We Tried OPI's Repair Mode Bond Building Nail Serum & Our Nails Are Stronger Than Ever

It's no secret that healthy fingernails can be hard to maintain, which is why many opt for long-lasting acrylics rather than grow out their natural nails. After all, you use your hands constantly throughout the day, whether it's swiping through social media or typing out a work email. Daily chores? Forget about it! Washing dishes without gloves can wreak havoc on your nails, causing breakage and loss of moisture. "Nails swell in water, which leads to chipped nails and weakened nail beds," beauty expert Katie Jane Hughes told Today. "Washing detergent can really dry out every single part of your hands and reduce the life of your nail polish," celebrity manicurist Jin Soon Choi added.

Aside from protecting your hands with gloves and taking a break from polish, there are other ways you can strengthen your nails. OPI's Repair Mode Bond Building Serum promises to repair your nail's keratin structure by building new bonds from within. It comes in a small glass jar with a nail polish applicator, and you apply the formula twice a day for six days. The serum, which can be bought on OPI's website or Amazon for $25, is vegan and free of toxic ingredients like formaldehyde and parabens. We simply had to give it a try, and we saw promising results in less than a week.

If there's a product out there that promises stronger, healthier nails, we're all about testing it. Since we use our hands a lot — and nails tend to chip easily — we like to keep them on the short side. OPI advises users of its Repair Mode Bond Building Nail Serum to apply it on bare, polish-free nails, so we kept ours devoid of any product. As instructed, we brushed it on and saw a nice sheen that quickly evaporated, which may be from its alcohol content — one of the product's four ingredients. There was no scent whatsoever (a pleasant surprise), and the serum didn't leave any residue.

After using it for six days, we didn't see one single chip or broken nail, even after washing dishes and doing general housekeeping sans gloves. Our nails also grew a bit, so it gave us hope that we could have them longer without fear of breakage, but we may have to continue using the serum to see a smoother surface develop.

Fingernail ridges aren't uncommon, and they may occur if you have medical conditions such as hypothyroidism or peripheral vascular disease, per the Cleveland Clinic. Non-serious issues, such as aging or eczema, can also cause ridges. They either appear vertical or horizontal and are usually present in all 20 nails unless the cause is an injury to a single finger. While OPI's Repair Mode Bond Building Nail Serum doesn't promise to completely get rid of ridges, the beloved nail product brand states that the formula can help reduce their appearance.

As you can see, our ridges are vertical, and while they aren't very deep, they're a bit visible on naked nails. We didn't notice an improvement in them after just six days of using the serum, but perhaps they'll be less noticeable after a longer period of use. On the bright side, we don't see any negative effects of using the nail serum, and since there are no harmful ingredients, we're enthusiastically going to add this beauty step to our daily regimen. Hopefully, we'll see some improvement regarding our ridges, but we're happy with just having stronger, healthier nails in general.