, break open a vitamin E capsule and extract the oil. Apply the oil on your nails and massage gently for at least 5 minute to improve circulation o the nail bed. Wear gloves. Within a week you will get shiny and strong nails. Continue this treatment once a week to maintain nail health. For more convincing results, you can take vitamin E capsule orally.
Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil has strong anti-fungal and antiseptic properties that can help to treat brittle nails successfully, particularly when fungal infection is the reason. Mix few drops of vitamin E oil in ½ teaspoon of tea tree oil and massage your nail, rubbing gently for 5 minutes. This will help to fight infection and with repeated use, your nails will become healthier and stronger.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has great moisturizing properties which can provide dry, brittle nails the required nourishment and fight any type of nail infection. Regular massage with warm coconut oil will improve blood circulation and moisturize them. Adding 2-3 drops of lemon juice will help to treat nail discoloration and restore their shine. For better result soak your nails in warm coconut oil after adding few drops of lemon juice before going to bed.
Sea Salt Soak
Fortified with minerals, the healing and rejuvenating properties of sea salt can treat brittle nails effectively, soften the cuticles and restore shine to your nails. Mix 2 tbsp of sea salt in a cup of warm water, add 2-3 drops of lemon juice and soak your nails. Leave it for 10 minutes. Repeat this treatment twice or thrice a week. Soon your nails will become stronger, healthier and shiny.
Strengthening Milk Bath
Another very effective way to strengthen brittle nails and make them shine is simply immersing your nail in a bowl of warm milk for 5-10 minutes. The calcium rich milk will make them healthy and also remove yellowish tinge from the nails and make them whiter.
Biotin Rich Food
Lack of nutrients in your body causes your nails to become weak and brittle. Biotin is the most important nutrient for strong and healthy nails. Taking biotin supplement or eating biotin rich food can help to strengthen your weak nails. Add biotin rich foods like egg yolks, lentils, whole grain cereals, soybeans, milk, fish, bananas and cauliflower in your diet.
Apple Cider Vinegar
This variety of vinegar is a staple ingredient in any kitchen. It has so many uses. But do you know that it is a good remedy for brittle nails? Apple cider vinegar is loaded with nutrients like calcium, vitamins, magnesium, potassium and iron which can help to strengthen your weak nails. In addition, it contains malic acid and acetic acid that can prevent nail infection. You just have to immerse your nails in a bowl filled with equal amount of water and unfiltered apple cider vinegar for 5-10 minutes daily. Within a few days, you will get stronger, healthier nails.
Beer Soak
Beer is another effective ingredient for treating weak, chipped and brittle nails because it contains nutrients like selenium, potassium, biotin and phosphorus essential for nail health. Prepare a soak by mixing ½ cup of beer, ¾ cup of warm olive oil and ¾ cup of apple cider vinegar. Soak your nails in this mixture for 15 minutes twice a week to get healthy, strong nails.
Vaseline
Frequent use of nail paints, nail polish remover etc. makes the nail dehydrated. A simple trick to retain the moisture of the nails and prevent splitting of the nails is to apply and massage Vaseline in your nails before going to bed and leave them overnight to work.
Wear Dish Gloves
Water does lot of damage to your nails. Our nails expand when they come in contact with water and contract while drying. This process makes the nail weak and brittle over time. So wear gloves to avoid over-exposure to water while doing household chores.
Follow these home remedies regularly for two three weeks to get best results.
