My Nails Keep Breaking At The Side Into The Nail Bed. What Can I Do To Stop This?

You need to address the problem with a two-pronged attack - a produce to strengthen from the outside and a good diet to strengthen from the inside.

One of the most common causes of brittle nails is malnutrition. If you eat a lot of junk food then your diet could be low in iron. This could lead to weaker nails.

Also remember that at times of stress, your body is not as efficient at absorbing vitamins from what you eat. This means you need to help your body out with what you eat. Breakfast cereals are an easy way to get a bit of extra iron into the diet. You could also do a bit of research in to which vegetables are particularly good for nails. Onions, garlic and leeks will help. Iron-rich foods include clams, mussels, oysters, liver and beef. Vegetables such as broccoli and tomato will actually improve your body's ability to take in the iron too. So eating healthy is important, but eating smart and healthy is better - target your healthy foods at your nails.

As for combating the problem from the outside, find some botanical oil. This oil contains jojoba, Vitamin E, rice bran oil, camomile oil and passion fruit oil which will all help.

Jojoba has a tiny molecule that can penetrate the nail plate layers and draw the other larger moleculed oils in after it. Vitamin E is an anti-aging oil prevents the production of free-radicals that contribute to the aging process. The other oils will condition and moisturize the nail plate layers.

Try changing the way you shape them. You have a stress point on each side of your nails. For instance, when filing your nails you decide to file the sides in to give the nail a thinner look. When you do this you are filing into the stress point which will cause weakness and the possibility of causing the nail to break or tear easier

Manicures and weak nails

If you rely on manicures to make your nails look good, keep a few
things in mind. Don't have your cuticles removed — it can lead to nail
infection. Also, check to be sure that your nail technician properly
sterilizes all tools used during your manicure. Using unsterilized
tools may transmit viral infections, such as hepatitis B or warts.
Weak or brittle fingernails can be a challenge to toughen up. The
following tips can help you protect them, making your nails less likely
to split or break.

• Keep your nails short, square shaped and
  slightly rounded on top. Trim brittle nails after a bath or a 15-minute
  hand soak in bath oil. Then apply a moisturizer.
• Moisturize your nails and cuticles at bedtime and cover them with cotton gloves.
• Apply
  a nail hardener, but avoid products containing toluene sulfonamide or
  formaldehyde. These chemicals can cause redness or irritate the skin.
• Don't
  use nail polish remover more than twice a month. Instead, touch up the
  polish. When you do need a remover, avoid those that use acetone, which
  dries nails.
• Repair splits or tears with nail glue or clear polish.

Dietary changes that supposedly strengthen nails don't work. Unless
you're deficient in protein — rare among people in the United States —
adding protein or calcium to your diet won't strengthen your nails.
Similarly, soaking your nails in gelatin won't help either.
It's easy to neglect your nails. But a little basic nail care can go a long way to keeping your nails in healthy condition.

When you have nails that break into the nail bed or sides of the nails it is a good idea to get checked by your M.D. To see if it is health related as it can be. Arthritis affects the nails, hypothyroid affects the nails, Celiac Disease affects the nails, Fungus affects the nails. There are many things that can affect the nails like strong dish detergents, bleach, household cleaning supplies, soaps for general cleaning, keeping your hands in water and Chemicals of any kind can cause this, so it is a good idea to get it checked out before spending on cosmetic approaches. Good luck and hope you find the reason.

You might be having brittle nails which is the condition in which nails become fragile, thin and break. 20% of the peoples have the problem of brittle nails. Women are more affected. Exact cause is not known but it can be due to too much moisture or dry conditions. If the nails are dry and hard and breaks then use lotions containing alpha hydroxy acid. If the nails are soft and being broken then avoid moisture, detergent and nail [polish remover. Always wear gloves for house/kitchen work.