Intricacies of manicure

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 12

Intricacies of manicure

FASHION AND BEAUTY

By

Paula Ryan

At one time many v -men had their manicures done professionally but with various hand and nail-care products readily available it is not difficult to undertake this nail beauty ritual ourselves. It does, however, take time — up to an hour, in fact, and a complete manicure should be undertaken once a week to keep the nail shaped and cuticles in

trim. First, let us consider a few common facts and problems about our nails. Nails are composed of horizontal layers of keratin; and how brittle or strong they are is mainly due to inheritance. Nutritional foods like yoghurt, carrots, celery, soya and eggs are particularly good for producing healthy nails. From time to time we get ridges on our nails. This is mainly due to an illness, or harsh treatment of the matrix (birth area of the nail). White spots over the nails can be a disease but more often due to stress or caused by small air pockets formed in the nail which will eventually grow out. Our nails grow at the rate of {in per month so that a complete nail takes about four months to grow out. Extremes in temperature affect our nails dramatically — in cold or extremely hot sunny weather our nails become more brittle. Frequently submerging the hands in hot, soapy water will result in softer nails; so rubber gloves are advised for about-the-house chores.

If you are a nail biter, all I can say is that you can stop but it takes willpower. However, a few tips that may help you: wear gloves when you are not actually doing anything with your hands; carry an emery board with you wherever you go — use of this may prevent you from nibbling at broken ends; and before you retire each night massage a nail cream into your anils. Now let us proceed with our step-by-step manicure: Step 1. Remove any old nail-vamish with cotton wool and an oil remover. Press the cotton wool against the nail for a few seconds to pre-soften the polish. Take off with slow outward movements and use a separate piece of cotton for each nail. Step 2. Shape and smooth the nails. If the nails are damaged or much too long use a nail clipper to trim first. Using an emery board held at a 45 deg. angle to nail edge; file the nail from each side towards the centre: don’t saw back and forth. Shape the nail into a gentle oval with the nail edge extending at least l/16in but no longer than

Jin beyond the flesh of the finger (extreme points encourage breakage and filing into corners encourages hang-nails to form). Be careful to file each nail to the same length: long nails are ugly and very much a fad of the past. Step 3. Soak each hand in warm, soapy water (not detergent) to clean the nails and cuticles; or, better still, do your mani* cutre after having a bath. Then dry each nail in turn with a soft towel. Step 4. Apply cuticle remover or oil around the cuticles. With an orange stick wrapped in cotton wool push back and carefully lift the cuticle away from the nail. This must be done very gently as, if pressure is too great, the matrix may get dented and the new nail will grow in ridges. If stains have appeared under the nail tip, dip a cottonwrapped orange stick into peroxide and rub them away. Step 5. Wash cuticle remover from fingers. Step 6. Apply hand lotion, and massage the hands and fingers. During massage give the fingers a good pull from their joints.

Step 7. Repair any slit or broken nails with a nail-fix then apply a nail hardener if required. If you do not intend wearing nail varnish use a nail buffer and buff a shine on to the nails. Step 8. Apply a base coat — preferably one with a built-in nail strengthener. Step 9. Apply a first coat of selected nail varnish (short nails suit pale or mid colours). Use only three outward strokes of th brush — one down the centre of the nail, one down each side — redipping the brush for each nail. Let each coat dry thoroughly before apply- 1 ing the next. Never apply more than three coats. A quick tip to speed up the drying process is run your fingers under cold running water (never try to dry varnish under heat). Step 10. For a neat finish, run an orange stick tipped with cotton dampened with varnish remover along the outside edge of the cuticle and finger tip. This removes any smudges of polish. It is better to renew your nail vamish every third or fourth day. On the seventh day it is time to re-manicure.