I’m 69 and Have the World’s Most Brittle Nails. Help?

This column first ran in Valerie Monroe’s newsletter, How Not to F*ck Up Your Face, which you can subscribe to on Substack.

Q: Here is something NO ONE (in my 69 years) has been able to solve for me. (And your recent mention of Londontown nail polish reminded me.) I have the world’s worst nails. They crack. They peel. They chip. They never grow. No matter what I do. So I’ve gotten gel manicures forever. But like you, I find sitting there to be torture. I gave my nails a break during COVID and tried to bring them back to life; they miserably failed despite using all the “miracle” products and tactics that seem to work miracles for everyone else, including soaking them in olive oil, slathering on Vaseline, and sleeping in gloves with goop. I even got tested for vitamin deficiencies (nope). I’m back squirming in that damned manicure chair — hating every minute but loving how my nails look when done. Please help solve this loyal subscriber’s lifelong struggle!

A: We all have our wubbies, dear Reader, and it seems the gel manicure is yours. I would say just go for it — whatever gets you through the night being my fallback platform — but your concern about nail health is an excellent point. So I asked dermatologist Robyn Gmyrek for her best advice.

First, she said medical factors that need to be ruled out include anemia, thyroid disorders, and skin diseases like psoriasis. But, according to Dr. Gmyrek, it sounds like you might have brittle nail syndrome, which affects 20 percent of the population — and women are affected twice as frequently as men. (Dear Reader: Welcome to the BNS Club.)

“Patients with brittle nail syndrome have nails that are fragile, break easily, and have difficulty growing long. The brittleness can be caused by repetitive wetting and drying of the hands, direct contact with chemicals like cleaning fluids or nail polish remover, trauma to the nails, gel manicures, and acrylic nails,” said Dr. Gmyrek.

As it seems you’re already aware, gel manicures might make your nails look great, but they can increase brittleness, peeling, and cracking, said Dr. Gmyrek. If UV light is used, repeated exposure can increase the risk for skin cancer and premature skin aging on your hands.

“Furthermore, when your nails are soaked in acetone to remove a gel manicure, this dries out and damages the nail plate. Scraping to remove the gel can also remove the top surface of the nail, making it more brittle and very thin,” she said. Yikes.

Ready for solutions? “There are two schools of thought regarding nail polish. One is to avoid polish always (as it sounds like you tried during COVID), minimize water and chemical exposures, and moisturize the nails regularly.”

“I’m from the other school that thinks you should keep your nails painted with a formaldehyde- and toluene-free polish (both of which can worsen brittle nails). Keeping the nails painted protects them from losing moisture,” said Dr. Gmyrek. The trick is to not remove the nail polish for two weeks or more, because removers of any kind strip nails of moisture. Dr. Gmyrek recommends applying a relatively light color polish and then reapplying weekly, if needed, over the existing polish without removing it till you can’t tolerate not changing it up. At which point, remove the polish with as little remover as possible, wash off anything residual, and repolish.

A caveat: Non-acetone removers are not as strong but require more time, and they ultimately damage the nail plate and dry it out. So minimizing exposure to either kind of remover — acetone or non-acetone — is best.

Finally, Dr. Gmyrek says, as with everything related to health, eat well! Your nails consist of keratin protein; in order to produce strong nail plates, you need fats, proteins, healthy carbohydrates, and phytonutrients. She prefers getting these from whole foods instead of supplements, if possible. How much protein? Gmyrek recommends 0.8–1 mg per pound of body weight from vegetables, meat, or fish. Iron-rich foods, healthy fats, vitamin D, and zinc- and biotin-rich foods are also essential.

What was that? Did someone just ask about supplemental biotin?

“Though there are a few small studies showing improvement of brittle nail syndrome with biotin supplementation,” Gmyrek said, “research is limited and further studies need to be done. Unfortunately, biotin can falsely alter the results of some important blood tests, including vitamin D levels, thyroid hormone levels, and even troponin levels, which are used to diagnose heart attacks.”

Originally published on August 27.