r/nailcare

I keep natural nails and do them myself, used to get shellac before trips maybe once or twice a year but not in the last decade - it would chip on me about as fast as regular polish and was too hard to remove. I had an event in May and thought real hard about trying dip powder or something, but in the end I didn't want to risk damaging my nails so just went in to get a regular manicure as a treat so someone would clean up my cuticles since I'm not very good at it.

THE TECH USED THE E-FILE ALL OVER MY BARE NAILS and absolutely wrecked them, this is seven weeks' growth out and I'm still livid. I had never experienced that so didn't know to snatch my hand back. I went (to a different salon) for a pedicure today, and the lady used one on my freaking toes? does everyone just do that now all of a sudden? am I going to get side eye if I'm ever brave enough to try again and am like HAND BUFF ONLY?

I’m still unsure what’s the cause my nail separating from the bed. might be from scarping under nails,gel polish, or bumping them into stuff. so far i’ve cut them down as far as i could, any further and its painful. I know i should keep them dry, but anything else? should i put rubbing alcohol or petroleum jelly? also is the gloves doctors use okay to keep them covered with? also any vitamins that might help them grow?

My sister told me that my nails are disgusting and that I should cut them shorter because they are way too long… Looking for a second honest opinion because I think they look pretty good!

UPDATE: Thanks all for the suggestions and honesty. I do not have any iron or b12 deficiencies. My nails have just always grown this way since I was a kid.

The slope on my pinky nails have gotten worse over the years and my nail beds have gotten shorter. Any advice on how to fix either of those?

(I know the cuticles look nasty rn but I've just been busy so sorry and i do have an awful habit of biting them😭😭😭) For some reason my nails aren't thick,they actually bend easily so I sometimes break my pinky toe nail,and whenever I grow my finger nails they end up in two different colours,half clear and half white and idk how to fix that. It takes really long to grow them out ,this is how much they've grown in a month. I want to have thick white nails instead of fragile clear nails

Was just wondering why this happened if anyone has any ideas. I took off my press on nails and noticed my thumb is quite bruised. It doesn’t hurt but I was just wondering if anyone knows why this would happen?

I’ll supply photos for the appropriate timeframes below, I unfortunately only have photos from June.
I noticed this around the middle of May, where my nail had not grown at all and I was experiencing severe pain when walking and was at the point where I had to limp walk everywhere because of this sharp pain. I went to visit a doctor about it on the 14th of May, they suspected a toenail infection and i was given some cream to rub on the irritated area below my nail and around the toe. I visited a second time on the 7th of June after nothing improving and was given two courses of an antibiotic. On the second course of the antibiotic I noticed that there was part of my nail digging into my toenail skin, which I then pulled out of the skin with the tweezers and cut it with nail clippers. I’m worried that maybe I only trimmed this and didn’t fully remove it?
But I did notice that I didn’t have a sharp pain when walking anymore so it must’ve done something, but there was a bit of an indent left in my toe from the nail, and there was still blood coming out from underneath. I feel like the 9th of June photo shows where this bit of nail was (on the right side of the nail)

Which leads me to the end of June where I left for a trip away and was still experiencing bleeding and some pus coming out. I visited a dermotologist over where I am on the 30th June and they gave me needles into my toe and looked behind my nail to see if there was an ingrown toenail and I was told that the only thing that was found was a little bit of pus. They did tell me that this is happening because I cut my nails too short. And then 5 days later to now, where I am currently taking antibiotics again and a cream that I am applying to the area. I don’t experience much pain at all with walking now, but the area is around the toe is still red and I still have blood bleeding out. In one of the images it shows that there’s some blood that is like stuck behind the nail and at least in my opinion there’s some discolouration at the top of the nail.

Although I am currently staying in my accommodation almost all the time, I did buy some sandals to wear instead of my sneakers (runners/joggers) which has made it so much easier to move around so there is a possibility that my sneakers are contributing to it by being too tight or a bad fit.

I’m posting here because I’m on the verge of going into the doctors again because aside from not having much pain walking anymore, my toe is still very red and I still have blood coming out and I’m just lost with what I should be doing.

Thanks for reading, I’m pretty sure I’m going to go back to the doctors again tomorrow but if anyone could give me some insights I’d appreciate it.

Edit: The last photo is from today

I recently started doing my nails at home and to be honest I’ve been a bit careless with the gel polish and wiping stuff away with my hands etc. I noticed a bump on my hand and finally put on some gloves, only to take them off and notice more small bumps on my finger, I looked up contact dermatitis and I’m unsure if that’s what it is because the bumps are superrr tiny and don’t itch or burn at all ,

I’m 21, male, 200lbs, 5’10. I’m pretty sure since birth my toe has had two “nails.” I’m not sure if it’s actually two nails, or just one nail that’s split. Sometimes it’s separate, other times the two nails sort of fuse into one another. It can be painful at times, and this toe is more sensitive compared to the others. Too much pressure on it is pretty uncomfortable. I would ideally like it to be one normal nail like the others.

I’ve pulled out the smaller rougher nail with pliers a few times over the course of my life. Hoping to both ease the pain, and hoping it wouldn’t come back. Of course it didn’t really help much and it always grew back.

A question I do have is if I remove both nails, if they will grow back normally as one. And what is this condition? Is there any treatment/cure? Any input would be appreciated as I’ve had little information given to me over the course of my life. Thanks!

I’ve always had naturally hard and strong nails, I never get my nails done so I had no idea what to expect. It was a huge mistake to get the gel polish remove at a different salon than where I had it done.

After the removal, my nails were ruined. They were paper-thin, incredibly painful, and so sensitive that I couldn't even do basic things. Every time I tried to touch something, it felt like my nails were about to rip off. It was a nightmare.

We went back to the salon to complain, and even though they apologized profusely, they just tried to brush it off by saying, 'this happens to everyone.' I’m still so angry about it because my nails are still growing back weak and snapping constantly, and I’m still dealing with the aftermath of that 'professional' service.

I need them to grow super fast.

The nail on my right thumb started to split around 3 years ago. As I didn’t pay much attention to it in the begining, thinking that it’s a temporary issue, I don’t remember exactly how it started, but I think it started with a little split at the top.

I’ve been getting gel manicures during these years so it was covered by the gel most of the time and there were a few instances in which I hit myself and the gel broke and left my nail bare so I could see that the split was getting longer and longer. My nail lady used to keep it somewhat stable by using some kind of glass fibre.

A few weeks ago I got an infection and removed the gel completely, and now my nail looks like this. I’m trying to get an appointment with someone specialized in treating nail problems but until then I’m trying to figure out if what the solutions would be.

My job requires me to have my nails done all the time, and nail polish is a pain in the ass because it’s difficult to keep intact, so ideally I would like to keep getting gel manicures or at least semi-permanent nail polish (with a different nail lady of course).

Will this take a lot of time to treat? In the meantime I am covering my nail with a plaster at work but that is also annoying, as I work with my hands a lot so it doesn’t stay in place, it gets wet etc and I need to change it constanly.

Hi all! I’ve been a terrible nail biter for years and have been not biting for about 7-8 months. I just filed off my gel nails and am STILL having lifting at the sides. it’s very painful, and i’m wondering if i can grow them back. i’ve been using cuticle oil and lotion, but nothing it working

You can see on my pointer finger where the actual attachment point is vs where it should be

I keep seeing recommendations for Nailtiques here. I just wanted to share this in case it is helpful. Check your boxes of Nailtiques. If there is no formalin, then it’s not going to harden the nails, help with delamination, etc. You have the new formula if you don’t see formalin. Same with NailTek.

How do i stop hurting my toenails(pic 1), So usually when u play basketball there are hard stops and sudden breaking and i have to do this to my toes(pic2). But everytime i do this i hurt my nails. When I stop hard, or when i land from a jump. How can i prevent this? What are your suggestions? Should i put like a silicone on my nail or what

they can’t really grow any wider than this without flaring out weird. i feel like i have baby fingers

Hi!

Over the last 2-3 months, I’d started getting my nails done (BIAB) and today I went to get them taken off and done again and my nails were like this?!?

The lady doing my nails said it’s likely the bed have gotten wet (they were quite long) and I hadn’t properly dried them. Obviously, I didn’t get them done again and just got a top coat over the top.

Has anyone else had this and can tell me what to do!!? Thank you!!!

My big toe nails have seen better days. The rest of my toe nails are fine. Mostly.

I do not really know how long this has been going on. A couple of years, perhaps?

I had not really been paying much attention to it until now, when the ends have become impossible to trim with a nail clipper (I use a nail file now), but then again, I am not quite sure that they are growing much or at all right now.

[Edit: Removed medical information, but basically poor immune system in 2024 and 2025.]

The left toe has obviously sustained a bit of trauma months ago, but other than that, it looks pretty much the same as the right one, which to me suggests that the layers might have a medical cause.

I guess my concern is that it does not look to me as if a new nail is growing beneath those old layers. The closeup of the one with the trauma looks particularly bad.

I was considering seeing a specialist, but a quick search told me that losing a nail once in a while is not uncommon, depending on footwear and physical activity.

Should I just leave them alone and wait for them to fall off on their own, taking care not to snag them on anything or try to pull them off before they are good and ready? What should I expect?

EDIT: Yes, fungal infection came up in my searches, and yes, I intend to see a specialist. There has just not been any pain and it has not bothered me, so my mind has been on other things for the past couple of years. Just checking if anyone in here has had similar issues and how things went for them. I like to collect a bit of information before seeing a specialist, so I have an idea of what to expect. As for any medication, I might have to coordinate that with my oncologist.

Hi!! I was trying to figure out how to trim my cuticles as a beginner (who has never done it before). I've seen a lot of different techniques online, but I'd like to know which one is the most effective and easiest (and which, if possible, doesn't require too much equipment). Plus, I don't have that much dead skin around my nail, so maybe it's not the same??? So if you have any recommendations or tips, I'm all ears <33

(Add: Thanks guys for the prevention!!)

These are what my natural nails looked like a few months ago,now they’re uneven and dirty,(can’t take a pic rn) but any tips to get this result back?.

My nails peel. Like from the tip, in layers. Well. A layer breaks off like this. It's frustrating.