Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic

Welcome to our new weekly column on the YOU magazine website, www.you.co.uk  Below you will find the current question and our advice, with a list of where to source the products mentioned.  To look at past columns, click here. And for lots more solutions to your beauty dilemmas, visit Q&A, just click here.

June 27th, 2010: Weak nails

Q For the last six months about half my nails have been flaking. Can you suggest a product to help that doesn't contain formaldehyde and maybe any other suggestions to stop the flaking. I'm 45 years old and don't know if this is age-related or not, as my nails have always been good up till now.  

A We so sympathise!  Our nails are weak too – and Sarah’s in particular suffer from horsekeeping and gardening even if she religiously gloves up, not to mention the more common daily perils of washing up (do wear those Marigolds) and handling paper (more difficult to do with gloves…).  We have noticed that our nails became a bit more fragile round the menopause so hormones might be a factor with you - but it’s such a common problem generally, in our experience.

Here are some Do’s:  do wear gloves, slather on hand cream as often as you can and always after having hands in water, massage in oil at night (see below), eat fish two to three times weekly for their good omega-3 oils and consider a supplement (EG), make sure you get enough protein for the iron content – iron deficiency is a common cause of flaking nails as well as thinning hair (Sarah finds a steak a week works a treat), and consider supplements.

The supplements we find work are the following.  (All available from Victoria Health.)  In an ideal world, with budget no consideration, you might take all of them – but if you don’t eat much fish, try starting with the Power of Krill.  If you do, try the silica.  The Sun Chlorella is wonderful for lots of things, including your gut, but it’s expensive and you need to swallow 15-40 little green pills daily….

Silica 2500 Plus by Kordels, £14.76 for 90 tablets, dose one daily
Power of Krill, £24.95 for 60 softgels, dose one to two daily with food
Sun Chlorella, £19.95 for 300 tablets, dose 15-40 daily.

When we trialled nail strengtheners for The Green Beauty Bible (so the products didn’t contain any chemical nasties), our testers reported the following worked best.  The scores beside them are the average from the individual scores of the ten women tester panels.  NB don’t expect instant results, nails take weeks and months to grow but the condition should improve by the day.

Green Hands Cuticle Oil and Nail Strengthener, 8.61/10:  comments include: ‘I’m a nurse and my nails suffer terribly from the strong cleaning products; they now look better, are stronger and a lot smoother, and don’t break so easily – I would recommend this to anyone.’  £7.15 for 5 ml

The Organic Pharmacy Lemon & Neem Nail Oil, 7.51/10: comments include: my rubbish nails were transformed – stopped peeling and cuticles are almost bearable!’ £18.95 for 30 ml.

Dr Hauschka Neem Nail Oil, 7.45/10:  ‘comments include:nails stronger and more flexible – the thumb nail no longer splits – evidence it must really have strengthened it.’ £24 for 30 ml.

Lastly, never ever buff weak nails: it makes them even weaker.  Keep them short and file them gently with an emery board in one direction only (no sawing), or a glass file (The Crystal File by Essie, £12.25 – it lasts forever).

We . . . Lulu Operation Glam High Profile Thicken & Lift Spray, £16 for 150 ml.  It’s no secret that the man who works on Lulu’s skincare, bodycare – and now haircare – is the man who came up with much of the John Frieda line, before it was sold to the Japanese.  Now he’s poured all his wisdom and knowledge into this hair range for Lulu.  On Lu’s wishlist?  Products to boost fine hair – and the oomph-boosters include this brilliant spritz-on hair thickener, as well as  a volumising shampoo and conditioner, Glammunition Thickening Elixir and Strike A Pose Modeling Hair Spray, which ‘re-liquifies’ each time you spray it, so you can rework your style.  (No helmet hair for Lulu!)

Where to Find Products

Silica 2500 Plus by Kordels, £14.76 for 90 tablets, are available to purchase on-line from www.victoriahealth.com. Don’t forget your exclusive 5% discount with all online orders.

Power of Krill, £24.95 for 60 softgels, are available to purchase on-line from www.victoriahealth.com. Don’t forget your exclusive 5% discount with all online orders.

Sun Chlorella, £19.95 for 300 tablets, are available to purchase on-line from www.victoriahealth.com. Don’t forget your exclusive 5% discount with all online orders.

Green Hands Cuticle Oil and Nail Strengthener, £7.15 for 5 ml, is available to purchase on-line from www.victoriahealth.com. Don’t forget your exclusive 5% discount with all online orders.

The Organic Pharmacy Lemon & Neem Nail Oil, £18.95 for 30 ml, is available to purchase online from www.theorganicpharmacy.com.

Dr Hauschka Neem Nail Oil, £24 for 30 ml, is available to purchase online from www.drhauschka.co.uk.

Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Archive

June 20th 2010 - Cleanser for acne
June 13th 2010 - Frown line fillers
June 6th 2010 - Body Lotions
May 30th 2010 - Holiday Hair Care
May 23rd 2010 - Cleanse and tone
May 16th 2010 - Hair protection
May 9th 2010 - Weak nails
May 2nd 2010 - Calming hair products
April 25th 2010 - Skincare for PCOS
April 18th 2010 - Tinted Moisturisers
April 11th 2010 - Stretch Marks
April 4th 2010 - Red Veins
March 28th 2010 - All-Over Sensitive Skin
March 21st 2010 - Foundation Recommendations
March 14th 2010 - Ingredients
March 7th 2010 - Laser hair removal
February 28th 2010 - SPF Moisturisers
February 21st 2010 - Eyelash enhancers
February 14th 2010 - Night-time skincare
February 7th 2010 - Moisturisers
January 31st 2010 - Concealers
January 24th 2010 - Primers
January 17th 2010 - Choosing skincare products
January 10th 2010 - Parabens free make-up
January 3rd 2010 - Cosmetic Dentistry

Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Archive 2009