Nailing Down Health And Beauty

'Real Simple' Tips From Kris Connell

(CBS) 
Problem Solvers
Whether you have strong or weak nails depends on heredity as well as how you treat your hands on a daily basis. With a little proper care and the right treatment, you can easily improve your nails' strength and luster.

Problem No. 1: If you have weak, brittle nails: Often occurs if your hands are exposed to a lot of water. Cleaning solvents, detergents, and nail-polish remover also leave nails fragile, so they may become brittle or even start to peel.

Solution:

• Wear rubber gloves when washing dishes or cleaning.
  
  
• Consider taking up to 2,500 micrograms of biotin to strengthen them.
  
  
• Wear a strengthening polish to reinforce nails and prevent them from losing moisture.
  Appearex ($19, www.CVS.com ) or Billionails from www.essie.com

Problem No 2: If you have white flecks: It can be due to trauma to the nail bed, like banging your nail on a door, or applying too much pressure to the nail when you push back your cuticles.

Solution:

• Use a rich moisturizer to keep hands and nails hydrated, and to promote nail strength and flexibility (a flexible nail will bend if bumped, rather than crack).
  
  
• The only way you can get rid of a white fleck is to let them grow out. It takes 4-5 months for a nail to grow from cuticle to tip, so you may want to cover white flecks with nail polish in the meantime.
  
  
• Real Simple suggests: Essie Nail Polish in Vanity Fairest ($8) www.essie.com

Problem No. 3: If you have discolored nails: It is caused by smoking cigarettes, applying hair dye without gloves, and even wearing a dark polish without protecting your nails with a base coat.

Solution:

• Rub a small amount of toothpaste on the nail with a cotton swab and massage it on for a couple minutes, to gently remove the surface layer of the nail.
  
  
• Soaking nails in orange or lemon juice can also remove discoloration, but be sure to moisturize hands afterwards, as citric juices can be drying.
  
  
• Your nail polish, not your nails, can also become yellow in tint, but that's generally caused by exposure to the sun, which oxidizes and discolors light or pale-colored polishes. You can prevent this by covering light polishes with a top-coat containing sunscreen.
  
  
• Orly Sunscreen for Nails ($7, www.beautyofasite.com ) or Essie non-yellowing topcoat for nails with sunblock www.essie.com

Whether you're doing your nails at home or getting a salon manicure, you'll want them to last as long as possible. A Real Simple tip is to apply a clear top or base coat to your nails each night, which will help maintain the look. Product suggested: Super Duper Top Coat from www.essie.com.