Cuticle: removal methods and care features

Even the most beautifully shaped nails will look unkempt without proper cuticle care. This modest skin roll has an important function and certainly requires attention, including aesthetics.

The cuticle on the nails is a leathery seal at the bottom of the nail plate, also called a leathery roller. Partially it goes under the skin, so the eye only sees its dried edge. In the medical lexicon, it is called pterygium, and the rest of the cuticle is called eponychium. The cuticle is generally responsible for protection. Without a leathery roller, bacteria would easily penetrate under the nail, disrupting its natural development. The cuticle protects the nail bed and its matrix, that is, the root part, from both moisture and air. If the root was damaged, then the nail itself began to break, exfoliate and develop worse.

The easiest way to remove cuticles is to use an orange stick. This wooden structure has a length ranging from 9 to 18 centimeters and a width of 3 to 5 millimeters. One tip is at an angle, and the other is well pointed. One package contains several pieces of sticks, which makes the purchase convenient and economical.According to the rules, the orange stick is a disposable product that must be changed after each manicure.

The wooden pusher must be kept in a dry and clean space. By the way, its additional advantage is the ability to use it to clean dirt from under the nail plate. Recently, europum has been considered a worthy alternative to the orange stick. This tool is a soft file that does not injure the nail, which also has a polishing function. Depending on the color of the device, you can determine how strong the impact will be. Gray pumice is the most delicate, pink is a little stronger, and yellow is the hardest.

In the salon, a special machine is most often used to remove cuticles., the nozzle of which gently, without traumatizing, cleans each nail. The device is powered by an electrical network. It takes less than one minute to process each finger. There is still such a not very popular tool as a cuticle knife. It looks like a two-pronged fork, which is extremely inconvenient to use without preparation, so it is better to leave its use to professionals.

The easiest way to prepare the cuticle for further processing is to first hold your fingers in the hand bath. Warm water is simply poured into a convenient container, into which you can pour sea salt (but this is optional). The procedure lasts from 15 to 20 minutes, after which the fingers must be thoroughly dried with a towel and immediately proceed with the removal process.

There are several ways to treat the cuticle. At home, experts recommend doing without circumcision, but simply pushing away the excess leathery part with an orange stick. In the salon with a trusted master, you can try a more intense effect.

The point of a trim manicure is that excess skin is simply trimmed off. It is not recommended to do this on your own, so it is better to contact a professional at the salon. If a person is sick with diabetes, then this type of treatment is strictly forbidden to him. Cuticle trimming is carried out using standard tools: nail scissors and tweezers. Beforehand, the cuticle is necessarily softened.

With a pusher or an orange stick, excess skin is pushed to the base of the nail, after which they are cut, moving from the sides to the central part of the nail. Everything must be done carefully, without tension, simply cutting off the already dead process. The procedure ends with disinfection of wounds with hydrogen peroxide and nourishing the skin with a fat cream.

In addition, such a procedure is not absolutely safe - any careless movement leads to wounds. In some cases, there is even a possibility of matrix contamination. Having decided to carry out a trim manicure, it is important to steam the cuticle well, and at the end of the procedure, treat it with an antiseptic and a special restorative ointment.

A time-consuming unedged manicure is performed using a special stick and a cuticle remover called a remover. The pusher stick can be made of plastic, silicone, or disposable from an orange tree. The remover, as a rule, contains various acids, from lactic to fruit, with the help of which already dead cells are broken down. The procedure begins with a basic preparatory stage, after which three nails are covered with a remover.You should start with only three fingers, so that it does not turn out that the agent has been on the epithelium for too long.

According to the instructions, the operating time of the remover is counted down, after which the excess is carefully removed using a cosmetic disc. With a pusher, the cuticle is pushed back to the very base of the marigold, and the dried pieces are removed with cotton wool.

A kind of unedged manicure can be called a hardware procedure, which is carried out using a special machine. Working like a sanding file, this device gently removes dead cuticles without affecting the living and healthy. This procedure is recommended only in the salon.

In the case when a person's cuticle grows very slowly and looks imperceptible, you can do nothing special with it - just move it to the base. In this case, having prepared the marigolds, it is necessary to apply regular oil or gel to them, then move the pterygium and generously smear the hands with cream.

Before tackling the cuticle, you need to perform a few simple steps. First, the nail plate must be freed from varnish or shellac. This is done using a nail polish remover or napkins intended for this purpose. Followed by one of the above methods, the excess cuticle is removed. In the end, the nail must receive nutrition - it is coated with oil, cream or wax.

The cream can completely cover your hands, increasing the effect in the cuticle area. Experts also recommend peeling the pens from time to time or scrubbing them with a substance that affects the nail plates.

There are a large number of cuticle care products. They all pursue one goal, but produce different effects. The oil can be special cosmetic or ordinary pharmacy. Experts recommend paying attention to the presence of avocado, jojoba and a derivative of grape seeds in the composition, which penetrate deeply into the cuticle, moisturizing and nourishing it. In the case when, in addition to caring for pterygium, the goal is to strengthen the nails themselves, it is worth purchasing citrus oils, for example, lemon.

Almond, castor oil, shea and coconut oils, as well as a mixture of vitamins A and E, can enhance the development of the cuticle. The wax is used for polishing and sealing. It is also used to heal burrs, give pterygium elasticity, and make the nail plates themselves more presentable. Most often, wax is combined with a special file.

Currently, there are enough products on the market to prevent the cuticle from getting dirty during a manicure. For example, it makes sense to purchase a special protective elixir that looks the same as a regular varnish, but is applied not to the nail plate itself, but to the cuticle. It is sometimes also called liquid tape. Such a coating dries up with a silicone film, which is simply removed at the end of the manicure, having performed the required function.

There are also drugs that can either slow down or stop the growth of the cuticle. These include nail oils as well as double action removers.For example, Avon cuticle care product has a similar effect.

To split the skin roll to such a state that it will be enough to remove it with a cotton pad or orange stick, you can use a remover, which is a special agent - a keratolytic that does not somehow affect the living part of the pterygium, but destroys the already dead one. This remover contains either fruit acids or a combination of ammonia and carbon dioxide. In addition to softening, this remedy is responsible for moisturizing and healing, but after the procedure, it is still recommended to use additional solutions. The keratolytic can be sold as a liquid, oil, balm, or gel. OPI and Librederm Corrector are popular in this segment. KVplus Kutikler has also proven itself.

Carrying out the procedure for caring for the cuticle at home, you can use improvised (that is, folk) remedies. For example, to soften not too rough skin, instead of a professional remover, it will be enough to use a warm bath with salts and various essential oils. In addition, it is allowed to disinfect the nail space with chlorhexidine or peroxide, which are sure to be found in the home medicine cabinet.

If we are talking about protecting the cuticle from varnish, then from folk remedies, the use of fatty cream, petroleum jelly or even PVA glue deserves attention. When one of these products is applied only to the skin roller, a texture is created that the varnish cannot be painted over.

Some girls are faced with such an unpleasant situation when the cuticle is furry, that is, it is covered with burrs. The reasons for this are most often the following:

• lack of vitamins in the human body;
• low consumption of clean water;
• insufficient external care.

In this case, the cuticle becomes dry and grows back quickly. In addition, burrs can be the result of an incorrectly performed edging manicure. The injured pterygium tries to regenerate and therefore begins to grow rapidly. The skin is also curling due to the fact that the skin of a person's hands is initially dry, and the cuticle is too dense and coarse.

All cases can be adjusted by changing both the care system and the nutrition. Sometimes, you may even have to change your lifestyle. It happens that the cuticle hurts due to inflammation. There are many prerequisites for this situation: it can be improper care, and microtraumas, and various diseases, and the use of overly concentrated chemicals in everyday life or poor quality varnishes. In this case, treatment by a specialist is likely to be required.

When the cuticle itches after a manicure, it can signal an allergic reaction to the material used. In such a situation, it is again recommended to consult a doctor in order to avoid more serious consequences. Fungus is another likely cause of itching. To solve the problem, you should purchase special antifungal agents at the pharmacy, but first consult your doctor. Finally, often pterygium even grows to the nail due to improper care. In this case, it will be necessary to introduce regular oil treatment to prevent such troubles.

The resulting abscess can be cured on its own if you spend several salt baths, promptly treat the damage with peroxide, and also use ichthyol ointment. Bleeding that occurs during a manicure is stopped with a cotton swab soaked in hydrogen peroxide. A large wound will need to be treated with medical glue.

For information on how to remove cuticles, see the next video.