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Posts: 247
Joined: Nov. 24 2010
From: San Francisco CA
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to El Kiko)
That is what I tried this past year. Build to build some strength naturally. It worked for 8 months for M,A,R but the index broke on August. Since then my rasquedos are a lot stronger and more coordinated and I have not been able to grow the index finger nail back. It seems that gets ground away or it cracks in the middle (pretty painful by the way). So it is like having 2 nail slices growing and it makes it hard to heal. I started nail strengthener from walgreens a couple of weeks ago and the cracking has stopped but still the new nail gets eaten away. Dipping my fingers in olive oil does not sound appealing ( even though I am Greek :) It has been suggested that it provides a lot of nutrients to the fingernail when it first grows (at the bottom) that makes your finger_nail very hard. I think I will try hard as nails->nail magic->olive oil and if nothing works I will have to revisit this. Acrylics may be my only option even though I have heard horror stories (no natural nail grows anymore if used for years, fungus etc).
D.
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Captain Esteban: Caballeros! I believe you all know each other? Don Diego from San Fernando. Don Francisco from San Jose. Don Fernando from San Diego. Don Jose from San Bernardino. Luis Obispo from Bakersfield.
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to elgreco)
Split nail sounds bad and painful , I have just been surfing around on this topic , mainly in the medical sections as oppose to the girly sections ( they are big into nails !) AS I understand it if nails splits in the middle its (possibly ) because it grew weak at the base ...there is a LOt of stuff about this on the web ....i found this .....
<Copy> There are many factors that may lead to brittle and split nails. These could be anything like advancing age, lack of calcium, too much use of chemicals like nail polish remover, working for long hours in water or using detergent too often, etc. But the primary cause remains lack of nutrition. You need to include calcium and other important minerals and nutrients in your diet to make your nails stronger and healthier.
Moisturizing your hands frequently helps a lot as it keeps your nails from drying and chipping off. Washing your hands often can cause dryness so make sure you keep a small bottle of moisturizer with yourself to apply it frequently. Also, apply it every time you feel your hands are a bit dry, you come back from a swim, after a bath, after you wash clothes, wash the dishes, etc. A natural remedy for curing and strengthening brittle and rough nails is applying vegetable oil. Simply take some vegetable oil on a cotton swab and wipe it on your nails. It will make sure your nails remain moisturized and healthy. The main remedy and cure for brittle and split nails is to add more nutrients to your diet. Include foods that have biotin, a type of Vitamin B. Examples of such types of food are peanuts, lentils, egg yolks, sardines, mushrooms, bananas, liver, and cauliflower. Ask a doctor for biotin supplements to promote growth of nails. <end copy>
Strange how a few sites mention vegetable oil (olive I suppose ) I never heard of that before...........I also see gelatin is good for nails ......
Come on guys we have to look after our nails ............. BECAUSE WE'RE WORTH IT............!
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to elgreco)
you can try rubbing olive oil into the nail and nail bed, or avocado oil is also supposed to be good, or a blend like this (attached). but one theory is that it's not so much the nail absorbing nutrients from the oils but the massage rubbing the oil in stimulating blood flow to the nail bed helping the nail grow fast and strong. Could be a bit of both. put a drop or so off whatever oil or blend onto the nail and rub in well over the nail and all around the edges especially the base (where the nail grow from).
also you can try vitamin supplements, you can get special ones for nails (or nails and hair), if you have splits and cracks that might be a good idea.
my nails are pretty tough, so if i'm just playing solo and/or at home i don't add any protection, but for one dance class a week i put two coats of nail varnish on (i use sally hansen hard as nails). I only put it half to two-thirds of the way down the nail from the tip, never covering the cuticle/pale crescent moon at base of nail. i usually use nail varnish remover to take it off again so the nails have a breather.
if i'm doing more, like playing for a 2/3 day dance workshop or week course i put several coats of the nail glue you use to glue false nails on (i think the one i use is called nailene). you can use acrylic powder to coat the glue but i don't like it as it seems to make the nail to thick like a rock, and too brittle. dries quick though. it's also hard to get off again, nail varnish remover struggles to dissolve it.
the reason for using varnish or glue is that the nails do get worn away by lots of rasgeos, and eventually get thin and start to crack. point is, if you need to you can just use it some of the time, you don't have to use it all the time.
you can get infections under varnish/glue, but only really if the nail isn't clean before you put the stuff on. make sure it is clean and dry before application!
Posts: 247
Joined: Nov. 24 2010
From: San Francisco CA
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to El Kiko)
Mark and Rico,
Thanx a lot for the additional info. I did some research on previous threads, I hope I didn't have you repeating info unnecessarily. I posted here to confirm what I had heard about olive oil. I am 35 years old, and I do clean my hands a lot. I do not use moisturizers ( I find it too girly :)))) and I do not work in water or swim (too many sharks in Northern California). My diet has improved a lot this year but I was a meat and potatoes kind of guy for a while. I will do some more research on calcium/biotin/vitamin B intake.
Thanx again D.
_____________________________
Captain Esteban: Caballeros! I believe you all know each other? Don Diego from San Fernando. Don Francisco from San Jose. Don Fernando from San Diego. Don Jose from San Bernardino. Luis Obispo from Bakersfield.
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to elgreco)
Well, I have also the problem. My a nail splits, you can see a stripe from the base to the edge. And all the nails hook, and they are to weak for long playing. During longer periods of home playing I use natural, but when some gigs or dance classes happen, I have to strenghten them. But I don't use acrylic, there are also ones made off jelly that is beeing hardend in uv.
Posts: 15242
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to El Kiko)
quote:
I don't think putting anything on them is a good idea, as they need to be open to breathe and be flexible I also heard that if you cover up the cuticle of the nail with stuff it stops the nail from growing healthily ....
Cyanoacrilate (Krazy glue for example) by itself works as a "second skin", and is used to heal open wounds or surgury, and now sold as liquid bandaid. So it is not true it won't let nails breath or make them grow baddly. I agree if you should try to use natural nails if it works for you and you dont play for dancers professionally, and glueing on a fake nail (as discussed) can cause trouble. But just the cyano stuff by itself does no harm to nails or skin.
Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to elgreco)
what kind of glue do you guys use? does it come with a brush or something? the kind i have makes a huge mess!
atm, i have pieces of silk glued onto the tips. a fresh piece of silk wears down significantly after an hour of rehearsal or by the end of a show and i have to put on another piece.
im getting real sick of my nails breaking all the time.
One product has made a difference for me in the past couple of months....I went into a beauty supply place....yeah yeah I got a lot of funny stares...but I don't really care. I bought a product called Magic Nail....It provides a protective coating and is not brittle like super glue....So far has been working great....it does wear off just like super glue so it needs to be reapplied every 2 to 3 days.
But my nails have been holding up very well even practicing with dancers.
Just want to share my thoughts on this. Originally, I was looking for something for my nails and after reading at different threads I came across Nail Magic. Apart from Rumbaking that really liked it, there was nobody else I could find that liked it a lot. So I gave it a try, it's been 2 months and I think it that it does work well. For sure it seems to work better than the Onymyrrhe. And just like Rumbaking said, you have to reapply a new coat every 2/3 days as it gets removed by the rasgueos. Now I don't know why it works, but it seems to. It is suppose to feed your nail and also protect it by creating a solid coat. Clearly just the solid coat it provides will help since it is taking away the abrasion on you nail, for sure that is something the Onymyrrhe lacks... Clearly Krazy Glue would do this, but it does not have the nail feeding.... anyways, I like it, seems to make a difference. I will know for sure in another few months.
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to rogeliocan)
I gave Nail Magic a try for around 3 months and didn't find it to really add any strength to my nails. I ordered the matte finish as I never wanted the shiny finish associated with the other products. Overall my nails are pretty good but with 2 rehearsals a week at 2 hours each, 1-2 hours a day practice and not to mention a few gigs and it wears down the nail. I have found that a coat of super glue on the nail tip really helps, that and keeping the nail short and filed in a more ramped manner... Sig--
Hey, you know what. Maybe my nails are doing better because I've been taking better care of them since I started using this... One thing that is for sure is that it does not make your nails brittle like some other nail hardening products.
Posts: 113
Joined: Jan. 11 2012
From: Bay Area- CA
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to Jasmine_27)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Jasmine_27
I just heard about a natural product called Biotin that's supposed to be good for nails. Has anyone tried this?
I have tried Biotin, but not long enough to see any real results. You have to take it for at least 3 months to notice any difference o your nails. My mom swears by it...
Posts: 113
Joined: Jan. 11 2012
From: Bay Area- CA
RE: Real nails and fake nails (in reply to elgreco)
Guitar player nails are a great alternative to acrylic. They have a much better and sound quality. I would highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a better fake nail.... get them at guitarplayernails.com
I have also found a cool trick to make a natural nail more rounded and easier to play with. Take a warm-hot shower or run warm-hot water over your picking nails for around ten minutes (until your finger get pruney)..... dry them off and now look at the curvature of your nail...... It should be a different shape then what you had before (more rounded). Then I cover the nail with super glue to keep it that shape.
This works for ME.... idk if it will work for you guys
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