Re: Help with Nails

BirkiLady · ‎02-22-2015

Please don't pick your cuticles. You could end up with serious infection in your nailbed. I would suggest a good cuticle cream applied throughout the day or at least before going to bed.

Burt's Bees has clear cuticle balm that is in a small tin which is easy to keep in a purse or pocket. I've been using it this summer prior to working in my flower beds and my nails remain gorgeous; no breakage at all. HTH

Money screams; wealth whispers.

Alison Wonderland · ‎02-05-2018

@Icegoddess wrote:
Mostly I am happy with my nails. They do often break off right at the quick, but that's probably because I let them get too long. If you look at the picture, the skin next to the middle finger is the problem. It gets hard and overgrown, kinda like a callous. Then I pick at it until it becomes a huge hangnail. I would end up pulling the hangnail out which would then bleed and become painful for a couple of days. Occasionally, it will even become infected. I am now trying not to pull the hangnail out, but cutting it as deep into the crevice as I can get with the clippers, which works but the cycle continues. Any way to get that skin to soften up and stay soft? I use cuticle oil and every night I rub in O'Keefe's Working Hands, concentrating on the nail area. It does this only on the middle finger of both hands. There's nothing I'm currently doing that would explain that. Many years ago, maybe writing a lot since that is where a pencil would rest, but not anymore.

You are on the right path with O'Keefe's Working Hands. I would add a product with more exfoliation, such as an AHA/BHA cream/lotion. Gold Bond Rough and Bump Skin, CeraVe SA (salicylic acid) lotion, or AmLactin will all help.

But none them will be effective if you continue to pick at the skin and make it worse.That's a habit you'll need to break to really end the problem. If it gets infected, apply Neosporin immediately. I keep lotion and cuticle oil at every sink in the house, the end table where I watch TV, on my desk at work, and in my purse. Make applying that cream after every wash your new habit and apply cream whenever you think of picking.

As someone who bit my nails for years, I know how hard those habits can be to break, but I also know how worthwhile it is when you succeeed. Good luck!