Striated nails: the causes and solutions to remedy it

Are your nails streaked? Discover Maryton‘s expert advice to find healthy nails.

What are streaks on the nails?
If you have damaged nails, you may have noticed “little scratches, longitudinal or transverse that appear thicker” on the surface of one or more nails, as our nail health expert describes. These lines are streaks that cause your “horny patch to be ragged” and not as smooth as it should be. One of the most common problems with soft fingernails, brittle fingernails and split fingernails.

Why are the nails ridged?
The nail is a flexible horny plate made up of keratin, which is epidermal cells that originate in the nail matrix and have hardened, or keratinized. Together they form a smooth nail plate, but sometimes it is damaged and streaks appear on the surface of the nails. In a healthy person, the striae are “the” wrinkles “of the nail”, they are then “caused mainly by aging and the attacks suffered” by your nails on a daily basis, such as cold or household products. “With age, cells make poorer quality keratin” which makes our nails more prone to streaking as we age. But this is far from the only cause of ridged nails, because sometimes these lines, longitudinal or transverse that wrinkle the nail, do it when we are still very young.

The different causes of streaks on the nails
The origin of the streaks on the nails is indeed multiple. For example, streaks can also be linked to deficiencies and more specifically “caused by vitamin and mineral deficiency”, and “age or diet” can be the cause of these deficiencies. A ridged nail can be the result of “drying out of the nail due to external aggressions, housework done without gloves, or the use of nail polish remover.” In other words, streaks can also appear when your nails are dry. But “menopausal hormonal changes” can also be the cause if the streaks appear on the surface of your nails coincide. Finally, certain “treatments and diseases can also cause streaks” on the nails. This is particularly the case with “chemotherapy” or “diabetes”.

What are the consequences for the nail in the short and long term?
Rest assured, if the streaks have just appeared on your nails, in the short term “it is especially embarrassing from an aesthetic point of view”, because the parallel lines in relief on the surface of the nails make the bare nail less pretty and tend to curl the nail polish once it is applied, or even cause it to crack in the worst case. Besides the slightly less clear appearance of the surface of your nails, there are no serious consequences for your nails in the short term. Rather, if you do nothing and let the streaks set in, in the long run, they can be a problem and seriously affect the health of your nails. “Striated nails can crack” and this “lengthwise which is annoying and painful”. So it’s in your best interest to find a solution to your streaks before they actually damage your nails.

Ridged nails: what to avoid
When your nails are weakened by the streaks, it is important not to make the situation worse by adopting bad gestures or bad reflexes. First of all, it is necessary to “avoid the aggressions of cold, drought and water, which will stimulate their appearance”. During your manicure, it is also useful to “forbid the polishing of the nail tablet” which then constitutes “additional aggravating trauma” for your ridged nails. Likewise, it is advisable to “proscribe poor quality nail varnishes”, as well as “acetone remover”, which can then be very easily replaced by a varnish with a clean composition and therefore more respectful of the nails of a on the one hand, and by a mild solvent that does not contain drying acetone, on the other hand. Finally, do not think about solving the aesthetic concern of the streaks that create bumps on your nails with a false nail application, because it is necessary to “absolutely avoid wearing false nails permanently” in these cases.

The solution to quickly hide streaks
To display instantly smoother nails, it is better to turn to specific bases, namely “anti-streak bases”, which protect the nails while smoothing their surface. These types of “varnish very loaded with filling microspheres” are indeed capable of “immediately filling the irregularities of the surface of the nails” to make them smoother. It would be necessary to apply “two coats of base varnish” for an optimal result. In addition to its protective and smoothing actions, the anti-streak primer “prepares for perfect manicure adhesion” if you want to apply colored nail polish on top of it and “prevents the appearance” of new streaks on the nails.

How to cure ridged nails?
To get rid of streaks on the nails, it is therefore necessary to resort to a second type of treatment: “creams or oils rich in vitamins” which “will revive the growth of a healthy nail, without streaks, more resistant. “. But for them to be effective, it is important to “nourish the nails daily by massaging their periphery with”, and this for “several weeks” because they need time to act and fight the streaks present on the surface of the nail. ‘nail. “The nail only grows a few millimeters per month”, which is why a long and daily treatment is essential for your ridged nails.
These treatments do not necessarily offer a varnish effect, unlike anti-streak smoothing bases, but they “provide the deficient nail with the targeted active ingredients that it lacks”. Among these active ingredients, we find “silicon”, “moisturizing vegetable oils” such as castor oil, macadamia oil or grape seed oil, but also “vitamins” such as vitamin B8, as well as “other often patented active ingredients, resulting from research in dermo-cosmetic laboratories”. They will act on streaks like anti-aging creams on facial wrinkles, hydrating and nourishing the nails and boosting the growth of a healthy nail for more beautiful nails and above all without streaks.
In order to guarantee a result on the existing streaks, it will be necessary to be rigorous and massage the treatment that you have chosen on your bare nails and on their lunules daily. You can even apply extensions to the treatment around the contour of the nail to heal the cuticles as they go. Thus, it will promote the regrowth of a more resistant quality nail.
Before this long-lasting nail treatment, it is sometimes useful to “file the ends” of the nails “to prevent them from breaking”.

What vitamins to take for ridged nails?
Finally, know that you can give your fingernails a little boost from the inside out by taking “brewer’s yeast” as a dietary supplement. Experts recommend a “2 or 3 month” cure of brewer’s yeast for ridged nails, because it “provides vitamin B, proteins and minerals” which are good for the nails. Enough to make them grow faster!

How to prevent the appearance of streaks?
Once you’ve gotten rid of your unsightly streaks, it’s in your best interest to take good reflexes to prevent new streaks from appearing on your now healthy nails. The first thing to do is to protect your hands – and therefore your nails – from daily aggressions such as cold (by wearing gloves for example), dryness (by putting on hand cream every day) and water. (by wearing gloves for washing dishes or cleaning in particular). Then, it is necessary to “avoid the shocks generated during the filing of the nails” which traumatize the nail. Finally, you can also focus on preventive care, in particular by applying a “protective base” before applying your nail polish in order to maintain healthy nails, and by “regularly moisturizing the nails with specific care” to preserve the beauty of your nails. nails.

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