Broken nail... options

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el.toro

Posts: 32
Joined: Sep. 17 2012

Broken nail... options

I was out on the town last night and accidentally broke my "m" nail. Should I cut the rest of them off and regrow
all of them again at the same length or is there a durable solution for a single fingernail?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 0:06:28

Yojimbo

Posts: 176
Joined: Feb. 7 2011
From: Toronto, Canada

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

My nails break all the time - if I did what you suggest I'd never have nails.

Krazy Glue works great. If you can, put some glue on the edge of the break and then some more on the top. If this isn't sufficient, put a small piece of tissue paper over the break, then put some glue on the tissue paper. When it dries, recoat. If you do it right, it will be hard as a rock and last for weeks until the break grows out. And if it doesn't last, just redo it.

Like this:

And this:

Good luck.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 1:56:20

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

If you´re not in a hurry. Cut down and let them grow.
Putting things like glue on top of the nail makes the nail itself a lot softer and fragile and so you´ll have to use glue always

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 7:49:20

Escribano

Posts: 6417
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

I got the same problem, tried to glue it but had to cut it down in the end

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 8:23:51

Ricardo

Posts: 14852
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

Once again....don't be scared of superstition stories regarding cyanoacrylate (krazy glue, brush on nail glue etc). It is non toxic and used in surgical proceedure, sold now as liquid band aid, you can put it on open wounds. It does not dry out, soak in, soften, etc anything to your nails or skin. It hardens and acts as a second skin, and flakes off with dead skin cells. If you don't cover the entire nail then when you do rasgueado you will wear a ditch into your natural nail at the boarder so you will have thinned out top of your nail. (if you do enough rasgueado of course).

Keep glue on when playing, and when it wears down (mine wear down the center from nail bed to tip) simply apply more coats on. Don't ever try to remove or you risk taking some natural nail with it. If you don't want it on or want to check to see health of natural nails, just let if flake off over couple weaks time, or play it off.

Saddly if you do the quick fix as ruben suggests, it will eventually come off too and take your natural nail material with it. I would simply apply more glue to bare nails and file and try to play as normal...it will grow out enough in a week or so. With the minor damage the guy had, I could file flat and make perfect use of what he had left.

RIcardo

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 13:29:50

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

Ricardo, It may not be harmfull (although I my senses tell me it is and I work with it,) But it makes the nail softer underneath. And when you start gluing, you´re hooked with the glue thing. So if you can do without, much less hazzle.
I play with a glued thumb and no glue on the rest. Before I played with glue on everything and I much prefer it the way it is now.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 14:59:29

Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Broken nail... options (in reply to el.toro)

I too only glue my thumb, it's just a ba5tard nail. The rest can be used as screwdrivers without a problem.

I've noticed beginners(me included) tend to keep their nails too long anyways. Some of the classical players at the Musicians Institute here in LA look like vampires, it's hilarious. Mine get shorter and shorter all the time. I'm now comfortable with just 1-2MM past the finger tip. I don't know where you're at with your playing but maybe time to take a wack at trying to play with shorter nails?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2012 15:10:25