• Activities such as outdoor work, contact with soil, water, building materials, wood, plaster and any forms of chemicals can cause dryness and therefore brittle splitting nails.
• Nail biting, or biting the skin around the nails is also common in men and should be fairly easy to stop. But, you have to want to of course!
• Splits in the nail, especially those that appear at the end of a ridge running the length of the nail are usually the result of damage to the area between where the nail starts and the first knuckle, fingers trapped in doors in childhood, hammered thumbs etc. Will usually result in a ridge in the nail in later life. If this is then coupled with conditions that cause dryness, splits can occur and can be difficult to resolve.
• Improving nail condition is simple; keep them short, either with some clippers or a file. You may need to do this more than once a week, depending on the damage you do to your nails! Clip or file straight across leaving 2mm of white around the edge. Keep the end of the nail flat and at right angle to your finger. Slightly round the corners so that they aren’t sharp.
  
  Once short, it will be easier to clean underneath, use a soft nailbrush and soap rather than going poking about with keys and any other sharp objects! If your nails are short enough the rubbish should come out easily!
• Combat dryness in nails by rubbing some cuticle oil into the nail, we have had great results with manual workers trying this, oiling the nails daily will reduce splitting and has the added bonus of stopping the cuticle (where the skin joins the nail) from sticking to the nail and growing down over the nail.
• Cuticles that are stubborn and do grow over the nail will need professional attention, find a bloke friendly local nail expert and ask some advice.
  
  Tip: Ask your salon to use cuticle remover under the nail during your treatment as well, it works wonders for stained nails and getting oil and grease out from under them if you are a mechanic!
• Habits such as nail biting and cuticle/skin biting can be surprisingly easy to kick.
  In both cases a tried and tested method is:
  • Choose one nail that you may continue to cannibalise, broadcast the news to friends and family, and ensure they know which nail/finger you are allowed to bite.
  • Start a daily program of maintenance for the other nine, file or clip them smooth around the edge, oil the nails, rub some cream into any sore skin and trim away any hang nails or dead skin with the correct tool, (all chemists sell them!) rather than your teeth!
  • Keep this up for a week; you should start to see an improvement in your 9 neat nails. Eventually you can clip, oil and trim every other day, once you are on top of it, every week.

Why should you care?

According to a recent study, something like 98% of bacteria on a human body are found under the finger nails. This includes the bugs that cause stomach upsets, coughs and colds, skin infections and parasites.
You won’t realise it until you do it, but if your fingers are in a sorry state, it can affect self-esteem. You will feel good about yourself once they start looking well looked after.

You may also be interested in:

• Hand Cream
• Brushes & Clippers