I haven't painted my fingernails since I was a youngster many moons ago! And, I was considering doing it again as sort of a treat to myself. Will this make the dryness worse? What brands do you recommend.
I'm going to do a PediScrub tonight for the first time, that is if I'm not too tired.
Go for it! I don't have additional problems and soaking your nails in something like olive oil a few minutes a week is a great way to help!
:)
The derm I work for sees a number of rashy itchy ladies and we have to do a patch test to see what known allergen they have been exposed to.
I am amazed of the number of times the patch test has shown an ingredient in their nail polish caused the allergic reaction.
I am a LPN and keep my nails cut short and no polish d/t my job. I use to wear it though back in the day.
Good luck and I hope you like your results.
eye2dry
I have acrylic nails and have had for approximately 7 years. I did not know I had Sjogrens when I started having them done. It's something that I will keep doing until I can no longer get to a nail salon. Then I will bribe someone to come in and do them for me. Everyone said "you'll get infections and you can loose your nail and have fungus. etc." I have not had any trouble of the sort. I have one break off every once in a while, but nothing drastic.
I paint my toenails in the summertime. I have it done at the salon maybe twice a year and the rest of the time, I do my pedi's myself because I can still reach my toenails. I would say go for it unless you've been told otherwise by your dr. There is so much we have, dry skin, dry lips, dry eyes, hard to wear makeup, etc. A little bit of nail polish can make you feel better about yourself. I love my nails and they are currently royal blue and beautiful. It costs me about $50 every couple of months. I should say my own nails are very thin and split and peel and I chewed my nails most of my life and this keeps me from doing this and having bloody hangnails halfway down my fingers!
I like to paint them in the summer. My feet and toes are hideous so I like to cover them up. I just got Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition with Green Tea and Soy Cuticle Oil and it works great. Use a clear base coat because so nail polish stains the nails.
I feel the same way about my nails as Eyeamdry. It's a little luxury that lifts your spirits. Go for it!
My daughter loves nails day. She is turning 2 and when I do my nails, she gets excited because she gets them too. Is a mommy and daughter time. I do them my self unless I going to a big event, then I go to a salon same with my hair once in a while I go to a beauty salon and get it straight or curl just to feel better about my appearance
Cindy...your post reminded me of something from the past.
My youngest daughter loved doing her nails as a little girl (and of course still does) but she didn't just stop there.
She always wanted to do other peoples nails, her sister..friends grandmother ,aunt...etc
She always asked her dad if she could do his nails and he would say no....he must of felt bad for declining b/c our young daughter did end up doing his nails!
TOENAILS. He relented...if she would only do the toes and it had to be clear. So...about 1 or 2 times a month for quite awhile she did her dads "pedi".
eye2dry
I always have my nails done, have since about 1990. I do traditional manicures though, no artificial nails, gels or the new shallac nails. I did try the shallac, but it really dried my nails, so I went back to the regular manicures. I usually use OPI polish and she uses a moisturizing base coat before the polish. My mani/pedi is my little "indulgence" for myself, it always leaves me feeling so good. : )
Nancy
I would say go for it as well~ I clean houses for a living so my nails are thin and split most of the time. A few months back I went to a professional and got them done. She used the gel product, it did stay on good and my nail seemed to be a little better. BUT after a few months she said that she thought it was drying out my nails. So now I am back to doing my own. I just started using Nail Magic (got it at Sally's supplies) It has stayed on real well and it is a nail hardener and conditioner. Seems to be working.
I do my toenails myself, unless I get a pedi with a friend.
Yes, I do both myself, and enjoy it all. I won't not use my nail polish unless they tell me it's going to kill me. lol...We have to have some little indulgences for ourselves once in a while with all this other stuff we deal with each day. I have many bottles of polish around my house. Probably at least one bottle in each room. hehe.
susanep :)
HA HA! This is one of the very few silver linings to the cloud of Sjogrens for me. I bit my finger nails from the time I had teeth until I lost them. Now it took a little while for them to heal up from all that abuse. Nothing could stop me back then. I wanted to stop. I bit them until they bled and believe it or not it actually hurt at first to have finger nails again. It was less painful to me after a lifetime of it to have open wounds at the end of each finger. But that did pass eventually. I find getting manicure and pedicures to be very rewarding emotionally now. Even when I'm the one who does them and even if my family likes to point out that this was no great accomplishment since obviously if I still had teeth I'd still be gnawing them off. And it helps with the peripheral neuropathy. (humm spell check doesn't like that but I think its actually spelled right?)
It's hard to get to my toes and I have no talent with my fingers from lack of experience I'm sure. I feel like I did when I finally got to practice wearing make up much later than the other girls due to my parents being so strict religiously when I was growing up. Like I'm playing catch up... :) But I do like it.
Also I find that cuticle oil is really helpful with moisture. Be careful with exfolients because of the dry skin. Also they have non-acetone conditioning polish remover instead of the straight stuff. It takes a little longer to get the polish off but I think it does less harm. Also as far as filing and scrubbing... I noticed I can hurt myself without realizing it due to the neuopathy too. This is one reason I'm going to forego professional mani/pedi for a while. If I don't know I'm hurting me doing it by hand, they are far more likely to accidentally hurt me with their machines. Also I'd avoid mechanical filing sets for home use for the same reason. It's so easy to burn yourself or go too deep before you can feel the damage.
I like to do my toes a color and my hands with clear or kind of french manicure with the white tips. But I'm not very coordinated so I only do that once in a great while. That's another reason I don't use much color on my fingernails. I get it all over the place. I'm sure part of that is lack of experience but part of it is also that I have a lot more coordination problems since the neuropathy has progressed with anything that requires detailed motor skills.
Recently, I ordered a paraffin spa for hands and feet because it helps with the pain when the salon does it. It hasn't arrived yet but I will keep you guys up to date on how practical or impractical using it is for reducing pain and adding moisture. :) GG
Crymeariver,
Good catch! I had forgotten about the base coat. And when I was in the store I see they have top coat too.
eye2dry,
I loved your story about your daughter and your husband. He was a good sport to let her do his nails!
I picked up a base coat and what I thought was a mauve/rose/pink color only to get it home and find out the name on the cap says "grey/suede." Maybe tomorrow I will have a few minutes to get them done and see what the color looks like. And, I've got to get some top coat and some non acetone conditioning nail polish remover that ashewoman mentioned.
The store also had fast drying nail polish. It's amazing what they've invented since I last painted my nails.
Let's light up the sky ladies. My fingernails are deep purple with sparkles and my toes are a nice lavendar which I did myself. The acrylic nails are done by the salon. No matter how bad I look or feel, I can look at my nails and I feel a little touch of class.
Lucy
Heck yeah I paint my toenails! Mine are hot pink this week. Nails on my hands are never too pretty and left natural because I devote my days to play-dough, playing outside, painting, etc. with little kids. I do try to use the products outside, like acetone and the polish due to the organic solvents, when possible or at least have a fan going. The only polish I don't like is the glitter because it is so hard to remove, even with 100% acetone.
I still haven't gotten my fingernails done. Busy with planning a surprise for my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary next week. I put out a request that people mail me Anniversary Cards. Then I will put them together and give them to mom and dad on their special day. Ordered a gift online that should ship in 2 days. Sent an e-mail to a local bakery to see if I can get a cake made and how much it would cost. There will only be four of us - me, mom, dad and the caregiver so it would have to be a small one.
Back to the fingernails - I saw some fingernail polish sets online (sets of six) that I may get. They had them separated into spring colors, summer colors, a Paris set etc. They looked really pretty.