Enjoy this guest blog feature from our friend and fellow healthy nails advocate, Mia from heysolomiya We love her passion for all things nails, especially oiling. Thank you Mia for sharing your expertise!!!
I am often asked for my number one advice for strong and healthy nails, and it is always the same - just oil! You've most likely heard about hair, body, and skincare routines, but let me introduce you to a nail care routine! By now, taking care of my nails has become second nature to me, and I've got my steps down pat. First, of course, there's the usual file, clean up cuticles, remove any dead and hardened skin around the nail, and apply a base coat (never leave the house without at least a layer of something on!). However, in my opinion, the most important step is applying nail oil, also known as cuticle oil! So what's the deal with oiling?
Like our skin and hair, nails need regular TLC, and since they are affected by our daily lives the most, they also need the most attention to stay healthy. The nail is actually porous, so it can quickly lose and absorb moisture, and this is why nails expand during a shower because they're absorbing all that water! The nail plate is made up of keratin layers that are bonded together by our natural sebum. Daily activities like showering, doing the dishes, cleaning with chemicals, etc., wash the sebum that bonds the layers together away, resulting in brittle nails that peel, break, and can't hold on to nail polish. This is where oiling comes in! Jojoba oil is the closest oil to our natural sebum, so using it is essentially replenishing the moisture our nails lose while adulting, among other things. It will step in to keep the nail plate strong and flexible!
Wondering if there are more benefits to oiling? Here are the top 3 reasons that make me keep reaching for my oils multiple times a day:
- Strong and healthy nails. As previously mentioned, daily oiling is the best thing we can do to achieve the best nails of our lives! It is not a miracle cure, but over time it can transform brittle, soft, or thin nails into their best shape. Amazing manicures start with healthy nails!
- Flexibility and movement. Do your nails break easily? Imagine holding a twig and putting pressure on it. It will most likely snap. Now do the same with a piece of rubber. Instead of breaking, it will bend and move with the pressure. Moisturized nails move! If you hit or snag them on something, they are more likely to bend with the stress and recover than dry nails that will disintegrate like a dry leaf.
- Longer-lasting manicures. You're seeing it right! Oiling your nails will make your polish last longer. Not only is a healthy nail plate more likely to grip on to polish better, but when oiling, you're hydrating both the nail and the polish! Nail polish forms a hard shell on top of the nail that, over time, dries out and cracks, which causes chipping. This also happens when nails bend due to daily activity. Essentially oiling serves a double purpose. It saves the nail from breaking under pressure and prolongs the life of your mani simply by hydrating it!
This is why I love oiling so much! It's such a simple act that takes less than a minute, but it gives back so much. I try to oil at least 2-3 times a day but always, ALWAYS right before bed, so my nails have all that time to absorb it and recover from the day. And for an added boost of hydration, once a week, I like doing deep oil treatments. Just drench your nails in oil and put on a pair of gloves for a few hours or even overnight! I usually use nitrile gloves that trap the heat inside, which helps the oil penetrate the nail plate much faster and easier.
Definitely, give oiling a try using one of my well-loved blends ever by Taylor Made Polish! Their Clean Cuticles Oil is jojoba-based and contains a blend of my favorites: Vitamin E, Avocado, and Grapeseed oil.
