Q&A for How to Make Your Fingernails Look Good

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  • Question
    Can I eat nail polish?
    Janice Tieperman
    Community Answer
    Nail polish ingredients aren’t meant for human consumption, so you should try avoid nibbling at your polish whenever possible. If you’re tempted to bite your polished nails, try applying a polish with a bitter flavor!
  • Question
    What is a nail vinyl?
    Janice Tieperman
    Community Answer
    Nail vinyls are stencils that you can use to paint specialized patterns and designs on your nails. You can easily find them at most beauty shops, or buy them online.
  • Question
    How can I strengthen my fingernails?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    Keeping your fingernails dry, clean, and neatly trimmed will help prevent breakage and damage. Use moisturizer on your hands and avoid harsh manicures to keep your nails from getting overly dried out and brittle. When you do work that’s hard on your hands or exposes them to lots of hot water or detergent, like washing the dishes, wear rubber gloves to protect your nails. You may also be able to add strength by applying a nail hardener and taking healthy hair and nail supplements, like biotin.
  • Question
    Does vitamin D help strengthen nails?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    If you have a vitamin D deficiency, it may cause your nails to be thin and brittle. Talk to your doctor about whether you might benefit from taking vitamin D supplements. You can also get vitamin D by eating foods like fish, egg yolks, and vitamin D fortified dairy.
  • Question
    What makes nails grow super fast?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to increase the natural growth rate of your nails. However, you may be able to help them grow out faster by protecting them so that they don’t break or chip. Avoid biting your nails or exposing them to lots of hot water (e.g., when showering or washing the dishes), which can weaken them. Applying a cuticle moisturizer and nail hardener may also help them grow in faster without breaking or tearing.
  • Question
    What are some good quality nail polish brands?
    Community Answer
    Essie or China Glaze both have a strong reputation for high quality products.
  • Question
    Is it harmful to push back cuticles?
    Community Answer
    No, pushing back cuticles is one of the things you can do to extend the nail bed. Do not remove or cut the cuticle, though, because it can cause infection if you remove it.
  • Question
    I need to know how to grow my nails out.
    Community Answer
    Keep your nails clean and avoid using harsh chemicals without gloves. Keep your nails hydrated and healthy, and do not to bite or pick at them. (If you do this often, a good trick is to keep a small manicure kit with you in a purse or bag, so if you see cracking or unevenness you can cut them instead of picking.) Optionally, take biotin supplements to increase strength and growth, and every so often use a deep conditioning hand/nail treatment.
  • Question
    How can I keep the area under my nails clean?
    Community Answer
    Clean the underside of your nails with a nail or manicure brush. The best time to do this is when you are washing your hands or taking a shower/bath.
  • Question
    What can I do about the white spots on my nails?
    Community Answer
    These are signs of minor trauma to the nail. You may have gotten them when you hit your nail on something or pinched your finger. It's your nail's equivalent to a bruise. All you really can do is to allow it to grow out. If it really bothers you, you can wear nail polish to hide it.
  • Question
    How can you fix bad looking nail polish without redoing it?
    Community Answer
    If you nicked a nail you just painted and your nail polish is still in between wet and dry (more wet), use your spit. Believe it or not, it works. Lick the tip of your finger on your other hand and lightly rub the nicked area. Apparently the saliva softens the paint and blends it. If you are looking to fix a nail polish that is beginning to get really sticky/old/over-used, drop 3 to 5 drops of nail polish remover into the nail polish bottle. Shake the bottle for about a minute and you are ready to use the polish again. The remover, as intended to, thins the polish and lessens its thick consistency.
  • Question
    How do I take care of broken nails?
    Community Answer
    Use cuticle oil and anything else that is natural and good for you nails. Avoid harsh chemicals and don't use nail polish remover too often or it could make your nails worse.
  • Question
    Can this work if I bite my nails?
    Community Answer
    No, you won't get the results you want. You may also want to consider stop biting your nails. You may find How to Stop Biting Your Nails helpful.
  • Question
    How can I stop the skin around my nails from peeling?
    Morrigan
    Community Answer
    Try using a cuticle oil or cream, or use vitamin E oil. Also, avoid biting the skin around your nails; use nail scissors to cut them if necessary.
  • Question
    How can I stop my nails from peeling?
    Community Answer
    Buy a nail strengthener or apply clear nail polish to your nails. This will help the nails to stay stiff while they repair.
  • Question
    Where should I purchase my nail polish?
    Community Answer
    You can purchase nail polish from a variety of places such as beauty or nail salons, department or box stores, drugstores/pharmacies, online beauty product retailers and even dollar stores. It is important to check the ingredients though, as some nail polish isn't well made and might pose health risks if it contains ingredients such as formaldehyde.
  • Question
    Is there a way I can do it in a few minutes with some sort or tool? When I do this and follow all the steps and am done, do they last forever?
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    If you want good looking nails and you've already got some length, here's what you can do: File your nails to match in length and shape, apply hand lotion every morning and night, and a couple minutes after the lotion, apply Vaseline or cuticle oil to your nails and cuticles and rub it in. Good looking nails can't last forever after one time of doing these, you'll have to do it every day. Having nice nails takes work!
  • Question
    I cut and cleaned my fingernails. The next day, my fingernails grew and got dirty again. Does this happen often?
    Community Answer
    It will happen often. You need to regularly clean your nails.
  • Question
    How can I give my nails a long round shape?
    Community Answer
    Just one simple answer: file them!
  • Question
    Does good nails seem attractive to men?
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    Good/presentable hands are an attractive quality. Take care of your hands and avoid biting your nails. I don't think guys would like long nails because they can be dangerous and almost be used as weapons. Keep them at a good length, though, unless your job or an activity (such as a sport) doesn't permit you to do so.
  • Question
    Will gel nails damage nails?
    Community Answer
    If you pick the polish off, yes. If not, then no. Let it drop off instead of removing it, because you are taking the top coat off your nails.
  • Question
    Is there a way to keep my nails strong when I'm going through menopause?
    Community Answer
    The methods describes in this article will help keep your nails strong, even if you are going through menopause!
  • Question
    How do I keep my toenails clean? I have PE at school, and people stare at my toenails.
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    I would recommend doing this on Saturday or Sunday because it's a long process. Start by taking off all old nail polish from your toe nails with nail polish remover. Wash your feet with warm water and exfoliating them with sugar, sand, or salt. Wash them with soap after that. Dry them off, apply some lotion and cut your toe nails, file them if needed. Make sure they don't have any sharp edges that could snag on something, because you want to be comfortable while in class. Wait for the lotion to completely be absorbed into your skin. You can paint your toe nails if you want, but you may want something like a clear polish or another color that's easy to touch up during the week if necessary.
  • Question
    How do I add patterns?
    Morrigan
    Community Answer
    Use nail vinyls of you want to put patterns or pictures on your nails. If you want to make stripes, use striping tape. If you want to freehand your design (without a stencil), just draw it with nail art brushes. Or you could buy patterned nail stickers or false nails.
  • Question
    What do I do if my nails look ugly and brittle?
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    Start by filing all your nails to match in length and shape. Apply lotion on your hands every morning and every night. Using a special nail oil or cuticle oil (or you could use Vaseline), rub it into your nails and cuticles a couple minutes after the lotion. This alone will improve your hands and nails dramatically. You could paint your nails too, if you'd like.
  • Question
    Where could I consider buying supplies for nails?
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, any drugstore works. You don't have to get expensive stuff to make your nails look good.
  • Question
    How do I get thin nails?
    Community Answer
    The condition of your nail can be improved with how you treat your nails (diet, moisturizing, filing). But genetics are the determiners of how thick your nails are, apart form those considerations.
  • Question
    If my nails are long. Is it good to file them down a little rather than cutting then filing them?
    Cecilia Flores
    Top Answerer
    If you don't have a glass file, you should get one. they're much much faster than the regular emery board file. If you have a crack low in the length of your nail, cut it down to the break and file it to even it out. If your nails are long, only cut the nail down to about halfway then file the rest of the way down.
  • Question
    How can I get nail polish off my nails without remover?
    Awwkwardness
    Community Answer
    You can apply new nail polish and remove it immediately with a tissue. This will remove all the polish from your nails without having to use remover.
  • Question
    I tend to get fungus in the corners of my nails. What can I do to get rid of it?
    Community Answer
    My sister used to get fungus all the time. The only thing that worked for her was rubbing coconut oil on it. Just rub a little on a couple of times a day and you should be good.
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