How to ~ Long Healthy Nails

I've always surprised my friends with my natural nails. Even as a child my nails were always this white and I've always been able to grow them long. At first I wouldn't know what to say when asked how I did it, I couldn't tell what I was doing differently from my peers to cause my nails to keep growing and not break. But thankfully, I've narrowed it down to some helpful tips and want to share them with you.

Obviously I don't have my nails this long usually, but I grew them as long as manageable to show you the potential, I usually have them around half this length. It's important for me with my modelling to have them looking natural and strong all the time so that they're ready for a shoot. Having them painted a colour may mean that wouldn't go with the outfit or look for the shoot, but French manicure look goes with every look. 

My nails are naturally this white and strong and it is honestly easy to have them like this. I don't tend to use any products to maintain this but I will recommend some at the end that I've found to be great to help you achieve and maintain this yourself.

Top Tips:

• Do not bite your nails! 
• Even if you're just holding your nails between your teeth and not actually chewing them off, this is still putting pressure on them and can cause you to break away at the layers.

• No nail varnish
• This might seem very difficult as painting our nails is very popular but this is the main reason your nails will struggle to survive. The nail varnish itself may not be as much of an issue, it's the problems that arise from it coming off. Chipping it off causes your nails to lose layers, you will be chipping off more than just the varnish, but removing it with nail varnish isn't better either as this is made up of harsh chemicals that break up the nail varnish molecules but also 'attacks' the top layers of your nail too. I paint my nails once a year, if that, so if you want to paint your nails then you can, just sparingly. Admittedly, in no time your nails will permanently look like the very best French manicure anyway.

• No acrylic nails
• There are many problems with this. It can easily damage your nail bed and the UV drying lights can cause skin cancer. Having them once in a while for a special occasion is obviously fine but having this regularly is only going to cause long lasting damage.

• Use alternatives...
• to nail varnish such as nail wraps which are not harsh on your nails. There are so many beautiful designs now that you're bound to find one to match your outfit.

• Healthy diet
• It may seem obvious but it's very true. You don't need to cheat with nail and hair tablets (really, do not use these!) you just need to make sure you have a balanced diet with fruit and vegetables. It will be a very good sign to indicate if you're getting it right. I used to think it was from lots of calcium, as media like to encourage us to believe, but it is based on your diet as a whole. These pictures were taken now whilst I'm transitioning to vegan and using soy butter, soy milk and no cheese. 

• File nails one way
• After cutting your nails, file them in one movement/direction and not back and forth as this will fray the ends causing them to be weak. I personally don't file mine at all so I recommend practising cutting them how you'd like them to look so that you can avoid filing them.

• Keep cuticles down
• Always maintain your cuticles. Keeping them down will keep your nails healthy and appear longer. Everyday you can just push them down with your nails but once a week use a nail treatment and moisturiser to help them stay extra healthy.

Products recommended:

 

I really hope this helps! Let me know how you get on.

What's your helpful tips?

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xoxo

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