Yours Truly was so grossed out recently when she saw a clergyman with dirty, too-long nails. PLEASE, please gang — get a nail brush and use it every day! An orange stick is also a must-have for digging gently under the nail and getting out embedded dirt that the brush simply can’t get to. You can find one for less than $2 at any drugstore in the manicure supplies aisle in cosmetics.
(That there is an orange stick. You can use them to gently push back cuticles too, like this here lady is doing.)
PeaceBang always remembers her dear, departed father who regularly bribed her to stop biting her fingernails (I had a specialty of scraping at my thumb nail with my teeth, such a nervous child was I, and yes I did permanently disfigure my nailbed!) who used to say, “Vicki, I always look at someone’s hands first when I’m interviewing them for a job. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands.”
With this in mind I got myself to the manicurist today to remove my chipped, blue nail polish (we’re going back to work after vacation) and to give me Nice Ministerial Hands once again. I am wearing O.P.I.’s color, “Tickle My France-y,” which is the nicest neutral I know for the summer, when my hands are a little bit brown.
(Those ain’t my hands. I don’t wear my nails that long and certainly never that square.)
An observation (on myself): if your nails constantly look like you’ve been digging in the dirt and you haven’t, think about how often you are applying hand cream or lotion. It is a magnet for all kinds of particles, and it can turn dark just by being exposed to air and drying out. So do it a bit less (and not every time you wash your hands), possibly only at night, and give those nails a good scraping out!
PB, I’d love some nail advice for those of us who can’t do manicures. I can’t wear nail polish, even clear, as a regular thing. I keep my hands clean as possible (good idea on using less cream, Wendy!), and use a whitening stick under the nails, but I don’t think my hands ever look professional. Do you have a magic solution?!
Agreed! I’m always keeping my nails trimmed short and clean them out every morning. In the winter, I use hand cream at bed time because my other problem is dry, flaky skin on my hands (they actually start cracking and bleeding if I neglect them – ouch and yuck!)
Love the colour you chose for your nails. Makes me wish I could wear polish on my fingernails but it “feels” weird. No explanation – it’s just a “thing” I have where I can’t wear polish on my finger nails because I can “feel” it. My grandma was the same way.
Miss C, could you possibly go to a salon and have them do everything BUT the polish? (They do this for men….) Shape, condition the cuticles, etc, but not polish. Worth a try?
Wendy and Miss C – that’s exactly what I do, for my hands and my feet – go to the nail salon and get everything except the polish. It’s a treat – I don’t do it every time, but enough that I feel like it helps keep my hands and feet looking presentable.
That is something that has always bothered me: I am clean, and well-groomed. I wear nice clothes without stains and rips. I don’t smoke, drink or do drugs. I don’t drink coffee (so no teeth staining). I am very good at my job. But I bite my nails ragged (though I keep them clean). And that will tell you if I’m good enough to work where ever I’m applying to? [It says that you have a compulsive, self-destructive habit that most people associate with childhood. I’m not judging — God knows I have it, too — I ‘m telling you like it is. Calm, professional exterior, nails bitten to the core = double message. It’s not fair, hey, I know — another candidate could be a cocaine addict with lovely nails — but that’s how I think people read it. – PB]
Wendy & Tera, thanks for the advice! Of course, that is a perfect thing to do. (The problem with nail polish is that it makes my nails very, very weak.)
PB, I suspect cocaine addicts have beautifully manicured fingernails–don’t they use them to sniff cocaine off?
All of this made me go out and get some neutral polish to do my nails for my interview on Wednesday….and I really do hate wearing nail polish.
You can get your nails buffed. Nice and shiny, and no polish, or even do it yourself. Northerngal, I have always felt that way about polish on my fingernails, but have recently discovered gel polish. It doesn’t creep me out, for some reason, and it lasts at least three weeks without chipping. Of course you do have to have your fingernails wrapped in acetone-soaked cotton and covered with foil, which looks bizarre and can’t possibly be good for you, but I tell you, they look fabulous in clear polish.
Oh! I can add one more idea to this! After 30 yrs of trial-and-error, my all-occasion, foolproof polish is this: 2 thin coats of OPI ridge filler (I have those unsightly ridges)followed by a super-shine top coat. The ridge filler dries really quick, it’s easy, and totally neutral.
Also discovered a few yrs back those Revlon cuticle trimmers–the one that comes with a cap. (Not two-handled and scary-looking, like so many, but just one black plastic stick.) Can push back cuticles with the one end (which is shaped like an orange stick), trim gently with the other.
For those who don’t like polish (like me), trim and scrub those nails, give ’em a good buffing and use Neutrogena Instant Nail Enhancer. It lets your nails breathe, helps strengthen them, and doesn’t need to be removed like polish. You can apply it daily if you like, or just once a week or for special occasions … Adds a nice sheen without a lot of fuss.
http://www.instyle.com/instyle/product/0,,1178001,00.html?p=1176876_1176886
I thought that I was weird or something because I cannot wear nail polish. I’m just glad to know that I’m not alone.
I’m a fan of manicures and OPI like the next gal, but I’ve recently fallen in LOVE with Sally Hanson’s Insta-Dri nail color. It really does dry super-fast, and it only needs one coat! LOVE IT!
You might think I’m crazy, but instead of an orangewood stick, I use a white colored pencil to clean out under my nails; not a whitening nail pencil like Miss Conduct, but an art pencil. It works, it’s cheap, it can be sharpened. It creates a clean, defined look.