Road to Recovery

Winter is hard on my nails, and up here on the mountain where I live, winter lasts a long time (as I type this, I can glance out the window and still see snow that hasn't melted, several feet of it in some spots). I'm always looking for the next great treatment that works with my body chemistry, hoping to someday find something as good for me as the 80s version of Orly Nail Defense was.

For a couple/few months, I used two Sally Hansen products together: Nail Nutrition Green Tea + Bamboo Nail Strengthener and Nail Rehab Strength Treatment.

The Nail Nutrition box says it "bonds weak nail layers", so I used that as my base coat, right on those layers that want to peel.



The Nail Rehab claims that it "instantly hides imperfections", so that went on top, usually two or three coats. Below is the the first time I used it; it did make my nails look better, and the tint blended well with my skintone. It also self leveled nicely, at least over the base of Nail Nutrition.



Much as I liked how my nails looked when I applied the two strengtheners, they didn't seem to make my nails stronger. After six weeks of pretty consistent use, I still had pretty much the same level of peelies:



When I didn't want to obsess about the state of my nails, I resorted to fakes as I have in the past, like these MOB silvery blue textured ones.



Or I'd use strips, like these Sally Hansen Bling It On ones (someday I will run out of my hoard of Salon Effects strips, or maybe they'll degrade so far I can't use them anymore, but that seems like it's a long ways off).



I decided I'd given the Sally Hansens enough time, so lately I've been trying Essie TLC. I picked up a bottle of Treat Me Bright on clearance (not sure why it was there half off, as the store still carries the TLC line). Treat Me Bright is a milky white with very subtle shimmer. I did three coats of it by itself; it didn't self level as well as I'd hoped but it was less noticeable in person than in these closeup photos.





So far my nails feel stronger with the Essie, or at least they did until I helped some friends with their spring cleaning (I wore rubber gloves but worked up such a sweat that I might as well put my hands in the wash water). I'm going to keep using it for a while yet and see how it goes. Of course with the end of winter they'd likely get better regardless. It's so hard to know sometimes. I wish there were some decoder ring to tell me what will work with my body chemistry.