All about cuticles and caring for them. Note: how to care for cuticles at home? Nail and cuticle care

A beautiful manicure should be flawless in everything. It is not enough to monitor the shape and condition of the nails; caring for the cuticle is an equally important part of the manicure. The cuticle is a thin skin that frames the nail at its base. Despite the fact that it interferes with us during a manicure, it has its own functions: protection from dirt, germs, fungal penetration and chemicals. Therefore, it is important not just to remove it without a trace, but to provide careful care. Today we will tell you how to properly care for the skin around your nails, trim your cuticles and slow down their growth.

Basic rules of care

For a very long time, the dry skin at the base of the nail, that is, the cuticle, was simply cut off. Some people still adhere to this “tradition”, but are displeased to notice that it grows back very quickly. Reasonable questions arise: why does this happen and what to do, how to stop its growth? It is growing for obvious reasons. Performing a protective function, the cuticle tries to protect the nails from infections and bacteria. But what can you do to prevent the skin around your nails from growing so quickly? There is only one answer - to provide her with quality care.

A proper manicure starts with a good cuticle care product. Now in stores you can see a wide range of different products: gels, oils, softeners, pencils, creams, elixirs, balms, peelings. All of them are designed for different purposes: soften, nourish, help slow growth, strengthen, prevent the formation of hangnails and dryness. In general, they help you do a neat manicure at home with less effort and keep your cuticles in perfect shape. But manicure is not limited to purchasing cuticle care products. There are still some rules to follow.

1. Even if you like to do manicures and take care of your nails at home, it doesn’t hurt to pamper your nails with professional care at least once a month for better growth and cuticle formation.
2. It's better to leave trimmed manicure to the specialists; now there are enough products to do without it.
3. Do not pick off hangnails - the skin will become inflamed later. They need to be trimmed carefully.
4. Do not use cheap varnishes and cosmetics.
5. Protect your hands from aggressive influences, wear gloves when working with household chemicals.
6. Get a massage periodically. Every time you apply cream to your hands, take a couple of minutes to care for your nails. Lightly massage the area at the base of the nail.
7. It is useful to sometimes treat your hands with a special peeling.

Dry cuticle is unsightly and unnatural. It should be soft, invisible and neat. Follow the basics and your manicure will always look great.

Trim manicure

This method of removing cuticles has long been recognized as unsafe. If you do it ineptly at home, you can easily injure the area around the nails, where the skin is especially sensitive. And this is fraught with inflammation and infection. But if the cuticle is very neglected, then you can’t do without a trimmed manicure. To do this you need to use special scissors-tweezers.

To do everything as quickly and accurately as possible, it is recommended to pre-steam your hands in a bath with added oils. Steamed skin will stand out clearly, and you will not have any difficulty distinguishing it from the cuticle. Before cutting it, you need to slightly move it with a special stick. Next, using sharp scissors, gently cut off the rough, dry skin with light movements. It is recommended to resort to this method only in extreme cases, and subsequently use means to slow down the growth of the cuticle.

Unedged manicure

Now on sale you can see products called “removers”. They are designed to quickly dissolve dead skin around the nails. They are very convenient and easy to use at home. Essentially, they help you do your manicure without using any cutting tools.

Almost every cosmetic company now produces such products. The principle of their action is very simple - they are applied in a dense layer to the treated area and left to act for several minutes. After this, using an orange stick, you can easily clean off the softened keratinized tissue. The removers contain AHA acids, oils and other components that help soften the skin.

Can cuticles grow more slowly?

For a modern woman who is too busy to get her manicures done frequently, it is very important that caring for her nails is easy. Special products help slow down the growth of the cuticle. They do not give an instant effect; the systematic use of them is important here.

If you rub them into your cuticles every night, you will notice that the skin around your nails grows much more slowly. Such products are usually available in the form of gels and oils. In addition to their intended purpose, they strengthen nails and care for the skin around them.

Care tools

If you like to take care of your nails yourself, then it won’t hurt you to get a full-fledged manicure set. What tools should you buy first?

1. Cuticle scissors will come in handy if you are a supporter of trimmed manicure. Their choice will depend on your characteristics. Thin cuticles can be easily cut with needle scissors with a miniature blade. Thick cuticles require the use of tweezers.
2. Many manufacturers now produce special pencils. Some of them include a stick stick and a nourishing cream. With this device, the skin can be gently pushed away without injuring it.
3. Pusher is a double-sided stick for pushing back cuticles. It can be easily replaced with orange manicure sticks.
4. If you are sufficiently accurate and precise in your actions, you can purchase a special trimmer that looks like a spatula with a forked tip. It is important that the tool is sharp, then with some skill you can quickly cut the cuticle with it.
5. Recently they started using special cuticle files to help polish the area around the nail. They provide gentle and high-quality care. Especially if you have dry cuticles. It is better to give preference to glass files, as they have a very fine abrasive.

Using these tips, you can easily remove cuticles, slow down their growth and keep them in perfect condition at all times. If you still have any questions, you can find answers to them by watching the very useful final video.

To make your hands look well-groomed and beautiful, it is important not only to do a fashionable manicure, but also to carefully care for the cuticle. Read what basic cuticle care rules you should follow to keep your nails looking neat and healthy.

Nail care also includes careful care of the cuticle, which protects the nail from the penetration of various bacteria and infections. If you don’t take care of your cuticles and let things take their course, you will soon encounter problems such as hangnails, dryness and cracks in the skin, and because of this, your nails may grow more slowly and even change their shape.

Cuticle removal

So how should you care for your nails and cuticles at home? First, choose which cuticle removal option suits you best. With a classic cut manicure, the skin is first softened with a special cuticle remover, and then carefully trimmed with special tweezers.

If you prefer an unedged European manicure, first apply a product with fruit acids to the cuticle, which will soften the skin and facilitate the further process. After this, move the cuticle with an orange stick.

Cuticle oil

Caring for cuticles at home involves regular use of oil. Apply it every day and as often as possible to prevent the skin from drying out and starting to crack. Soon you will notice that the cuticle has become more elastic and looks much better. You can purchase special oil from cosmetic brands, or buy shea, peach or tea tree butter at the pharmacy, which are perfect for caring for cuticles.

Hand cream

Hand cream can perfectly moisturize the skin around the nails, and therefore it is recommended to use it several times a day, and especially at night. Over such a long period of time, the cream will have time to be absorbed perfectly and you will not be afraid of any burrs or cracks.

A neat and beautiful manicure will always be in fashion. In order for it to remain this way for a long time, it is necessary to regularly care for the cuticle. First of all, this will help avoid the occurrence of burrs and infection. How to tidy up the cuticle, properly remove hangnails and prevent their appearance, the site explained brand certified specialist MAVALA Anna Radina and chief expert of INM in Russia Irina Rokhmistrova.

Why do burrs appear?

The nail consists of a plate, a socket, and a cuticle, which is a layer of skin that forms the edge of the nail and the socket. During the process of growth, without proper care, the cuticle becomes drier near the hole and sometimes breaks, sometimes even in several places. This is where burrs form. The formation of hangnails is influenced by a lack of vitamins in the body, insufficient hand care, drying out of the skin when interacting with cleaning products, as well as improperly performed trimmed manicure.

How to remove burrs

Burrs must be removed without fail to avoid infection and inflammation. Do not pick or bite off under any circumstances, but carry out the procedure as follows:

Pre-steam your skin in a warm bath. Keep your hands in the water for no more than fifteen minutes.

Then, using special nail clippers, carefully trim the burrs. Movements should be smooth and in no case pulling or tearing, otherwise you may injure this area of ​​skin.

How to care for your cuticle

Cuticle care at home

To avoid the appearance of hangnails, you need to regularly care for the cuticle at home, using products that nourish and moisturize, as well as strengthen and improve the structure of the nail plate. In addition, it is necessary to periodically do a proper manicure.

The following will help you care for your cuticle:

Cuticle oil. Usually this is either one oil, for example, apricot, or a whole cocktail of oils in one bottle. They promote deep hydration and nutrition of the skin around the nail.

Scrubs and removers for nails. Contain abrasives or acids that easily remove dead skin around the nail and slow down the rate of cuticle growth.

Caring pencils. Convenient for express care. The composition of the pencils does not need to be rubbed in, it does not leave a greasy residue, gives the skin a glossy shine, visually making the cuticle smooth. From the outside it looks like you just got a trim manicure.

How to care for your cuticle

Nourishing cuticle cream. Moisturizing plant components in its composition prevent the skin from drying out and strengthen nails. It is better to apply the cream in very small portions - literally a drop on the tip of your finger. Use before bed, it is advisable to wear cotton gloves afterwards.

Masks for nails and cuticles. Masks with kaolin and allantoin, containing diatoms and mallow are the ideal spa care for nails and cuticles. These components prevent roughening of the skin, stimulate nail growth, strengthen them, and soften the cuticle. It is worth making masks twice a week. Pre-treat your hands with a scrub, apply a mask and put on cotton gloves. Remove them after 30 minutes, but do not wash off the mask.

Your assistants:

How to care for your cuticle

1. Apricot oil for cuticles Apricot cuticle oil, essie,
2. Cuticle remover composition Cuticle Away, Esteemia,
3. Cuticle softening cream studio nails moisturizing cuticle cream, essence,
4. Cuticle moisturizing balm Cuticle Balm, Kiss,
5. Complete cuticle treatment Avon,
6. Cream with cell complex for intensive cuticle restoration Cellular Intensive Cuticle Recovery Cream, June Jacobs,
7. Cuticle oil Mavala,
8. Oil for nails and cuticles Solar Oil, CND,
9. Softening balm for cuticle care The ONE, Oriflame.

How to slow down cuticle growth

To prevent hangnails from forming, it is necessary to slow down the growth of the cuticle. This is facilitated by two types of manicure - edged and dry European.

Unedged European dry manicure

During the ritual, the cuticle is not cut, but treated with an emollient, which also cleanses and disinfects the skin. Typically, formulations with fruit acids, oils and plant extracts in the form of creams, lotions or oils are used for these purposes.

Apply the composition to the cuticle area and let it absorb for 5 minutes, then with an orange wood stick, begin to slowly push the cuticle towards the periungual ridges. If you are afraid of damaging the matrix (soft nail) and injuring the nail plate, a plastic cuticle stick with a rubber tip will be your faithful assistant in home manicure.

Many people think that the cuticle is an annoying and unnecessary fold of skin around the nail. But this is not true at all! The cuticle is the natural protection of new keratin cells, which make up the nails. It covers the soft layer of the “young” nail, which is not yet strong. If you cut this protection incorrectly, you can not only ruin your nails, but even lose them altogether!

The cuticle can be living or non-living. The first one fits tightly to the surface of the nail at its base and serves to protect it. She needs constant care and additional support and nutrition from outside. The second is the “spent” cuticle. This is what needs to be removed regularly.

For home care for a nail protector, every lady should have in her “arsenal”:

· oil in a pencil tube,

· mild antiseptic,

· tongs and spatula for removing dead skin,

· nailfile.

How to remove cuticles correctly

There are several ways to remove cuticles. Each of them is good in its own way, but you cannot blindly use the method that suited your mother, sister or friend. You need to choose your only method of cuticle removal using a trial method and in accordance with your skin type and nail characteristics.

Hardware method

During this procedure, the dead layer of keratinized cuticle cells is polished with a special machine. Removal of old cells occurs gently, the living cuticle is not damaged and damage to the nail plate is minimized. But if the procedure is carried out by an amateur, then there is a high risk of damage to both the protective layer of the skin and the base of the nail. You can only trust your hands to a qualified specialist.

Trim method

This method is the oldest and most proven, but also the most dangerous. During the procedure, both the skin and the nail plate can be easily damaged or infected. Circumcision is an aggressive action and the new skin that grows at the site of the cut is usually denser and rougher, it often cracks and grows much faster. To prevent such consequences, before the procedure it is necessary to steam the cuticle well and treat it with special products - moisturizing creams or oils, and after circumcision - with an antiseptic and nourishing cuticle cream.

Unedged method

In order to use this method of removing cuticles, you need to regularly care for it, massage it using softening oils and creams. During the procedure, the cuticle, steamed and softened with a special remover, is carefully moved with an orange stick to the base of the nail. This can only be done when the skin on your hands is completely dry. After manipulation, a moisturizing nourishing agent corresponding to the type of hand skin must be applied to the cuticle.

We are used to paying attention to our nails and the skin of our hands, but the cuticle also needs care. The quality of nails depends on its condition. An inaccurately processed cuticle will cause the formation of uneven and grooves on the nail plate. Lack of hydration can lead to infection.

Cuticle care comes down to two main procedures: moisturizing and correction.

Proper hydration

The key to proper hydration is a combination of a good cream and regular procedures. Natural creams are best suited for cuticle care. The composition must contain animal or vegetable wax or oils.

If your skin is sensitive and prone to allergic reactions, use products with paraffin or glycerin. These components are generally very effective in hand care. We wrote about paraffin therapy and discussed the properties of glycerin in other articles.

You need to moisturize your cuticles at least twice a day. For this:

In addition to regular creams, in specialized departments of cosmetic stores you can find oils and emulsions for cuticle care. Their packaging visually resembles a bottle of nail polish. The lid has a built-in brush that is convenient for treating cuticles.

You can make similar caring cuticle masks at home.

The mask does not need to be washed off. Its composition can be improved by adding an ampoule of aloe extract or two or three drops of lavender essential oil.

With regular moisturizing, even the manicure procedure will become much easier.

​Regular manicure

Regular manicure is needed to correct the cuticle. The fact is that over time it literally grows on the nails. This is its dead layer, which limits the growth of the nail plate. Without proper care, it quickly becomes injured and burrs appear.

The manicure procedure is performed in several stages:

By repeating this procedure once a week, you will slow down the growth of the cuticle, making it softer and more elastic.

Removal using a remover is sometimes replaced by using special nippers. We strongly recommend against trimmed manicure, because as a result of such manipulations:

The cuticle becomes rougher and tougher

There is a risk of damaging the nail plate

There is a possibility of infection

If you prefer to use the services of a qualified master, ask about hardware manicure. This is a technique for quick atraumatic treatment of the cuticle using a machine with special attachments.

Beauty lies in the little things and it is simply impossible to imagine a neat manicure without beautiful cuticles. Therefore, it is very important to monitor her health.

How do you take care of your cuticle? What means do you use for this? Share your feedback on the procedures you've tried!