Dry Skin
In today’s article, I’m covering a new method to quickly help combat dry skin and nails.
As many of my loyal readers know, I like to test new things on myself before writing articles for you.
One of my best friends with really dry skin started doing an overnight hydration treatment with our Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™ oil and Simply Sealed™ lotion stick. She wouldn’t stop raving about her results. I was suddenly intrigued.
I’ve been testing this intensive treatment several times when my nails are feeling drier than normal—this winter was tough for many of us!
I have to say, I’ve been really pleased with the results. My dry skin is gone and my nails are full of oil.
How do I know? The tips turn transparent! I explain this more in my article about whether clear fingertips are healthy.
When I originally wrote this article several months ago, I titled it an “Overnight Hydration Treatment”.
I have since done the intensive treatment for shorter periods of two to four hours and have named it a “Mini-Hydration Treatment”. I usually do a mini in between manicures.
Although my tips didn’t become as transparent as an overnight treatment, I still love the results.
What You Need
- Naked nails
- An Intensive Hydration Kit
- A jojoba wax ester based oil blend (like Bliss Kiss™ Simply Pure™)
- A “balm” type of lotion (no water in the ingredient list) Simply Sealed™
- Nitrile or latex gloves
Directions
For more detailed instructions and videos about my Ultimate Nail Care Routine, click here.
- Liberally apply nail oil to nails and skin surrounding your nails. Be sure to add a little extra to the really dry skin patches
- Apply your favorite “balm” type of lotion to your hands. You don’t want anything with water in the ingredients or it will cause excess sweating
- Apply nitrile or latex gloves
- Let your body warmth do the work to help the ingredients penetrate faster.
I often do a mini-hydration treatment for a few hours while watching a movie, gardening, doing household chores, etc.
Many people, myself included, have done the treatment overnight. For me, the first night was a little more restless, since sleeping with the gloves was a new sensation for me.
I did not have trouble sleeping with future treatments.
What To Expect With an Intensive Hydration Treatment
The results I experienced seem kinda’ obvious, but my skin felt lovely and soft when I woke up. I expected my skin to be all wet and sweaty. And that just didn’t happen.
But more than the super soft skin, the greater surprise was seeing that the overnight hydration made my nail tips transparent. It looked similar to when your nails absorb water in the shower or bath.
But this felt completely different. Instead of my nails feeling flat, soft, bendy and in danger of tears like they would after taking a long shower, my nails felt strong while being flexible.
The transparency was only partial, starting from the tips and moving back toward the fingertip skin. Our free edge has 3 sides that absorb the oil; top, bottom and tips. You can see this in the photo to the right.
My C-curve remained the same. When your nails absorb water in the bath or shower, the nails become overly soft and flatten. When the water evaporates, your nails return to their normal shape.
With this intensive treatment, the transparency didn’t go away. Applying polish trapped the oil into my nail plate. I can continue to see the transparency if I paint my nails with only base coat.
The results for people vary. Some people see very little transparency while others will have completely transparent tips.
Why is this? I believe it has to do with the thickness or thinness of their nail plates. Just know that your results will be great!
What Does This Mean?
From my experience and research, transparent nails after an intensive hydration treatment means that the nail plate has absorbed the oil through all of the layers.
The reason you can see your pink nail bed through your nail plate is because the nail bed is constantly pushing the perfect blend of about 18% water and 5% body oil up through the nail plate.
When your nail tips grow past your fingertips, the nail is no longer being nourished with this moisture blend. Your tips dry out and turn a white or yellowish color.
Side Note: Yellow tips don’t always mean your health is compromised or you are a smoker. For those of us obsessed with polish, we can blame our yellow staining on the wonderfully deep colored polishes we wear.
I have found the intensive hydration treatment for dry skin and nails to be really effective in getting my nails and skin back on track when I’ve been neglecting a normal oiling routine.
I’m looking forward to hearing about your results if you try this. You can email me through our contact page at 
http://www.myblisskiss.com/contact/
Remember, if you need more detailed instructions and videos about my Ultimate Nail Care Routine, click here. You can also join me and other amazingly supportive Blissettes in the Blissette Nail Bar on Facebook.
Here’s to your longer, stronger nails and kissing dry skin goodbye!