Emer O'Callaghan: My guide to having beautiful nails

Last week, I wrote about the importance of hand hygiene and gave some tips on how to prevent premature ageing of our hands, so this week I wish to give some more of my professional tips on caring for your nails.

As a beauty doctor and skin specialist, it’s quite worrying how little the public know about the health of their nails.

While once ladies painted their own nails at home, now it’s all about getting them done professionally, which is great because a professional job is such a treat.

But at the same time, we are now doing more nail damage than ever before. No-one should be doing their nails professionally with hard-wearing polish under UV light lamps every two or three weeks - it’s too often, and it’s damaging nails.

Research has also shown that cancer of the cuticles, which is the skin at the bottom of our nails, is now more common due to the drying of these hard-wearing polishes under UV ray lamps.

This is big cause for concern. GPs recommend women take a break for a minimum of 6-12 weeks to give their nails a chance to recover.

With this in mind, let me give some education to you, loyal reader, on correct nail care, so that you can be more educated and can then make better decisions about your nail health.

NAIL HEALTH

If you are diabetic, you need to get your nails cut and treated by a registered chiropodist, not by a beautician or in a nail bar. People with diabetes are prone to thicker and drier nails.

In-grown toe-nails are as common as ever now due to incorrect cutting of the nails - cutting nails straight across, and/or cutting down too far into each corner, or cutting the nails back too short. This is how in-grown toe-nails come about.

Your nails should never be cut back so short the skin of your toe is seen - remember, your nails are protection for the skin of your toes.

Biting and cutting back cuticles and skin of nails may lead to infection, as will using dirty nail tools and files on your nails.

EMER’S TOP NAIL TIPS

Please apply an SPF 50 all over your hands, and massage down into your cuticles at least an hour before going for your nail appointment, to protect the skin of your nails and hands from harmful UV rays they are exposed to under drying lamps.

We all need to be pushing back the skin of our cuticles to free up our nail bed to grow healthy nails. Twenty- odd years ago, when I did my training, you would never do a client’s nails without soaking them first to soften the cuticles. Beware of short- cuts of these vital steps.

The best place I find to push back my cuticles is in the shower, as your skin is wet and soft and will go back easily,

Yellow discolouration of the nails as well as black marks or a green shade are a sign they are infected.

This is the main reason I stopped doing nails in Emerald Beauty Clinic, because some clients just wanted to ignore a nail infection and paint over it.

A nail infection is serious and you must not ignore it, you need to go to your GP with any nail discolouration and a course of antibiotics is needed to fully clear it. It’s scary to read the research around the prevalence of nail infections, and far too many ignore them.

Invest in a good quality hand cream you can rub into your nails every day, put it where you see it so you will use it. Never let anyone else use your nail files, nail buffs or nail clippers or cuticle tools to avoid infections. We store ours in barbicide, a disinfectant.

While cheap nails are all the fashion, I am always spelling out the importance of sterilisation and good hygiene. When clients ask me how often should they be getting their nails done, I say only every six weeks - that’s how long a good treatment should last.

WATCH OUT FOR...

Look for certifications of qualification when your nails are treated - these should be displayed in the salons and clinics that are certified and where staff are fully trained.

NAIL CARE

Please know that your nails are an important part of your health and anatomy. They should not be abused or badly treated as they do give clear a indication of your health.

If a nail infection is present, if your nails are discoloured in any way, then you need to show your doctor.

We have a duty of care to protect clients, and it’s so important all nail lovers know that all our nails need a break from polish.

Also, fresh air and sunlight help them heal and repair so you should be taking breaks from your nail treatments every few months.

Very few know this and continuously keep getting their nails done, and this is not good for nail health.

In my professional opinion, the best nail polish of the lot is the good old-fashioned ordinary one we all used for years, before the hard polishes came in, because we didn’t use UV lamps to dry nails. It is still my favourite polish to use and all I use on my own nails today.

If you are concerned about your nails, be its hands or toes, do speak to your GP about them and show them so they can help treat and sort it for you.

Emer O’Callaghan is a beauty doctor and skin specialist who won Irish Beauty Therapist of the Year and works at Emerald Organic Beauty Products Ltd, trading as Emerald Beauty Clinic, 021 4365949. A Multi Award Winning Five Star Gold Standard Clinic, 2008-2025, www.emeraldbeautyclinic.ie - follow us on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok pages now.

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