It has always been every women’s dream to have a set of strong and healthy nails that they can proudly show off. There is actually no big secret in how to grow healthy nails – your daily habits, how you take care of your nails and the food you consume are the main factors in contributing to a strong and healthy growth of nails.

Before we look at the ways of how to grow healthy nails, let’s look at the why – why your nails isn’t growing as beautifully as it should, or even worse for some others – why they aren’t growing at all:

Biting your nails – Do you have the habit of biting your nails frequently? If you do, then it’s time to stop immediately! By biting your nails, you are exposing and introducing bacteria into your nails and skin cells, and you could get various bacterial infections which impedes the growth process of your skin and nails. One great idea to encourage you to not bite your nails is to keep them polished – this will deter your conscious mind from biting them.

Skipping base coat – Do you often skip the base coat while applying nail polish, because you are running out of time, or just feeling lazy to do so? Don’t! it is important that you do not skip the base coat when applying nail polish, because nail polish actually acts as a protective layer between the top layer of the bare nails and your nail polish.

Chipping off the nail polish – Avoid the habit of chipping off the nail polish you applied, because when you do so, you’re actually making your nails weak and brittle because what you are doing is actually to peel off the top most layer of your nails.

Using acrylics and gel immoderately – Going to the salon to get your nails done in gel or acrylic too often will impede the natural growth process of your nails. This is because by doing it too often, your nails are not given the chance and the time to grow in strength naturally. Getting gel or acrylic nails is fine once in a while, but not too often.

Now, let’s look at the ways of how to grow healthy nails naturally, after you have stop doing the four habits mentioned above. Getting the right nutrition and eating the right way always helps to boost your nail growth. Let’s look at the best vitamins and minerals to encourage nail growth.

Biotin, or vitamin H – Vitamin H or biotin is widely known to be able to help skin, nails and hair growth. Vitamin H can be found in natural foods, or supplements. It is recommended to consume around 35 to 45 micrograms of vitamin H daily for healthy nail growth. Examples of natural foods rich in vitamin H are avocados, bananas and salmons.

Folic acid, or vitamin B9 – Folic acid or vitamin B9 is an important mineral for cell growth in our body, and will help greatly in the growth of your nails. The recommended daily intake of folic acid is around 450 to 550 micrograms to maintain healthy growth of your nails. Folic acid of vitamin B9 can be found in natural food sources such as the leafy greens, beets, eggs and citrus fruits.

Vitamin A – Vitamin A is an important nutrient for keeping a healthy vision, bones, skin and other tissues in our body. Vitamin A is actually an antioxidant which fights and repair cell damage, so this is essential to a strong and healthy nail growth. Natural food sources can be found in various types – vegan and non vegan alike, such as liver, eggs, milk, orange and yellow vegetables and fruits, spinach, yam, apple and grapefruit.

Vitamin C – Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is one of the super nutrients which is needed in our body to develop, grow and repair all of our body tissues. It is a necessary ingredient in a lot of our body functions, such as forming collagen in our body, aids in absorption of iron in our body, enhance our body’s immune system, aids in healing our wounds, and to maintain the health of our bones, teeth, and cartilage. Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant, which aids in decelerating or halt the processes which can cause damage to the cells in our body. All this properties combined will definitely be beneficial for growing strong and healthy nails. Natural food sources of Vitamin C are oranges and other citrus fruits, tomatoes, green vegetables, blueberries and strawberries.