Stress Fractures In Nails

$stress-fractures_nailcarehq_300$ Stress Fractures In Nails

Have you ever been making the bed and bent a nail?

I have. Way too many times.

Simply put, a stress fracture in nails is when you accidentally bend the nail but it doesn’t break.

Instead, you’re left with a bunch of keratin nail cells that won’t lie back together.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a fissure is “a long, narrow opening or line of breakage made by cracking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.”

Because of this fissure in your nail, it’s impossible to reverse the damage.

So how do you cope?

How To Prevent Stress Fractures

The first thing to do is slow down. When you are more conscious of where your hands are going, you can prevent bends and breaks.

I explain many more strategies in my How To Stop Breaking Nails article.

How Do I Fix It?

$stress fractures$ If there are any keratin cells sticking up, I oil my nails with a jojoba wax ester hydrating nail oil. This will help bond some of the stress fractured layers back together.

After oil, if there are any “fuzzy bits” I use a crystal nail file using light strokes going the opposite direction.

Please be very careful to not file down much of your nail plate. You want to remove only those cells that are sticking up and destined to catch your hair.

To strengthen the stress fracture, I rely on my favorite nail glue available at Sally Beauty Supply—IBD Brush-On Gel Resin™. It’s also available on Amazon, but costs twice as much.

This glue is nothing like like cured nail gel polish. The formula is basically the same as Super Glue™ but thicker. It makes it really easy to apply. For more information, see my How To Fix A Broken Nail article.

In Conclusion $stress fractures$

When you’ve done your repair, it’s really important to use nail polish to seal in that stress fracture, so it doesn’t get worse. I explain my process in my Fab 5 Polish Wrap article.

After that, it’s just waiting for it to grow out so you can file off the damage.

And for me? Maybe I should get my husband to make the bed. I’m really liking that idea!