Quick and Easy Steps for Beautiful Strong Healthy (Long) Natural Nails

A lot of people would like to have strong, beautiful and healthy (long) nails. If you’re in a hurry or don't have any patience you can go to the nail salon and get fake nails within an hour. Fake nails can be just a beautiful as natural nails but they will never be as healthy. If your main goal is to have healthy nails then you might want to skip the fake nails. In the nail salon, they can take care of your natural nails but if you have a little time, patience and would like to save some money than you can take care of your nails on your own.

• Nail file
• Cuticle pusher
• Nail Hardener
• Base coat
• Colored nail polish
• Top coat

To get and keep your nails strong, healthy (and long) you need to be careful. This may sound like common sense but when you’re busy living your life you might not think about this. A simple example is when opening cans. If your opening a can of soda it would be best to not do this with your nails. You could ask someone to open it for you but you might not want to bother others all the time. That's when your imagination/creativity needs to kick in. In this case, you could use a plastic card (credit card or debit card will do) to open the can. Just put the card under the lit to open it. You might think that this is extreme but even the smallest things like opening a can might damage your nails. By putting pressure on your nails, they might break or get small cracks that will also lead to your nails breaking.

When you want your nails to be shorter you can cut them with nail clippers. This can be done in a matter of seconds. Especially when you want your nails to be much shorter. Nail clippers might do the trick but it's better to use a nail file. Cutting your nails with nail clippers can cause small cracks. Of course, your nails will continue to grow with the cracks in them but they will not be as healthy as the would be if you would’ve used a nail file. Besides that, the small cracks can also cause a lot of pain. While using a nail file it is important to file in one direction. This way you don't chip your nails and they stay healthy.

A cuticle pusher helps you push your cuticles back. Sometimes it's easy to do this and other times it can be very painful. If it's painful or you have to put pressure to push your cuticles back you should give your nails a nail bath before pushing them back. You can simply make a nail bath by pouring lukewarm water in a bowl. You can opt to put some soap in it but this is not necessary. Let your hands soak for 5 minutes in the bowl. The water makes your cuticles softer and this way you can easily push them back. Another option is to use a nail oil. If you rub the nail oil on your cuticles once a week, they become softer and it will be easier to push them back.

If you have weak or brittle nails you should always use a nail hardener. Even when you're not going to use colored nail polish. A nail hardener helps strengthen your nails. This way your nails are less likely to crack or break. There are many different nail hardeners. There are even nail hardeners with a subtle color. You can use this one if you're not going to use colored nail polish but want a subtle color on your nails. It's very important to check which nail hardener works best for you. Some nail hardeners may not strengthen your nails as much as others. That's why you should try out different nail hardeners and see which one works best for your nails. If your nails are naturally strong you can do without a nail hardener and just use a basecoat.

A base coat is a nail polish that sets the base for your colored nail polish. By using a base coat before you put on colored nail polish you protect your nails from discoloring. There is no use in using a nail hardener and basecoat at the same time. So, if you decide to use a nail hardener you can leave out the base coat.

Colored nail polish doesn't help with strengthening or growing your nails. Therefore, it is optional when you're trying to get your nails healthy, long or strong.
If you're going to use a colored nail polish it is best to use this on top of a nail hardener or base coat. A lot of times you need to use two layers of polish to get the color to cover your nail in a nice non-transparent way. First, you should put on one thin layer and let it dry. When it's completely dry you can put on the second layer. Make sure that you don’t put on thick layers as these will take a longer time to dry and will not look pretty when dried. Even though most colored nail polishes require two layers there are some colored nail polishes that will have the same effect with just one layer. This depends on the nail polish.

A topcoat is a protective layer that you put onto your colored nail polish. The topcoat makes sure that your colored nail polish lasts longer by preventing early chipping. The traditional topcoat is clear and shiny. But nowadays there are different kinds of topcoats such as topcoats with glitter or with a matt finish.