Four Natural Ingredients to Treat Brittle Nails
To treat brittle nails, you need to resort to nutritional products that can strengthen them. This is because there are two reasons why nails may peel or become flaky.
The first is if you work with your hands submerged in water most of the time. This weakens nails and makes them have an unhealthy appearance. The second is due to a poor diet. Low iron and calcium levels tend to weaken the nails, causing them to break.
Do you want to fight this naturally? If so, keep reading!
Read on to learn more: Nine Remedies for Brittle Nails You Need to Know
Natural ingredients to treat brittle nails
Although you should go to the doctor to verify that you have good iron and calcium levels, here are some ingredients to treat brittle nails effectively if it’s simply an aesthetic issue.
1. Olive oil
Olive oil is an ingredient with multiple uses. It’s not only helpful to treat brittle nails but can also fight dry skin, for example. The reason lies in its properties, which are specified in several studies, such as this one. Overall, it:
- Deeply moisturizes.
- Makes the nails beautiful.
- Makes nails shiny.
- Nourishes the cuticles.
Olive oil contains fatty acids and antioxidants that help strengthen brittle nails.
The best way to use olive oil is to massage it directly into the nails. It’s better to do this at night and go to sleep without washing your hands so the oil penetrates your nails completely.
2. Avocado oil
Avocado is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This fruit is packed with healthy fats and other properties that make it a good choice to treat brittle nails. This oil deeply moisturizes nails, nourishing and restructuring them.
Although you can buy avocado oil, you can also make an avocado paste at home. To do this, you just have to peel an avocado, squash it in a bowl, and then apply it on your nails.
3. Garlic
Perhaps you’ve heard of garlic nail polish, an option to treat brittle nails. However, there’s a more natural choice.
- Just cut some garlic cloves, put them in a bowl of water, and let stand.
- After some time, soak your nails in the water for approximately 10 minutes.
- Then, you can let your nails dry outdoors to enhance the benefits of this ingredient.
One of the best natural ingredients to treat weak and brittle nails is garlic.
- Garlic has antimicrobial properties that will prove helpful if your brittle nails are caused by onychomycosis. Also, you can use this remedy every day.
4. Castor oil
This is the last ingredient we decided to share in this article to treat brittle nails. It helps moisturize nails, penetrating between the layers and strengthening them. This oil is also composed of fatty acids, as stated in the article “Castor Oil: Properties, Uses, and Optimization of Processing Parameters in Commercial Production“.
Just as the first two options, you should massage this oil directly into your nails. You should do this every day until you see improvement.
Final tips to treat brittle nails
Despite using these ingredients to treat brittle nails, it’s important to bear some tips in mind that can help speed up their recovery and prevent this problem from reoccurring.
- Wear gloves if you keep your nails submerged in water for long periods. Gloves will help protect them and prevent this problem.
- If your nails break due to a poor diet, it’s essential to eat healthier. To do this, you can consult a nutritionist.
- In both cases, or as part of your beauty routine, you can use the ingredients we shared here to moisturize and always keep your nails in good condition, not only when they show some kind of problem as those we mentioned above.
Have you ever used any of the oils we shared here or garlic to treat brittle nails? Did you get good results?
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Cardona V, S. M., González C, R., Franco C, A., Cardeño L, F., & Ríos, L. A. (2010). Production of monoglycerides from castor oil using crude and refined glycerin. Study of the main variables of the process. Vitae, 17(2), 128–134.
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- Chalar Vargas, Luis Rodrigo, Moya Mamani, Juan Carlos, Vargas Alvarez, Elmer, Sejas Rebollo, Magaly, & Romero, Betzabe. (2014). Función Antimicrobiana de la Alicina de Ajo en cultivos de Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa y Escherichia coli. Revista Científica Ciencia Médica, 17(1), 26-28.
- Guzmán Vera, Carmen Karina, Baldeon Santos, Margaret Karen, Rodrigues Barata, Ana Rita, & Conde-Salazar Gómez, Luis. (2012). Afectación ungueal de origen ocupacional. Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo, 58(229), 321-326.
- Jiménez, Ma. Elena, Aguilar, Ma. del Rosario, Zambrano, Ma. de la Luz, & Kolar, Eva. (2001). Propiedades físicas y químicas del aceite de aguacate obtenido de puré deshidratado por microondas. Revista de la Sociedad Química de México, 45(2), 89-92.