Why clip cuticles

Joel Schlessinger, a dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon, founder of LovelySkin. Lack of proper sterilization Trimming cuticles is especially dangerous when done at a nail salon, where the tools used in a manicure are rarely sterilized properly. These places often use tools and utensils from customer to customer without proper sterilization. Nail technicians often leave them in for only 20 minutes or less, so the tools are never cleaned properly.

Why do salons continue cutting? As the nail cells are created and pushed forward, the nail plate literally rips the bottom layer of eponychium cells with it. Cuticle cells also tightly grip the proximal fold of the eponychium. This creates a nice, tight guardian seal.

For people like me, that death grip is too strong. My cuticle will pull the nail fold and stretch it out very thin. In the photo above, you can see both examples. When you release the grip, your proximal fold is able to stay nice and tight. I did an experiment to figure all of this out. I stopped pushing back my nail folds for 3 weeks to see what would happen.

The proximal folds were stretched an additional 3 millimeters! I also started getting those painful, thin hangnails that tear and bleed on my eponychium. When I released the nail folds from the cuticle, the skin remained stretched out. Within 24 hours that skin was drying out and I had a strong desire to clip it.

I had finally figured out why people clip their proximal folds! Geeky…but that was an exciting discovery for me. I started oiling and massaging that skin several times a day. Within a week my proximal folds were back to normal and looking beautifully healthy. Simply use your fingernail to gently push back the proximal fold to break the death grip about every 4 to 7 days.

If your nails are really short, you can use an orange wood stick. Just be gentle. If you keep your skin hydrated with a high quality, jojoba wax ester based penetrating nail and cuticle oil , then it will be easy to push back your nail folds.

This can also be done in the shower. Just make sure you are wearing one coat of base coat when showering. Again, some people are able to scrape the cuticle off with their fingernail in the shower.

Lye is largely used in the soap making process. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Here's to manis that don't resemble a crime scene. Carly Cardellino Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. Among the more niche life lessons my mother drilled into my sister and me was that when bathing every night, we should push back our cuticles with the corner of a flannel.

I do it every day on autopilot without really thinking about it. Some other niche life lessons from my mother include a bizarrely specific towel-folding method, a very intricate Tupperware storage system, and always keeping a bag of 'bad' peas in the freezer to ice sprains.

That being said, I understand your confusion. I asked Juanita Hubert-Miller, founder of my favourite nail bar, Townhouse , for her take. This has to come off when having a manicure as paint and gel sticks best to a clean nail.

What most people refer to as the cuticle is actually known as the eponychium, the fold of skin at the base of the nail. This you need to be much more gentle with as it is living tissue.