Vertical nail ridges have generally been associated with growing older, but in recent years, it’s much more common for people of all ages to have this condition.
The Polisher can be of help smoothing out light to medium ridges, but there are a few key things to keep in mind if this is your goal.
How the Polisher works— Your nail has 2 distinctly different layers of keratin. A hard ‘coating’ a few cell layers deep, and a softer set of cells underneath. The Polisher removes the superficial top layer to create the shine. To properly care for your nail, wait until that layer re-grows to start shining again. Depending on how fast your growth is, it can be as little as a week or up to 3 weeks for your nail to grow back to dull.
Polish the top of the ridge— If your nails are ridged, you’ll only be able to polish the hard layer of keratin at the top of the ridge. Don’t proceed any further on your first session. (We know it can be hard to have patience in this matter!) You can see an example of what this looks like in the photo below.
Take it slow— If you have very light ridging, you may be able to smooth in one session, but most likely it will take a series of regrowth cycles to reach smoothness. For very deep ridging, this can take a few months of once-weekly polishing. To prevent thinning, always polish gently and let your nail grow back completely to its dull state before starting again.
Address the root causes— From our experience and research, we’ve found a few groups of health concerns that are associated with nail ridges. One is nutrient deficiency which affects metabolic turnover, and the other is hormone imbalance, most likely in the form of hypothyroidism. Your nails are keen indicators of overall health, so it’s important to listen to their signals, and support your body’s ability to rebalance.
If you're uncertain about your condition, please email us at care@barehands.us
