by Nora Spero

Created on: April 24, 2009

You can grow long, strong, healthy and attractive fingernails with a little care and good habits. Now, not everyone can grow talons, it's true, because of a few physical factors. Let's look at these first to determine if you are among them:

Nail bed shape and length: If your nail bed is shallow (doesn't extend deeply into the first segment of your fingertip) and especially if the bed is wider across than it is deep, chances are your nails will not have the inherent strength to grow much more than about a quarter of their depth out beyond the natural nail bed. You can affect this with nutrition, (see below), good protection (like wearing gloves when washing dishes) and by keeping strengthening nail polish on. However, you have to trust nature if your hand wasn't designed for long talons, even if you get artificial nails applied, they won't really look right, and probably won't last well; so just make the most of what you do have!

Nail thickness: Your nails are composed of layers of protein material. If they are fragile, thin and bendable, once again, you may not be able to get great length on all ten naturally. You can help yourself by taking supplements such as Horsetail Rush Herb, Silica, Calcium or any number of proprietary blends of herbs and vitamins. Try one bottle at a time. Within two weeks you will see a difference if it's going to happen! Protect your nails by wearing gloves when gardening or cleaning. Once again, keeping two or three coats of polish on will protect and keep the nails from tearing.
Physical health: Your nails, skin and hair will all reflect your general health and diet, there is no getting away from that. So, eating a balanced diet, plenty of fruits, veggies and good quality proteins are essential to any kind of beauty. If your nails are dull, have ridges or are paper thin, check with your health care provider, you may be missing something in your diet.
If you are healthy, have fairly strong nails, and your nail bed starts about a third to a half way down from the tip of your finger to the first joint (knuckle), you should be able to grow nails that extend another third of the length of your nail bed or longer, if you follow these tips:

Don't bite your nails! Use proper manicure tools to cut, shape, and file nails and remove cuticle.
Don't let nails get saturated with water, chemicals, or cleaning products. All these solutions leech the moisture from your nails; some actually destroy the protein bonds that hold the layers of nail together,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>