7 Tips How to Grow Strong Nails

1. Don't Bite.

2. Polish your nails with a nail hardener clear polish. Always keep your nails polished. If you prefer to wear color, put a coat of clear on first, then use color. If possible, put a top coat of clear on after the color dries. I'm in the process of getting a Kisse Girl polish line but until that comes out, I like to use Sally Hansen hard as nail polish.

3. Don't pill your polish off. Use nail polish remover.

4. Massage your cuticles with lotion once a day. This is the most important tip because massaging your cuticles stimulates nail growth. This really does work.

5. Don't get acrylic nails because they file away the enamel on your nails which makes them thin and weak.

6.Don't use your nails as tools to open or pry stuff like soda cans. Doing so will cause breakage.

7. Be patient and you will have pretty strong nails soon!

*These are things that I do to keep my nails healthy and looking good. I can't guarantee that this will work for you, but it's worth the try!

For inspiration during your process go to http://www.ournails.com/ to see some beautiful nails. All of the nails shown aren't real, but they are fun to look at.

Nail Biters Read This!

Looking at the picture above can you believe I use to have the bad habit of biting my nails? Well, I did. I bit my nails until I was 13 years old. I had many fail attempts to stop. I think most times I failed because I tried to stop cold turkey without giving myself an incentive.

When I was growing up in the 80's, there were no nail shops on every corner that I could go to to cover up the shame of ugly nails. So if I wanted my hands to be pretty, I had to first stop biting my nails. At the age of 10, my Dad offered me my first incentive to stop. He said he would give me $10 if I stopped biting my nails. That was a huge amount considering my allowance was $10 a week. An additional $10 bucks would make me the richest 5th grader in my class! To get the money, I had to grow a fingernail on all 10 of my fingers simultaneously. It took about a month to do it. I was so proud of my tiny length that I had as a result of not biting my nails and the $10 was the icing on the cake.

For the next 3 years, I managed to break the habit and enjoyed painting my nails a different color every week. I even turned down playing basketball in middle school because I didn't want to break my nails. Today, I enjoy the compliments I receive especially when I go to the nail shop. They always rave over my real nails being so long and pretty!

If you are a nail bitter and desire to stop, the greatest reward you will get is beautiful nails that belong to you. Now that's priceless! In my next entry, I'll give tips on how to maintain your nails while they are growing.