Fingernails keep breaking

[anthonyg]

Meh. My acrylic nails, are painted on by the ladies in the salon, have been "battle tested" working in commercial kitchens and sometimes doing mechanical work on my bicycles.
They are not coming off, unless you have left them for so long that they are about to fall off anyway.
The surgical tape is falling off due to lack of maintenance/replacement, long before an acrylic nail is falling off.

 

[Patty]

The supplement Biotin will work wonders for your nails (and also your hair). It's pretty inexpensive, and has lots of benefits. I honestly don't remember the last time I even chipped a nail, much less broke one. Here's the stuff I use, but feel free to look around: Sports Research Biotin (10,000mcg) with Organic Coconut Oil | Supports Healthy Hair, Skin & Nails | Non-GMO Verified & Vegan Certified (120 Veggie-Softgels) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T56FQAE/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_RK89Z99H9XD0QHVSMRN6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Reviving this old thread about broken and chipped fingernails, to thank @TimWilson for this tip. I read this more than a year and a half ago (April 2022) and started taking Biotin. Not because I use my nails to play the ukulele (I use the fleshy pads of my fingers), but because my fingernails and (even more so) toenails were chipping, cracking, and splitting. Also, my hair had lots of split ends and had lost its luster, and my skin felt dry and tight.

I started taking biotin (Nature’s Bounty from the grocery store, one 5000 mcg capsule a day), and Eureka! After a couple of months,, I noticed that not only were my nail problems GONE, but my hair and skin were better too. Hair shinier and healthier, skin more elastic and less dry.

For good measure, at the same time I also started taking gelatin capsules, 21st Century brand from Amazon, one 600 mg capsule with each meal. This no doubt helped boost the effects of the biotin.

Both of these are very cheap fixes. Just add them to your daily supplement intake and forget about them. Before you know it …

Here are links to what I use, but any good brands would probably work. Thank you, Tim!

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/21st-Century-Gelatin-600mg-Capsules/dp/B004SCEMRS/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3A36OOGGWR5Y6&keywords=gelatin+capsules&qid=1703174672&s=hpc&sprefix=Gelatin+%2Chpc%2C141&sr=1-4

 

[revdocjim]

Last summer I decided to attempt to grow out my right hand nails a bit for playing. It was incredibly difficult as I normally keep my nails extremely short... as in, if I see any white, it's time to nibble it off, right down to the flesh! Other than constantly picking at my growing nails, I found it extremely frustrating how easily they got all sorts of crud under them. I was cleaning my nails 4-5 times a day or more. By September they were finally starting to get long enough to aid in my attempts at finger-style playing. But inevitably, just as a nail gets almost long enough to be useful, it cracks. This has happened over and over again for the past 5 months. You see, my nails aren't brittle. On the contrary, they are extremely soft. When my toenails get long, I can just peel them off by hand! My wife has hard nails. One of our kids inherited her hard nails and two inherited my soft nails. It's just a matter of DNA I think. So anyway, the new year has begun and I have completely given up. I'm seriously considering trying some fake acrylics just to see how it goes. Don't want to spend a lot of money but it would be interesting for sure.

 

[Steedy]

Last summer I decided to attempt to grow out my right hand nails a bit for playing. It was incredibly difficult as I normally keep my nails extremely short... as in, if I see any white, it's time to nibble it off, right down to the flesh! Other than constantly picking at my growing nails, I found it extremely frustrating how easily they got all sorts of crud under them. I was cleaning my nails 4-5 times a day or more. By September they were finally starting to get long enough to aid in my attempts at finger-style playing. But inevitably, just as a nail gets almost long enough to be useful, it cracks. This has happened over and over again for the past 5 months. You see, my nails aren't brittle. On the contrary, they are extremely soft. When my toenails get long, I can just peel them off by hand! My wife has hard nails. One of our kids inherited her hard nails and two inherited my soft nails. It's just a matter of DNA I think. So anyway, the new year has begun and I have completely given up. I'm seriously considering trying some fake acrylics just to see how it goes. Don't want to spend a lot of money but it would be interesting for sure.

Short of trying acrylics, you might try applying a nail strengthener for a little reinforcement. I sometimes use a product called O.P.I. Nail Envy to patch small cracks or chips. It's like a clear fingernail polish that's supposed to strengthen nails. Tends to wear off on its own after a few days, and if I dab it on thick enough, I can peel it off later!