Nails......I hear ya! I take Biotin daily and that helps....as well as remembering to eat enough protein.
As I have gotten older I have become lactose intolerant and now don't drink milk, I rarely eat an egg for breakfast and often dinner is a salad, with meat and cheese....but not a lot of meat and cheese.
If I remember to make it a point to add an egg to that salad and keep some frozen shrimp to toss into a salad or eat for lunch.
So...get some biotin and add it to your daily vitamins, eat more protein....AND...keep polish on your nails...undercoat....2 coats of color and 2 coats of top coat. Or if you don't use color, 4 coats of one of those chip resistant top coats.

Thanks LindaC,

I did take Biotin for about 4 or 5 months but couldn't tell any difference. Wasn't sure what strength to use and actually don't remember what I wound up using, in that respect. I do try to keep several coats of the clear nail strengthener on my nails. I tried the shellac thing that lasts, or is supposed to last for 2 weeks. It seems to be difficult for the manicurist to get it off, and I think it made the surface of my nails worse when it did come off.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else responds. BTW what strength of Biotin do you use?

Thanks again,

jude

Jude if you have a Sephora nearby, go buy: Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat. It's about $30 a bottle but its like a miracle. You will absolutely love it! I can almost promise you.

Not all Sephoras carry it, but you can also order it online.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Gel Coat

Shaun, we do have a Sephora nearby and I will for sure check to see if they have it. Thank you so much!

jude

Make gelatinous beef bone broth - freeze in ice cube trays so you can pop one in a cup and drink it like tea every day. You can add lemon juice and salt to the cup. Some folks eat Knox gelatin for their nails.

Also make sure you're getting plenty of vitamin D3.

Thanks Gina, I'll work on that. At this point I'm on the verge of desperate.

jude

I agree with Linda & Gina. If your nails are thinning & there's no other medical condition happening you probably are not getting enough protein. A nail top coat is cosmetic & may help slightly but won't help the underlying problem. Eat more protein & you might not need the top coat. Gina's broth sounds wonderful. I could use a cup right now!

Because it's easy for me to swallow, I eat a lot of dairy (protein & calcium). My nails grow so fast & strong I have to cut them with the electric garden pruners! :)

/tricia

Tricia, that's scary! Thanks for the advice, Lord know I can use it.

jude

Gina, I've never made gelatinous beef bone broth. I'm supposing you have, so would you care to tell me your method. I did google it and found directions/recipe but I'm sure, like most things, there's more than one way to do it.

Thanks,
jude

I take 500 mcg....but I also take B12.
The amount of protein in gelatin is minimal and it's an incomplete protein.
Meat, Eggs and cheese are better....unless you know all about the protein building blocks and the stuff about which combined make a complete protein.....all I can remember is corn muffins and bean soup make a complete protein....and so does baked beans and boston brown bread.

If you don't eat a lot of meat these are complete proteins,

Hummus & Crackers
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Mexican Food (beans, rice, corn tortillas)
Soy and Quinoa have complete protein in themselves

But, it's no longer considered necessary to eat complementary proteins together at one sitting to make complete protein. Your body does that automatically from all the foods that you eat over the course of a day or so.

Nuts & seeds are good protein sources so munching on a snall amount of trail mix is good but watch the serving size - high caloric.

/t

I think genetics have more to do with it than anything, as well as your own DNA. I am cursed with my mom's nails - thin, peely, won't grow more than a sliver. I eat plenty of protein so that doesn't work for me and I'm sure others as well. I'm not a nail polish fan (dries out my nails) but I'll give Shaun's Sephora stuff a try.

*edit: I don't mean to imply that the extra protein isn't the solution for everyone, I'm sure it works. Just not for me.

For me, 1000 mcg of biotin daily has helped a lot.

I'm an omnivore and already eat plenty of protein.

Sorry you're having a problem, but I'm glad you brought this topic to my attention. My nails were miserable for years, but as I look back, my nails have improved dramatically after I gave up gluten and soy and ate more protein. Dairy wasn't the key for me. I'm off to look at Shaun's suggestion. I have weekly manicures to keep my nails nice. Otherwise they're a mess!

Jude, have you had a check up lately?

Here is the whole-nine-yards recipe for traditional (Korean) bone broth. This multi-boil method extracts the healthy stuff from the bones. I have some of this in my freezer all the time.

You can also just make regular beef stock or chicken stock using bones with attached cartilage like chicken legs and chicken feet.

It's not just for protein - bone broths have a lot of nutritional value. See this article for more on broth, as well as a couple of recipes: Broth is Beautiful.

Everyone should eat broth regularly!

Had a check up in October. He told me I was in very good shape for an _o year old. I did ask about the nails but he only said his wife told him the prenatal vitamins she took while she was pregnant made her nails stronger. That ended that part of the conversation.

I picked up a bottle of the pink gel Shaun mentioned, yesterday and no new broken nails today which is unusual as of late. I'll keep working on it.

jude