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Posts: 377
Joined: Nov. 22 2005
From: Quepos / Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Nail problem solved
So after months of trying different nail hardeners I finally found exactly what I was looking for...Sally hansen "nail thickener". this stuff is great with a good three or four coats...its like having plastic over your nails. I have no reservations about doing golpes and since I spend a lot of time in the water I found that it doesn't come off when the nail gets really soft. Just thought I'd pass this on!
"Does it feel very hard when it dries like acrylic, or does it become somewhat gummy?"
Did someone call me? Actually I use it. It is a bit soft initially but hardens up after a couple hours. I wear through at the ends of the nail but can keep adding it as needed.
It actually gets quite hard, but you have to know when to apply it. I like to put it on before bed so that it dries thruought the night...otherwise after doing alzapua or abanico I get these ridges on the my thumb nail which actually starts making a squeaking sound! But other than that its still the best stuff around, and its fromaldehyde(how the heck is that spelt?) free.
So after months of trying different nail hardeners I finally found exactly what I was looking for...Sally hansen "nail thickener".
Victor,
Please point out exactly which one of the SH nail thickeners it is that you've been using, as there's a whole page of them on the SH website, and it doesn't list ANY just as "nail thickener":
Well, as it turns out I gave you the wrong name...its called "thicken-up". I had a look on the web site you posted and was surprised to see the lack of actual products. I bought this bottle in Canada and it was amazing to see just how many types of nail products Sally Hansen has...but anyway, thats the actual name!
Does anyone know what you can supplement your diet with to harden your nails? That ought to be the final solution for the flamenco player's ultimate bane: poor nails.
Does anyone know what you can supplement your diet with to harden your nails? That ought to be the final solution for the flamenco player's ultimate bane: poor nails.
Bahen, "Biotin" is the chemical the body uses to grow healthy nails and hair. The strongest dose I could find was a 5mg capsule. There is a vitamin company called Puritan's Pride that sells these capsules, and also happens to be doing a "buy one, get one free" deal:
I also bought "hard as nails", but I didnt like it very much. I find it too thin. I guess if you give it a chance and use it for as while it probably does strengthen your nails, but I was looking for something that acts more like a protective shield, nice and thick, which is what "thicken-up" does. Also hard as nails tends to chip off to easily at the tips if you do a lot of tremolo or arpegios.
Bahen, I've been using Biotin for just under a month now, and in my opinion it DOES work. BUT it is NOT a miracle cure. I decided to try Biotin because my golpe nail was very weak, and and always cracked. Whilst Biotin did not stop my Golpe nail from breaking, I think I did notice a slight improvement in the condition of all of my nails. So Biotin will probably help (it certainly won't hurt). But I think that Flamenco guitar is very tough on the the nails, so they get more wear and damage than is natural. Therefore, I would recommend Biotin as a SUPPLEMENT to other products, such as Sally Hansen. The truth is that there probably is no "miracle cure", and so we must sometimes use more than one prescription to treat an ailment.
I'd also recommend a good daily multi-vitamin. You may be surprised at how well that works. With our "modern diets" we are actually getting very poor nutrition.
Also even though calcium is not directly related to nails make sure you are getting some dairy products in you as well.
Indeed. You'll find that most multi-vitamin tablets contain a small amount of Biotin anyway. My daily vitamin pills contain 0.15mg of Biotin (100% RDA). The seperate 5mg Biotin capsules I take are really just an over-dose to ensure my body absorbs the maximum amount possible. The benefits of multi-vitamin pills are that, as Nealf says, they also contain Calcium.
I use Onymyrrhe. It's just "A natural derivative of the myrrh plant." Seems to work alright. Expensive though. On the flip side, it lasts a long time, probably a year or more per bottle.
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