Good care of your nails begins with you just taking a good glance at them and discovering how they look.  You need to check out if you can see ridges, dents or any unusual shape or color. Like we said it all takes good care to have them healthy but then again a close look could easily reveal if you are having any underlying condition that may require critical attention by your doctor.

Anatomy of a healthy fingernail

Putting Hand Cream on Cuticles

Your fingernail is made of laminated layers of a protein called keratin, which is the same one that is found in your hair as well as your skin. Each one nail is comprised of several parts namely:

1. Nail plate: this is the hard portion of the finger nail that you see when you look at you nail like you just did right now.
2. Nail folds: this is the skin that covers each of your nail plates on three sides
3. Nail bed: the nail bed is a thin skin just below the nail plate. Cells at the nail bed are the ones that produced the fingernail or toenail and the simply keep the nail plate in place.
4. Cuticle: the cuticle is a tissue that overlaps the nail plate at the base of the nail and it protects new keratin cells that as they emerge from the nail bed.
5. Lunula: the lunula is a white looking, half moon shape at the base of your nail just below the plate.

Growth of your nails takes place at the area under the cuticle that is located at the base of the nail. As new cells grow the older cells become hard and are compacted and get pushed out towards your finger tips. As they grow at the rate of about 0.1 millimeter a day on average, it can take up to six months to fully regenerate a finger nail. Toenails are known to grow at a slightly shorter rate. When your nails are healthy they will have a smooth texture without any ridges or grooves. The color distribution is always uniform and consistent and is free from any spots or discoloration.

Common nail conditions you need to look out for

There are several nail conditions which are basically harmless. They include vertical ridges which almost always appear as you age and some white lines or spots. Spots may be an indicator of some injury on the nail plate or bed which will grow out in time.

However, there are other nail conditions that indicate the presence of disease which every need to be aware of. Some yellow discolorations of your nails are indicative of a respiratory condition such as bronchitis or from the swelling of your hands or from a yeast or bacterial infection on your finger beneath the bed.  Conditions like psoriasis will cause your nail to pull off from their bed or an indication of intolerance to some form of medication. When the growth area of the cuticle is interrupted, some indentations will occur that run across your nails or sometimes due to some severe injury or even illness.

It is therefore a good thing to ensure you see your physician when you have a nail condition that persists for some time. The doctor will examine your nail in conjunction with other tests before they make a proper diagnosis of what the problem is likely to be.

Proper nail care tips

Here then are important nail care tips you need to keep in mind. Remember that there is no nail care product alone that can ensure the health of your nails. Bur following some simple guidelines will assist you maintain good looking nails for a longer duration of time.

1. Be kind to your nails. Do not use your nails to prick, pick, poke or pry things in order to avoid nail damage.
2. Don’t pick at your cuticles or bite your nails. This habit will most likely damage your nail bed as even a small cut or bruise alongside your nail can easily allow bacteria and fungi to enter and cause some serious infection. You nail grows slowly so an injured nail will retain signs of an injury for a much longer time.
3. Protect your nails. Whenever you use soap and water or a prolonged period of time then you need to use some cotton lined rubber gloves to protect them from harsh chemical reactions.
4. Always do some routine nail maintenance. Trimmed fingernails that are kept clean will be free from disease and infection. You can use some sharp manicure scissors or clippers and some emery cloth to smooth your nail edges. Whenever you pull off any hangnails you will almost always result in ripping some living tissue. You should instead clip any hangnails leaving a slight outward angle.
5. Keep your nails moisturized. Just alike any other area of you skin does nails also do well when they are moisturized. You can rub some lotion on them when you are moisturizing your hands and be sure to apply a moisturizer as well when you remove your fingernail polish.

Woman receiving manicure

Manicures and weak nails

Just in case you rely on manicure to keep your nails in shape you need to remember the following things. Having your cuticles removed can very easily lead to infections so you need to avoid that. And just double check to make sure that your manicurist sterilizes all the tools they use before they do the process on you. Some viral infections such as warts and hepatitis B can easily be spread by unsterilized equipment.

If your finger nails are weak or brittle it can be quite some task to toughen them up. You can follow the following tips to keep them protected and make them less likely to split or break.

• Let your nail remain short, square shaped and slightly rounded on top. Trim brittle nails just after a bath or a 15 minute soak in bath oil then apply a moisturizer.
• Moisturize your nails and cuticles just before you go to bed and keep them covered with cotton gloves.
• You can apply a nail hardener but avoid products that have harsh chemical such as toluene sulfonamide or formaldehyde as they can easily irritate your skin.

It’s easy to neglect your nails. But a little basic nail care can go a long way to keeping your nails in healthy condition.