Keeping Healthy Nails
Keeping Healthy Nails
ASK ANA
Hi Ana…my friend bought the Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™ hydrating oil starter kit and give me the pen …It is really good… But do I have to use the oil for the rest of my life to keep my nails in good shape?” ~Yuli
ANSWER
This is a great question Yuli, but a little bit of a loaded question.
It’s like asking me if you’re going to have to keep eating food every day because you’re not hungry. Or if you’re going to have to keep buying shampoo to wash your hair because it’s now clean.
It takes care and consistency to have healthy nails.
If you RARELY have your hands in water, then your pink nail bed will nourish your nail plate with enough moisture and oil to keep SHORT nails healthy. Your body’s job is to keep everything moisturized.
Too Much Of A Good Thing?
Our biggest problem is that people wash their hands an average of 20 times per day!
Our nails can absorb one third their weight in water. I explain how this is damaging in my “Polish Chipping in the Shower” article.
Proper hygiene is important, but it comes at a cost.
People who wash their hands a lot, dry out their nails because the soaps and water wash the oils away. We can’t forgo handwashing though.
A lot of people want long nails. But once your nails pass the tips and begin to turn white, they’re drying out.
It is the moisture and sebum (body oil) coming up through the nail plate that keeps those cells looking transparent. When the tips leave end of your fingertips, they are no longer getting nourishment from the nail bed. The result is dried out nail tips that constantly peel or break.
If you aren’t happy with your nails for any reason, it’s usually because the skin and nails are dried out. The only way to reduce this damage and have healthy nails is to replace the oil.
Why Oil?
Like moisture, oils have a plasticizing effect and can noticeably increase flexibility of the nail plate, especially with dry, brittle nails.
How?
Oils can increase the amount of moisture in the nail plate. When applied and absorbed into the nail surface, oils will slow down the passage of water through the nail plate.
Oils block and temporarily seal the moisture channels. Oils also slow water evaporation from the nail plate, which increases moisture content.
The result is less brittle, more flexible nail plates, and it’s all because the moisture content of the nail plate is increased.
Oils will be absorbed into the nail plate to plasticize it, but much more slowly than water. Just as oils are absorbed more slowly into the nail plate, it is also more difficult for the oils to escape.
Therefore, oils stay in the nail plate for a very long time and can exert a dramatic long-term influence on the durability of the natural nail plate. ~Doug Schoon, Nail Structure and Product Chemistry
The Polish Fix
If you polish your nails and remove it with pure acetone once a week, your body will replenish the oil in a week. [Source: Doug Schoon, Nail Structure and Product Chemistry]
I had a chuckle when I read this in Doug’s book. My first thought was, “you’re not a girl.” So many of us change polish more than once a week.
A strategy that helps me protect my nails from water absorption is to always wear five layers of nail polish to protect my nails from water damage.
When my nails are wrapped with base coat and top coat, water absorption is significantly reduced.
In Conclusion
For me, I will continue to use Simply Pure™ oil for the rest of my life, just as I will continue to buy food, shampoo, and other products that I feel are helpful to my life and health.
But at the end of the day, the decision is completely up to you. I hope that helps! ~Ana
