Coco Knows! Answer to Question from Kelli

Good morning all! Dear reader Kelli posed the following question:

Dear Coco, I am a poor college student at Lipscomb University who wants to take better care of her nails and cuticles. I play piano (for my major), and I hate the way my hands look when my nails do not look nice. My nails are not really the problem, but my cuticles are horrible. They pull away from my nails, and I get hangnails all the time. Do you know what I could do about them at an affordable price that I can do myself (I have no time or money to have them done professionally)? Also, I use a nail file (cardboard - Revlon brand) that has four different parts to take care of the tops of the nails. It smoothes out the ridges in my nails and buffs them quite nicely, but I hate having to buy the whole file (because I use a metal file to file my nails), and it wears out easily. I've used other buffers (the kind that has three different boards), but they fall apart just as easily. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks! Kelli

Kelli - I completely understand and sympathize about the problems with your cuticles. As a worker drone that types 95 words per hour, I need to make sure that my nails are short in good condition, and there's nothing worse than painful fingers due to hangnails and dry cuticles. This is what Coco would do:

1. Be sure that you drink enough water during the day and night. That is the best form of hydration for your skin.

2. Take a multivitamin. Not only will you get essential vitamins and minerals for your overall good health, but the condition of your hair and nails should also improve.

3. I have three products to recommend:

(a) Buy a cuticle cream for use in the daytime. I prefer Sally Hansen. It is not at all greasy, a little goes a long way, and you don't have to worry about any cuticle oil making a mess in your purse. I use this every single day before I begin typing.


(b) Follow that up with a hand moisturizer. It doesn't have to be anything pricey, just something that will do the job. I personally like Lubriderm, because it is unscented and will not compete with whatever scent you might be wearing.

(c) Here's the grand slam for lovely hands. Buy and use olive oil! Now, you don't have to buy anything extra virgin, imported from Italy....any grocery store variety will do. Rub the oil on your hands, especially your cuticle area at night, and then follow that up with some thin cotton gloves. You should be able to find some gloves in a drug store near the loofahs and bath things. In the morning, your skin will be soft and hydrated. You should be able to toss those gloves in the washer when necessary. Olive oil is great for many areas. It can be used as a general moisturizer, or even a hair conditioner if used in moderation and rinsed out well.

If you follow these steps, the appearance of your nails and cuticles should improve. I personally don't have an issue with ridges in the nails, but the taking of a multivitamin may make the ridges in your nails less visible, and keeping your nails and hands more hydrated should make you run through those emery boards buffers with less frequency since it will take less effort to get them into a pretty condition.

Thank you for your question Kelli. If there are any more readers out there that have questions, please feel free to ask!