Once you’ve used our whole food vitamins to grow long and strong nails, there’s still a force that can make your nails look sub par.  Nothing distracts from a manicure like a hangnail. It’s a catch 22. Leave the hangnail on and be forced to look at a dangling piece of skin; remove the hangnail and risk creating a painful, often bloody, mess.  Wondering how to stop hangnails before they start or how to properly deal with them once they’re formed? This post is for you.

Moisturize. As with most situations related to hair, skin, and nails, moisture is your best friend. Our oil makes a great cuticle moisturizer, but you could also use Vitamin E oil. Get into the habit of nourishing your cuticles at least once a day. Try putting a moisturizer on right before bed so that it has all night to soak in.

Push back. It’s easy to forget to push back your cuticles when you’re DIYing your nails. Get orange wood sticks or a stainless steel cuticle pusher, and use them each time you do your nails.

Examine your habits. There are a lot of ways that we unintentionally add extra wear and tear to our cuticles. Take a couple of days to observe your habits. Do you bite or pick at your nails when you’re nervous or bored? Are you washing dishes or cleaning without gloves? Those activities can both cause and aggravate hangnails. Once you identify a bad habit, create a plan to break it.

Clean up. Ever paint your nails in a hurry and decide to clean up the excess nail polish later? That’s not the best course of action. Nail polish dries out your cuticles, so letting it sit there is creating the perfect storm for a hangnail to appear. Keep nail polish remover and q-tips nearby in order to remove extra nail polish in the moment. Give your cuticles an extra dose of moisture once your nails are fully dry.

Following these tips should drastically reduce the number of hangnails you experience, but accidents still happen. If you pick at a hangnail, respond by moisturizing it even more and, depending on the severity, sealing it with a bandage so that you’re not tempted to keep playing with it. The hangnail will heal. You’ll be reminded to prioritizing caring for your cuticles.

If you want to make the process of preventing hangnails even easier, treat yourself to regular manicures. What are your tips for keeping hangnails at bay? We want to hear them in the comments below.