Why do fingernails curl? Nails bend: what is the reason and how to treat

Hand care is a significant component of body care and, as a rule, women devote quite a lot of time to it. Regular professional manicure, self-filing and varnishing, caring for the skin of hands and nails - these are the few things that almost each of us does every day. However, efforts do not always give the desired result; often our nails do not look the way we would like them to, and there are many reasons for this.

Very often, nails change their normal shape, become deformed, and among the types of deformation, bent nails are the most common. What is the reason for this phenomenon and can you cope with it yourself?

Deformation of nails can be varied: a pronounced trapezoidal shape, ingrown nails in the outer corners, indentations of various directions, and increased fragility. Bend of the nail plate up or down is a very common deformation of the nails; it can be expressed in the bend of the entire nail plate or only its outer corners.

The problem is not only of an aesthetic nature, since bent nails cause inconvenience, cling to clothes, tear expensive tights, but, most importantly, they also cause pain, since the caught nail comes off, and, often, as they say, “with meat.” So what prevents nails from growing correctly and causes them to deviate “off course”?

Why do fingernails curl up or down?

There may be several reasons for this phenomenon. The first, and most common, is an acute lack of vitamins, such that it significantly worsens the condition of nails and hair.

1. The basis, so to speak, of the phenomenon lies either in poor nutrition, associated with the restriction of nutrients, various diseases in which the absorption of nutrients from food is impaired, such as anemia, dystrophy, anorexia. As a rule, after eliminating the root cause, the shape of the nails is quickly restored. To begin with, after discovering an annoying phenomenon, we would advise strengthening your diet with vegetables, protein foods, and it would also be a good idea to take a course of vitamins and microelements.
2. The second reason for curling nails is improper care and passion for nail extensions. It is no secret that aggressive filing of the surface of the nail plate and prolonged wearing of artificial nails thins the natural nail plate, as a result of which it becomes very vulnerable and changes shape. If such a problem becomes relevant after repeated extensions, you should give your nails a rest for a couple of months. During the rest period, be sure to drink a vitamin-mineral complex, do not cover your nails with varnish, take baths with sea salt and essential oils, rub burdock oil or castor oil into the nail plates. To strengthen the nail plates, apply special strengthening balms to them.
3. There is another reason for bending nails - this is a congenital feature. In this case, the bending is often more pronounced. Regardless of the thickness of the nail plate, after growing to a certain length, the nails begin to bend up or down, so much so that they literally curl into a tube. In this case, we can only sympathize and recommend either growing nails only to a safe length so that they do not bend, or resorting to nail extensions in any of the acceptable ways. If the problem is genetic, the nails bend mainly on the index and middle fingers, while on others they have a completely normal shape.

What to do if your nails are bent?

• If bending of nails is not hereditary, then you can try to cure this unaesthetic phenomenon yourself. The course of treatment includes baths, rubbing and massage of the nail folds.
• If changes in the direction of nail growth are also associated with a change in their color or separation, then most likely the cause lies in a fungal infection, which should not be treated on your own. It is best to contact a dermatologist and get qualified help.
• Baths for the treatment of deformation of the nail plate are made with sea salts and essential oils, as well as with soda and regular salt. All these substances perfectly strengthen the nail plate. You can also prepare a bath with iodine water.
• The concentration of salts in the water should not be high; a tablespoon of salt is enough for a container of two to two and a half liters. Essential oils usually take five to seven drops for this volume.
• Bath with iodized salt (you can take sea salt and add five drops of iodine)
• Take a tablespoon of salt for 150 ml of hot water, stir until the salt is completely dissolved, and place your fingers in the water. The bath lasts until the water cools completely, then the hands are rinsed with clean water, blotted with a soft cloth, special manicure oils or creams are rubbed into the nails, excess oil is removed with a napkin and nail balm is applied.

Iodine is an excellent healing agent for nails, and in this case you can apply it to the nail plate like a regular polish with a brush. Before application, you need to remove the nail polish using nail polish remover that does not contain acetone (or it is better to refrain from applying nail polish at all for the entire treatment period). It is best to treat your nails with iodine at night - in the morning there will be no trace of iodine left. It is completely absorbed, gradually making the nails stronger and correcting all their defects.

Don't neglect lemon juice either - daily rubbing of fresh lemon juice into the nail plate will quickly correct all uneven nails.

Rubbing oils, manicure and essential, into the nail plate will also help solve this problem. Special oils are used that your manicurist can recommend, essential oils of neroli, orange, lemon, pine. Burdock oil, flaxseed oil and castor oil help well.

Massaging the nail folds and nail plates with vitamin hand cream, manicure oil or your favorite essential oil is also very effective in correcting defects in the nail plate. Oils saturate the tissues with the necessary substances, and the massage causes increased blood flow and creates all the conditions for the best absorption of nutrients by the tissues.

Do not ignore any changes in the condition of your nails, because it is the nails that first of all signal us about problems in the body, which are best corrected quickly, without leading to serious problems.

They systematically do professional manicures, file them themselves, varnish them, and take care of the skin of their hands and nails. Similar actions are carried out for the care of children's nail plates. Every mother cares for her own child’s nails. But even after such courtship, the plates begin to bend. Let's take a closer look at why fingernails curl in adults and children, and what needs to be done in such cases.

The main reasons for bending nails

The nail plate can bend down or up for various reasons. Most often, this phenomenon occurs due to the development of some serious problem. To eliminate it, it is important to determine the true cause of the bending of the nails in an adult or child.

Curling your nails down

Reasons for curling fingernails downward in a child or adult:

• genetic feature of the human body. To eliminate a defect caused by this reason, experts believe that it is necessary to systematically do nail extensions;
• If the lunula area is injured, the nail may begin to grow bent and deformed. If a specialist gives a woman incorrect extensions, pathology of the nail plate may also occur;
• the use of low-quality varnishes and means for removing them greatly dries out the surface of the fingernails, which is why they begin to bend down;
• The nails may bend inward due to internal characteristics of the body. For example, a lack of vitamins and age-related changes can lead to curling nails. Such a defect, especially in old age, is difficult to eliminate, but possible;
• liver disease or the development of fungus on the nails also cause bending and curling of the nail plates;
• Problems in the functioning of internal organs make the nails thinner, as they no longer receive the necessary nutrients and fluid.

To prevent your nails from curling, it is important not to wait until they grow too large. It is imperative to do a systematic, careful trimming of the nails. It is also necessary to select only high-quality and natural products for the care of nails, cuticles and hand skin.

Curling your nails up

Fingernails can curl not only downwards or inwards, but also upwards.

The nail plates begin to bend upward for the following reasons:

1. Due to poor nutrition. An unbalanced and harmful menu leads to the fact that nails begin to lack the necessary nutrients and vitamins. Also, harmful foods lead to liver problems and have a bad effect on the functioning of the entire body. If malfunctions occur in the human body, the nails, skin and hair are the first to suffer. Therefore, it is important to try to eat only healthy foods - vegetables, fruits, drink freshly squeezed juices and fruit drinks.
2. Too much fragility. Nails also break due to a lack of vitamins and minerals, especially calcium, magnesium or zinc. They are the main building material of healthy and strong nail plates. To prevent brittleness of marigolds, it is recommended to eat calcined cottage cheese, drink fermented milk products, and adhere to only a healthy diet.
3. The plate is too dry. If nails that are too long begin to curl, they do not have enough water. To eliminate dehydration, moisturizing creams and oils are used for the plates and cuticles.
4. Due to damage to the nail layer. The structure of the nail can be damaged due to improper care or poorly performed manicure. Often the nail layer is damaged by an iron file. In the hands of a non-specialist, such a tool leads to thinning and damage to the nail, as a result of which it begins to bend.
5. The development of a viral infection in the body. Viral diseases also cause changes. Under the influence of viruses, they become thin, cannot hold their shape and begin to curl. To eliminate this pathology, it is important to cure the virus, as well as trim the nails as they grow.

Often, a child’s nails begin to bend in different directions due to the influence of a fungal infection. It is important to show your baby to a dermatologist or mycologist. The specialist will carefully examine the problem and prescribe effective treatment for the disease. Once the fungus is cured, your nails will become healthy, strong and able to maintain their shape.

If the nail of an adult or child is damaged, it becomes less elastic, loses its density, and as it grows, it begins to bend and curl upward.

Most often, too thin ones begin to curl upward. Edges are susceptible to this phenomenon.

If a person uses detergents without gloves to clean the house, his nails may also begin to curl after a while. Since such cleaning products negatively affect the structure and strength of the nail.

Briefly about fixing the problem

To eliminate hereditary bending of the nail plates on the hands, it is recommended to take medicinal baths with rubbing in healing agents. Massaging the nail ridges also helps a lot.

Strengthening bath for curled nails in a child or adult:

1. Add a tablespoon of salt and five drops of essential oil to two liters of water.
2. Immerse your fingers in a warm bath for 10 minutes.
3. After the procedure, wash your hands under the tap, pat dry with a napkin and apply a special product for hands and strengthening plates and cuticles.

You can add a few drops of iodine to the bath.

You can also strengthen your nails with lemon juice. Rub it into the surface and wait until it dries completely. After consulting with a specialist, you can rub orange, lemon, pine, burdock, linseed or castor essential oil into the plates.

If you notice that a child's or adult's fingernail is bent, to cure it, you can massage the cuticle and the nail itself using essential oils or vitamin creams. Massage actions increase blood flow and create all the conditions for the healing substances of the cream or oil to have the most positive effect on the nail plates.

Knowing the reasons why fingernails bend, you can eliminate the problem and make the plates durable and beautiful. If a pathology occurs in a child, show him to a specialist. The doctor will conduct a study and tell you what needs to be done to strengthen your nails. If the problem occurs on the nails of an adult, it is recommended to listen to the advice of a manicurist.

Hand care is one of the important components of self-care. Ladies spend a lot of time on their hands, because hands speak volumes. Manicure. filing, coating with gels and varnishes, hand massage, masks for the skin of the hands, which are used every day - all this is done by ladies in order to look beautiful and young. Currently, these procedures have also begun to be performed by men who care about their appearance and want to look beautiful and stylish. But all these procedures will be unnecessary if the fingernails begin to bend in different directions. There are many possible circumstances for this, so first you need to find out why your fingernails bend.

Quite often, people notice that their nails have begun to change their shape, become deformed and bend in different directions. It goes without saying that this looks ugly, so those who are faced with this problem are interested in why their fingernails bend and how it is possible to solve this problem. We will talk about this in our article.

Nails can become deformed in different ways:

• Buy trapezoidal shape.
• Grow into the corners of the cuticle on the outside.
• Various dents or mounds appear.
• Nails become soft and brittle.

Much more often, the nail plate bends up or down, both at the tips and over the entire surface. But what causes fingernails to curl? What is the reason for such deformation and how to get rid of this problem? Since curved nails, in addition to looking very ugly, they also bring unpleasant pain, since they cling to things and simply break, much more often undermining the skin under the nail, and this is very painful.

Circumstances of bending nails. The first circumstance is that there are few vitamins, this immediately affects the condition of hair and nails. This problem can be solved by simply including more vitamins in your diet, or better yet, taking a course of a multivitamin and sticking to a proper and healthy diet in the future. When the body is saturated with all the vitamins, the nails themselves will begin to correct their shape and quickly recover.

The second reason why fingernails become bent is improper care and constant extension. Constantly filing nails over the entire surface and wearing extended nails makes the natural plates brittle and dead and they change their shape.

Fundamentally important

If you see a transformation in your nails after the extension is completed, you should stop using extended nails for a while and allow your nails to recover.

For recovery, salt baths and massages with burdock oil, and the use of strengthening balms are suitable. Well, the last circumstance can be called an innate feature. For this reason, the nails tend to bend in different directions.

In this case, changing nothing is prohibited and it is only possible to constantly monitor the nails, extend them and cut them off at the moment they begin to bend. With congenital pathology, much more often the nails are bent on the index and middle fingers, and the rest look in most cases and are not deformed.

1. In order to strengthen and restore your nail plates, you can take baths with olive or wheat germ oil. These oils will nourish the entire plate and make it stronger. To do this, you need to heat the oil a little and add 5 drops of essential oil. The marigolds are dipped into the mixture for 10-15 minutes. It is better to do baths daily for up to 10 days. At the end of the procedure, it is recommended to massage the cuticles and rub the oil well into the nails.
2. In addition, beet juice has strengthening properties. To do this, you need to grate the beets and squeeze out the juice, several times a day for no more than 12 days. Prepare for the fact that your nails will be painted, but the result will please you 100%.
3. But massaging your nails with glycerin will not only strengthen your nails, but also enhance their growth. To do this, glycerin is applied to the cuticles near the nails and massaged with a soft brush for a minute on any nail. This procedure is recommended to be carried out once every 10 days.
4. In addition, you can use beeswax, thanks to which you can polish the nail plate, moisturize it and protect it from damage and delamination. Wax must be rubbed into your nails every day for at least 15 days to get perfect nails.

What causes fingernails to bend downwards and what to do

At a time when the circumstance that causes the fingernails to bend down is known, and it is not related to heredity, it is possible to try to solve the problem with folk remedies. We have selected the most effective recipes for baths, massage mixtures and enhancing procedures.

If your nails are bent downwards, decide what to do next.

Therapeutic baths. If your nails are deformed, you should take salt baths. It is better to take sea salt or iodized salt. Add one spoon of salt and a couple of drops of essential oil to two liters of warm water. Instead of iodized salt, it is possible to add iodine. The handles are kept in this water until they cool.

Iodine. When the nails are bent downwards, it is recommended to use iodine to treat them. This procedure will strengthen the nail plate, the nails will become strong and begin to level out. To do this, remove all coatings from the nails and apply iodine daily until complete recovery.

Lemon juice It is also considered a good remedy for treating emerging imperfections on the nails. Lemon juice should be rubbed into the nails, it is possible to add essential oils for excellent results.

Massage. A mandatory procedure not only for nail treatment, but also for prevention. Massage increases blood circulation around the nail, enhancing their condition. It is better to use manicure oil or vitamin cream for this. A massage should be done every evening before bed.

Mask. You need to heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and add a few drops of lemon juice to it. Apply the mixture to your nails, put on natural gloves and go to bed. In the morning, your hands and nails will look much more beautiful. This procedure can be done once a week.

If the nails are bent upward: what diseases does this indicate?

Nails bend upward for several reasons. The first of them can be called improper nutrition, which leads to deformation of nails, since they do not receive the vitamins necessary for good and proper growth.

In addition, junk food constantly has a negative effect on the liver and the functioning of the body as a whole. And above all, this is reflected in the nails and hair.

You need to stick to your diet, use more vegetables and fruits and give up fast food, fried and fatty foods. Brittleness can cause nails to curl upward. This is especially noticeable at a time when the body does not have enough calcium, magnesium or zinc - these are three elements that are responsible for the health and strength of nails.

note

To keep your nails strong and intact, you should include cottage cheese, fermented milk products in your diet and forget about bad habits.

If long nails bend, this indicates a lack of water. This can be corrected with masks and massages using nourishing products for nails and cuticles. Incorrect care and poor-quality manicure quite often cause nails to bend. During a manicure, it is possible to damage the nail layer with a metal file, so it is better not to use such a tool yourself, but to entrust your nails to a specialist.

Viral diseases also lead to deformation of nails, since viruses suppress the entire body and the immune system as well. As a result, this affects the condition of the nails; they become brittle and begin to curl. Here you need comprehensive treatment for the virus and constant care of your nails as they grow.

note

If your child’s nails begin to curl, you should consult a dermatologist, as this may be a negative effect of a fungal infection.

Narrow and brittle nails curl up much more often. In order to cure this problem, you need to include more vitamins and minerals in your diet, do strengthening baths and massages, and over time your nails will acquire a healthy look and beautiful shine.

Bend nails occur in people regardless of age and physiological characteristics of the body. Such problems can appear for various reasons and manifest themselves with additional symptoms.

Let's look at why fingernails bend down and ways to combat this problem.

Causes

With a uniform growth rate and adequate surface treatment, the nail, as a rule, has a normal shape and good resistance to aggressive influences.

With slow growth, its surface is exposed to greater external influences and, as a result, bends. It can become thin, soft or brittle depending on the deficiency of proteins, vitamins and minerals in the body.

A deficiency causes the nail to bend on the side or over the entire surface at the slightest physical impact. Such disorders occur as a result of metabolic disorders, poor nutrition or the presence of serious illnesses. It also happens that when you press on its surface, it starts and happens with the corners.

Metabolic disorders

Metabolic disorders can be temporary or permanent. Temporary disturbances include physiological conditions such as pregnancy and fasting.

During pregnancy, women, as a rule, develop metabolic failures in 50% of cases. As a result, they become thinner and begin to bend, first on the sides, and then over the entire surface.

During the second pregnancy, in 90% of cases, additional hair loss, peeling of the skin and brittle teeth occur. Depending on the physiological characteristics of a woman’s body, the number and variety of symptoms may differ in each individual case.

Permanent physiological metabolic disorders include anorexia and diabetes mellitus. As a result of an acute lack of nutrients, tissue growth slows down, and the tissue itself has an altered structure. As a result, fragility and excessive softness, bends and delamination are observed, regardless of the influence of the external environment.

With diabetes, there is an accumulation and increase in the amount of sugar in the fingers. Sugar crystals cause tissue deformation and necrosis. One of the signs of diabetes is a change in the shape and structure of the nails.

Cosmetologists say: If your nails begin to curl downwards after wearing artificial nails for a long time, they need to be cleaned of all cosmetic chemicals and a break of several weeks from repeated extensions must be taken.

Heredity

Some people, as they reach a certain age, develop metabolic disorders that occur during growth. Also, there are people with physiological characteristics in which normal growth of nail tissue is impossible and requires constant care.

Treatment in such cases can last a lifetime and often requires surgery with periodic cosmetic treatments.

Fungus and bacteria damage

There are many fungi that cause it. Often, when the skin of the hands is affected, deformations with curvature upward or downward are formed.

Wrong care

Nail extensions lead to deformation, thinning and separation of the nail tissue.

It bends up or down depending on the depth of the cut and the duration of use of aggressive substances. Photos of the bends can be seen above.

Treatment

To treat a bend, it is necessary to act on the root cause of the disease. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is consult a cosmetologist, dermatologist, or surgeon, depending on the complexity of the manifestations. At the beginning of treatment, nutrition should be normalized, protein foods, vitamins and minerals should be consumed in sufficient quantities.

If the cause of the disease is improper care, you need to take a break from visiting a cosmetologist for 1 to 2 months. During this period, special restorative agents must be applied to the surface.

Since this problem can only be corrected with complex treatment, it is additionally recommended to take baths with sea salt and rub wax, honey, castor and burdock oil into the nail plate. If the cause of the appearance is a fungal infection or a serious illness, then treatment should be prescribed by a doctor after a thorough diagnosis.

The appearance of the first signs of curvature indicates the development of metabolic disorders in the body. During normal functioning of the body, nails, as a rule, retain their shape.

Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the diet, the general condition of the body and consult a doctor.

Prevention

A cosmetologist or doctor is often asked: What can I do to prevent my nails from curling? And the answer for each individual case will be different. Firstly, it is necessary to follow a diet with periodic addition of products that are unique in their composition.

It is advisable to eat cottage cheese, cheese, sour cream or drink uncollected milk once a week. It is recommended to take complex vitamins and add large quantities of beef and pork to your food.

In regions where it is not possible to eat fermented milk products, the lack of calcium can be compensated for with special dietary supplements or eggshells. Dietary supplements are used according to the instructions, and the shells according to the following principle. The shells are taken from the eggs of domestic chickens that have been certified by a veterinarian to be in good health.

It is washed using laundry soap in hot running water, then doused with boiling water and dried. The dried shells are crushed to a powder and taken 1 - ½ teaspoon once a day for two weeks. Such prevention is recommended for pregnant women during pregnancy.

Conclusion

At the first signs of deviations, you should seek advice from a cosmetologist, dermatologist or surgeon. If necessary, undergo a set of diagnostic measures to detect the exact cause of bent nails on the fingers. Timely diagnosis and treatment will help avoid many complications.

Healthy nails grow quite slowly and in a week they can grow only 1-2 mm. If we talk about complete renewal of the nail plate, then this happens no earlier than within six months. Throughout a person's life, it can be noted that nails grow at different rates. In childhood, nails grow faster, but in older age they grow much slower. Nail growth will also be affected by the time of year. When it's cold, nails grow very slowly, and when it's warm, it's the opposite. Today, many women may encounter such an unpleasant problem as bending of nails during long-term growth, and in some cases they even begin to crack and break. Why is this happening? This is exactly the topic that this article will be about.

Reasons for changing the shape of the nail

The reasons why nails begin to change their shape can be very different: poor nutrition, dryness, fragility and damage to the structure of the nail plate. When nails grow, they can all bend or just one. A variety of mechanical damage can also contribute to this. In the damaged area, the nail begins to lose its elasticity and density, after which it breaks and begins to bend. If the nails are thin and brittle, then this can also cause the nails to bend. This is caused by the edge of the nail being thinner than the nail plate and lacking the ability to hold the nail straight. This usually happens if the body does not have enough vitamins or you use detergents without using gloves.

Also, various viral diseases can greatly affect the shape of the nail. But in most cases, bending of nails can only be explained by the individual characteristics of the body. In this case, even the strongest and most beautiful nails, when they reach a certain length, begin to bend or curl into a tube. Then you have only one choice: grow your nails to a certain length and no more.

If the shape has changed due to the influence of a fungus, then the situation can be corrected only after complete recovery. If you had a bad manicure, then you should go to a specialist and have several procedures done so that your nails regain their shape. In addition, you should pay attention to your diet and eliminate harmful foods and habits from your diet. Start consuming vitamin complexes, minerals and everything that strong and beautiful nails lack. Also, nails may begin to curl due to insufficient moisture for them. Therefore, you should always use creams or oils that would sufficiently moisturize not only the skin of your hands, but also the nail plates themselves.

Strengthening nails

Most experts say so. What is very good is to strengthen your nails with gel or acrylic. By themselves, these materials do not bend and do not allow the nail to do this, and we can say that the nails are to some extent glued to the artificial turf. Gradually, it will be possible to stop using these materials as your nails will continue to grow straight for a long time. But it happens that the nails begin to bend again and then the procedure must be repeated again.

It is also very useful to strengthen your nails with special baths with the addition of iodized salt. Keep your nails in the bath until the water has cooled completely. After this, you need to completely dry your hands and rub the special nourishing oil or cream that you use into the nail plate.

To prevent your nails from bending, do not forget to regularly care not only for them, but also for your entire body, taking vitamins, playing sports and controlling your diet.