If you are the kind of person who always wants to look good, especially when attending special occasions, how do you deal with the obstacle that is a broken nail? It’s frustrating and it may look like a small issue, but it can seriously ruin your happy and excited mood. No need to despair though because you can fix up the broken nail in no time and with readily available items in your home.
Tutorial to fix it
The most common reason for their breakage is repeated wetting and drying. This can be seen during winter when the weather is dry and humidity low.
Another reason they could be breaking is harsh detergents, chemicals, nail polish removers and cleaning fluids. Next time you go on a cleaning spree, please wear gloves. This will protect them from cracking.
One very rare cause of broken or cracked nails is an internal disease or vitamin deficiency. You can confirm this by checking your toenails. If they that are healthy and strong, but fingernails are breaking, cracking or splitting, means that one of the external factors described above is the cause.
Other reasons for broken, cracked or peeled nails include trauma to it, applying acrylic nails or picking at the polish or paint.
Nail fixing can be done in different ways. The main difference is whether you decide to use glue to fix broken one or fix without glue.
To fix a split-finger or toenail with a teabag, you will need a crystal or glass file, a tea bag or paper coffee, clear polish, tweezers, scissors and polish color of choice.
To following YouTube tutorial DIY: Fix a Split Nail with a Teabag! gives a clear description of how to do it.
The silk wrap, just like the tea bag method, reinforces it so that you can polish it normally. The silk wrap binds to it.
For a video demonstration of the same, watch how to fix a broken nail with the gel and silk method.
Fake or Acrylic nails can hide a broken one perfectly. Just apply them on top of the broken nail.
To get a full-on tutorial on how to do the same watch this video: Fix a Broken Nail Fast!
Before you purchase acrylic/ false nails, do some research. Dr. Dana Stern, a certified dermatologist, warns against using them. According to her, people with resin and formaldehyde allergies can start swelling, experience pain, get a burning sensation or have the nails separate. They are also very stiff which makes it easy for them to separate from their bed.
They also increase the risk of one getting bacterial infections. This happens if prior to application, one did not completely get rid of the bacteria on them. If this happens, you will notice some green pigment between the acrylic and your natural nail.
Sometimes, all a cracked nail repair needs is glue. You can temporarily fix a cracked or broken one by dubbing glue on it.
Note that, the nail polish remover has acetone that will dissolve the glue so mind the crack when removing it. This may not hold very bad breaks but will help hold the crack together for some time. For a quick video tutorial on the same, watch this video: Repair a ripped nail fast!
This method is used to reconstruct those that have chipped at the edge or broken at the corner. It helps you create one where there was none. This will help you replace corners that have broken.
You will need a lightless gel, a curing activator spray, glue, swiss silk self-adhesive tabs (or tea bag), a nail clipper and file.
Watch the following video to see how it’s done: How To Fix a Broken Corner
If it broke completely and is completely separated from the rest (as in you have a piece separate from the rest), then this will work for you.
You will need a silk and resin kit, scissors, tweezers, top coat or a strengthener and nail file.
Watch this video to get a step by step tutorial: How to fix a broken nail.
You can prevent your finger or toenails from breaking or cracking by using nail hardeners and hydrators. There is a difference between the two:
These hardeners can either be reinforcing or cross-linking. Cross-linking hardeners react with proteins found in your nail to make them harder. Some of their ingredients include calcium and formaldehyde. Reinforcing hardeners, on the other hand, add a layer on top of it and reinforces their natural structure. Both the cross-linking and hardeners work perfectly to make them hard and make them less prone to breaking or splitting.
The cross-linkers have a disadvantage in that, they can make the nail too hard so that it becomes brittle. This means it will not bend and hence can break easily. Reinforcers also wear off easily and one has to keep reapplying them for effectiveness.
Nail hydrators moisturize it and keep them flexible so that they bend instead of breaking. They are lotion like and thick. They are labeled nail strengthening creams in shops and contain ingredients like petrolatum, mineral oil, glycerin, and beeswax. They keep them and cuticles moisturized. They, however, need to be used on a regular basis since they wash off easily.
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