It’s that time of year for spring cleaning and outdoor gardening. While our hands and fingernails are an integral part of these chores, you don’t have to ruin your manicure.

Consider the following nail care tips and your nails will never show that you have been digging in the dirt or scrubbing that kitchen floor.

1. For spring cleaning and daily household chores that require you to get your hands wet, wear cotton-lined rubber gloves to protect your nails. Why? Our fingernails swell when they get wet and shrink as they dry, which causes our fingernails to have less strength. Cotton-lined rubber gloves will help absorb moisture while keeping your hands and nails dry.

2. While working in the garden, it is important, as with cleaning, to wear the right kind of gloves. When dealing with damp soil, chemicals, or liquid fertilizers, it is best to wear rubber gloves that are water resistant. For gardening projects such as digging or weeding, consider wearing thicker gloves made of cowhide.

3. Before putting on cleaning or gardening gloves, apply some lotion on your hands or apply cream on your cuticles to moisturize. Try hand creams that contain oils such as shea butter, eucalyptus, flower or jojoba.

4. To help prevent cracks in your nails, rub moisturizer that contains alphahydroxy acids or lanolin into nail tips. For another moisturizing agent, you can also massage vitamin E oil into your cuticles. Tip – keep a bottle of vitamin E oil next to your bathroom sink to remind yourself to apply it to your cuticles.

5. When filing or buffing your nails, always go in one direction. If you file or buff your nails back and forth, this will cause splitting.

6. To promote nail strength and flexibility, eat foods that contain folic acid such as whole grains, berries, kale, and citrus fruits.

7. It is also important to drink plenty of water. This is necessary for fingernail health because it keeps the body hydrated.

8. To avoid breaking nails, don’t use them as tools, such as digging or picking.

9. Use products containing alcohol sparingly. These products can make fingernails prone to breaking.

10. Do you file the corners of your nails? This may weaken the nails and cause them to break more easily.

Nail Polish Tips:

• To prepare your nails for polish, wipe them with nail polish remover. This will remove any grease from your nails and help your polish last longer.

• Be sure to let nail polish dry completely before applying another layer.

• Apply several thin coats of nail polish to your fingernails instead of one thick coat. This will allow the polish to dry faster and last longer.

• To avoid drying out your nails, try not to remove and reapply nail polish more than once or twice a week.

• Consider using a nail polish remover that contains moisturizers. This will help moisturize your nails while limiting the damage of the product.

• To keep your nail polish bottle from becoming glued shut, use a cotton ball and wipe the top of the bottle with nail polish remover after each use.

• The experts believe the best place to store your nail polish is in the refrigerator. If you store your nail polish in a warm place, it will change the consistency.

• If you don’t have time to polish your nails or choose not to wear polish, you can rub on a buffing cream and then shine them with a chamois buffer. This is a very pretty and natural look.

By following the above tips and making an effort to have healthy and beautiful nails, you will have better-looking hands. You might also want to consider getting a hand massage. This will help boost circulation, encourage nail growth, and best of all pamper you, your hands, and your fingernails!