For some reason, my thumb nails keep splitting down the middle. It is not only annoying, it’s painful because they split so far down into my nail bed. Years ago, I used a nail repair kit to hold my broken nails together long enough to get them to a point I could stand to cut them. I went looking for that kit, it was some kind of glue type stuff and some thin fabric, kind of like a tea bag, that you could seal onto the broken area to keep it together. At the very least I figured I could by glue and just cut up a tea bag.
I couldn’t find that kit anymore, but I did find a new type of nail repair kit at Sally’s. I’m linking to it on Amazon for you, in case you don’t have a Sally’s near by. Find it here.
This new kit consists of a glue you brush on, a powder and a buffing board. I have to say I was a bit intimidated when I bought it because I figured it was going to be overly complicated. Spoiler alert! It was not!
There’s an instruction sheet, but basically, here’s how it works. On bare nails, you brush on the glue over the cracked area, I went a bit further on both sides just to be sure it would hold. Then you stick that wet nail into the powder for a few seconds and pull it out. Brush any excess power off and then buff. It was pretty amazing. It was dry once I pulled it out of the powder and I waited a couple minutes before buffing, but I don’t think you have to. The first time I used it, I didn’t buff much off because I wasn’t sure when was enough, but I could have buffed a lot more than I did. In other words, don’t be afraid to buff. Worse case scenario you could just repeat the process.
I am happy to report it worked like a charm! My nail is almost grown out enough to trim off the cracked part and the fix hasn’t come off or worn off at all. I’ve had it on my broken nail for over 2 weeks without any issues. I redipped it today, but mainly cause I was paranoid about it breaking this week because I have a lot to do this week that will be hard on my nails. I really think it would have held up, I just didn’t want to deal with it breaking in the middle of a busy week.
I left my nail bare because I wanted to see how it wore and it has remained very strong. No chipping or peeling off. Hasn’t cracked off at all. There is an urge to pick it off because it’s a little thicker, but so far I have resisted! I wouldn’t recommend picking it off, cause I think you would majorly damage your nail anyway!
I would recommend using a color polish over it, but it really isn’t hideous without polish. I don’t think it’s noticeable to anyone else and no one has commented on it yet. If I have time, I will polish it in the next day or so and see if I can get a picture of it. Depending on how much you buff, it may appear a bit “ridgey” or bumpy under polish, but like I said, buffing it smooth doesn’t seem to make it any less effective.
All in all, I have to highly recommend this repair kit! It is actually a huge step up from my old way of doing it and is super fast and easy! Any questions, let me know in comments.
