Well-kept nails come from a few minutes of care, repeated, rather than one long session. The routine we would suggest is simple: oil the cuticles every day, soften and gently push them back once a week, file in one direction with a fine file, and add a nail strengthener if your nails tend to split or peel. Every so often, give your nails a week or two without polish. Below is each step, and the oils, creams, files and treatments we would choose for it.
Why Do Nails and Cuticles Need Care?
The cuticle is the thin seal of skin at the base of the nail. When it dries out, it lifts, catches and looks ragged, and the skin at the sides of the nail can tear into hangnails. Nails lose moisture too. Frequent hand washing, hot water, cleaning products, cold air and polish remover all play a part, which is why nails can look dull, flake at the tips or split just as the weather turns.
None of this needs a salon. It needs a little oil, a gentle hand and some patience, because a nail grows slowly and any change in how it looks takes weeks to show.
Every Day: Cuticle Oil
If you do one thing daily, make it cuticle oil. Apply a drop to each cuticle and massage it into the base and sides of the nail for a few seconds. Evening suits it best, when your hands can rest, but after washing your hands works well too. Regular oiling also keeps the cuticle soft, which makes the weekly pushing back much easier.
Essie's On·A·Roll Apricot Cuticle Oil pairs apricot kernel oil with jojoba seed oil in a roll-on tube, so it glides straight onto the cuticle. Mavala's Mavapen Cuticle Care Nutritive Oil for Cuticles comes in a slim pen for the handbag, with sunflower, olive and sweet almond oils. MIA Cosmetics Paris's Calendula Cuticle Oil infuses calendula into a blend of sunflower, avocado, sweet almond and jojoba oils, and the house suggests it after hand washing and manicures. Sally Hansen's Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil combines safflower and apricot oils with vitamin E and panthenol, with a fresh peppermint scent.
- On·A·Roll Apricot Cuticle Oil
- Mavapen Cuticle Care Nutritive Oil for Cuticles
- Calendula Cuticle Oil
- Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil Peppermint Scented
Once a Week: Soften and Push Back
Cuticles should be eased back, never cut away. The cuticle protects the base of the nail, so the aim is only to tidy its edge. Once a week, after a bath or shower when the skin is soft, or after a few minutes with your fingertips in warm water, apply a cuticle remover or cream and wait as long as the pack directs. Then push the cuticle back gently with a pusher, in small strokes, and wipe away anything that has lifted. Wash your hands afterwards and finish with oil.
Mavala's Cuticle Care Cuticle Remover is brushed sparingly onto the cuticle area and left briefly, to soften overgrown cuticles before you push them back. Opi's Avocado Aha Exfoliating Cuticle Cream combines lactic, citric and malic acids with avocado oil and white tea extract, massaged into each cuticle until absorbed. Because it contains acids, try it on one nail first and keep it to the cuticle. Essence's The Nail Balm Nail & Cuticle Care is a simpler step, with coconut oil, glycerin, urea and panthenol, massaged in and then washed off.
- Cuticle Care Cuticle Remover
- Avocado Aha Exfoliating Cuticle Cream
- The Nail Balm Nail & Cuticle Care
How Should You File Your Nails?
File in one direction, from the side of the nail towards the centre, rather than sawing back and forth, which can leave the tip rough and more likely to split. Work on dry nails with light strokes, and choose a medium or fine grit for natural nails. A softly rounded or squared-off oval is the easiest shape to keep. For hangnails, trim only the loose piece of skin, cleanly, and never pull it.
Glam of Sweden's Clam 180/240 Nail File has two grits, 180 to shape and 240 to refine, on a curved profile that follows the nail. Beter's Cortacutículas Nail Care Tool is a dual-ended stainless steel tool, with a cuticle pusher at one end and a file at the other. Galiplus's Stainless Cuticle Nipper & File Nail Care Tool pairs a stainless steel nipper, for loose skin only, with a slim glass-emery file. Clean and dry your tools after each use.
Nail Strengtheners and Treatments
If your nails tend to split, peel or bend, a strengthening treatment is the next step. Most are clear coats that form a protective film over the nail; worn alone they give a neat, glossy finish, and many also serve as a base under colour. Apply to clean, dry nails, follow the pack for how often, and give it time: a nail takes months to grow out completely, so judge the result over weeks rather than days.
Essie's Hard To Resist Nail Strengthener is a strengthening step for nails that need a little more resilience, worn on its own or before colour. Opi's Natural Nail Strengthener is a clear strengthening coat for natural nails, with vitamins A and E. Artdeco's Natural Nail Hardener Nail Treatment combines glycolic, lactic and malic acids with bamboo extract and squalane; the house suggests a thin coat every two to three days, then weekly layers once you are happy with your nails. Cutex's Intense Recovery Nail Treatment is a lightweight serum with sweet almond and jojoba oils and hydrolysed keratin, made for nails that look weak, peeling and dry.
- Hard To Resist Nail Strengthener
- Natural Nail Strengthener
- Natural Nail Hardener Nail Treatment
- Intense Recovery Nail Treatment
Why Take a Polish-Free Week?
Constant wear and frequent removal can leave nails looking dry and, with deeper shades, faintly stained. A week or two without colour every month or so lets you see your nails as they really are, and makes the oil and treatment steps easier to keep up. Use the time well: oil every evening, wear a clear strengthener if you like a finish, and when you return to colour, start with a base coat. When you remove polish, press a soaked pad onto the nail for a moment before wiping, rather than scrubbing.
Your Weekly Routine at a Glance
- Every evening: a drop of cuticle oil on each nail, massaged in.
- After washing: hand cream, worked into the nails and cuticles too.
- Once a week: soften the cuticles, push them back gently, and file in one direction.
- As the pack directs: a nail strengthener, alone or under colour.
- Every month or so: a week or two without polish.
- Whenever you wash up or clean: rubber gloves.
For the hand cream that belongs in this routine, our guide to hand cream for dry hands covers textures for day and night.
When to Ask for Advice
Everyday dryness, peeling and ragged cuticles are usually a matter of routine. If a nail or the skin around it is painful, swollen or discoloured, ask a pharmacist or doctor.
If you begin with only one step, make it cuticle oil each evening: a drop on every nail, massaged in while you wind down.
