Beautiful You: Natural Nails
Take a quick look at your hands, specifically your fingernails. How do they look? Are they neatly trimmed or a bit unkempt? I have to admit that my hands have been looking a bit rough lately, what with gardening, dishwashing, and other household chores. The Proverbs 31 woman works with eager hands, but I’ll bet even her hands needed a little attention now and then.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Nail Clippers
- Nail File
- Small Bowl of Warm Water
- Olive Oil
- Orangewood Stick (Like this or this.)
- Foam Manicure Block (Like this one.)
- Clear Nail Polish (optional)
- Hand Lotion
For naturally pretty nails:
- First, shape the nails. If they’re quite long, use nail clippers to trim them to the right length. Using a nail file (filing from the edge of the nail to the center, and not back and forth), gently shape the nails and remove any sharp edges. Wash your hands.
- Place your fingers in the bowl of warm water and allow your nails to soak for about five minutes. Rub a small amount of olive oil into your cuticles (the skin at the base of your nails). Then use the orangewood stick to gently push back the cuticles. (Don’t try to cut away any excess cuticle, as this can cause infection.)
- Now use each side of the manicure block, in order, to remove ridges from the tops of the nails, then buff and shine. This will make your nails look healthy and shiny.
- If you’re looking for a way to keep nails from breaking and make them look shinier, you can use different natural products such as egg-white on them. Eggs benefit your over-all health wonderfully and contain a large amount of proteins. If you do decide to use some kind of polish, apply it to each nail using three broad strokes (right side, left side, center).
- Allow your nails to dry.
- Finally, apply hand lotion. Coconut oil does wonders for the hands!
Voila! Beautiful, natural looking nails You can keep them looking pretty by applying lotion regularly and wearing by gloves when gardening or washing dishes.
About The Author
Those are great tips Mrs. Kate! I so enjoyed this! I have a kit that I have used for years that has helped make my nails look great (nail buffers and things in it)! :) I also put lotion on my hands before bed each evening to keep my hands soft. :)
Blessings!
~Rachel~
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Thanks Rachel! Daily moisturizing is definitely important, especially in cold weather. If I wear gloves when gardening, washing dishes, or just going outside in the cold, I like to put lotion on my hands before putting the gloves on. It really does wonders, especially if I use a super-moisturizing petroleum-based product like Vaseline. =)
I love the idea of a kit. I used to have a little bag that kept all my manicure stuff together, but everything seems to have dispersed to various places around the house…
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I was just thinking rather ruefully that my nails could use some love. I chewed my nails for my whole life and only “quit” just a little less than two years ago… Still trying to get the hang of keeping them neat.
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Great article! This reminded me that I too need a little care to my hands. I’ll get to that tonight :-)
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Thanks for the tips on how to have beautiful nails. I can’t grow my nails out very long – they always break off. But thanks for the tips!
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I know I have for I think the past year or so, stopped getting fake nails. It’s just a slavery! Thank you for this post.
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