The Best Creams To Help Repair Your Damaged Nails

Having healthy nails that are sleek and shiny just makes you feel good. So it's always a downer when an accident happens, and your nails wind up damaged. Even trips to the nail salon can cause damage to your nails. If your nail technician uses improper techniques when applying acrylic nails, such as too much filing of your natural nails or using a low-quality acrylic alternative, you might end up with weak, brittle, or even painful nails.

There are many mistakes that could be destroying your nails, including trauma. Ever have the displeasure of slamming your finger in the car door? Besides being painful, any type of injury to your nail can cause some other unpleasant side effects including the nail lifting from the nail bed and dark spots, according to Medical News Today.

When your nails are damaged, infected, or in another state of disarray, you may be tempted to hide them behind closed-toe shoes or by keeping your hands tucked behind your back. Before you do either, here are some miraculous treatments that will bring life back to your damaged nails.

Surgery isn't really something anyone is excited to go through, especially if you're not a huge fan of needles. According to the Global Nail Fungus Organization, nail removal surgery is usually performed on nails infected by fungus or nails that have experienced damage with lasting effects. These effects usually don't vanish on their own and require the nail to be removed so it can resume its healthy growing pattern. Although the entire procedure of nail removal is said to last only twenty minutes or so, it's good to know that there is an at-home choice that could potentially save you a trip to the doctor's office.

Urea nail cream is a doctor-approved topical treatment that offers an alternative to surgery when it comes to gently and safely softening or even removing damaged nails (via Cleveland Clinic.) All it takes is about a week of using a product containing Urea cream on your affected nail before the nail will have softened enough for you to begin removing it.

If you prefer a different form of the medicine, Urea is also available in a gel, lacquer, lotion, and ointment. Choose which one works best for your nails, and make sure to ask your doctor if you have any questions.

Brittle nails are quite literally a pain. Unfortunately, they are a reality that many women have to face. Per Healthline, around 27 percent of women have brittle nails. Your nails can become weak due to a variety of factors, and not all of them are preventable. As we grow older, our fingernails naturally become weaker and thinner. Low levels of iron also contribute to brittle nails. Weak nails can easily split or break, resulting in pain if the break exposes your sensitive nail bed.

Fortifying your nail with a strengthening cream can prevent painful splits and breaks from ever occurring. For strong nails, we recommend the Onyx Professional Hard as Hoof Strengthening Cream. It's the #1 bestselling nail strengthener on Amazon and boasts tens of thousands of positive reviews, along with an impressive 4.5 star rating. The Onyx Cream can reverse the brittleness of damaged nails by supplying them with the vitamins and calcium they need to boost their overall health. It also conditions your cuticles, leading to longer, stronger nails.

A weekend trip to the nail salon is a way to destress and give yourself the pampering you deserve after a long week of work. But if you're getting your cuticles cut during your visit, you could be doing more damage to your nails than good.

Cutting your cuticles is an unnecessary step you should opt to skip when you're getting a manicure done, Dr. Joel Schlessinger told StyleCaster during an interview. "Cuticles should never be cut or trimmed as it leads to infections and ultimately damage to the nail," the dermatologist explained. While the result of cut cuticles can be a cleaner-looking manicure, it's best to leave your cuticles on as cutting them offers no real benefit.

If you've already had your cuticles cut and are looking to restore them, the Modelones Cuticle Cream can help. Enriched with all-natural jojoba oil and vitamins, the non-greasy cream provides long-term hydration to your cuticle area which promotes the growth of healthier nails.

Sometimes, you're just done with your chipping gel polish and ready to get it off. We've all been there. However, peeling off your gel manicure regularly could be the reason why you're seeing weak, damaged nails.

In an interview with Yahoo!, OPI official Sigourney Nunez warned that scraping off your gel polish doesn't only take off the color — it can take off an entire layer of your nail plate. Repeatedly peeling off your polish could lead to dry, weak, and brittle nails that break often.

For nails damaged by spur-of-the-moment gel removal, we recommend the Elon Lanolin-Rich Nail Conditioner. Using lanolin in skincare products is popular because of the oil's moisturizing benefits (via Verywell Health.) Similarly to petroleum jelly, lanolin seals in moisture, helping the area stay hydrated for longer. The Elon Nail Conditioner penetrates the nail bed and seals in the added moisture there, helping at the source to replenish nails that have become dry and weak from polish scraping.

If you've damaged your nails, particularly your nail bed, it's incredibly important to seek out a doctor, says Healthline. But if the damage is minimal, it's okay to try out some at-home remedies. While nail creams are useful treatments you can try at home, there are quite a few other tactics you can use to bring your nails up to snuff again.

First, analyze what caused damage to your nails. This will help you decide what treatment you should try. If you've had a bad manicure that left your nails weak, chipped, and messy, or stripped off the gel yourself, your nails are in need of a boost of moisture and plenty of care. SELF recommends moisturizing nails liberally with a cuticle oil or hand cream to restore moisture to nails in this weakened state.

Once you've started your treatment, you can start fortifying your nails so damage won't happen again. Eating these foods can strengthen your nails, and you can even use this food-based nail soak recipe from Food Network to restore your nail's vitality. We hope this helps you find a beauty regime that works for your damaged nails so they will emerge beautiful and healthy once more.