If you have your hands in water to wash dishes or clean sinks, you may find that you develop hangnails around your cuticles. They stick out and get hard and catch on clothing as they dry out. When that happens, you may find you catch them and rip them off.
Finding a way to heal the hangnails once they've formed becomes a must, but finding a way to prevent them is even more important. Check out 6 things you should be doing to prevent hangnails.
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1. Vitamin E oil. Vitamin E oil is highly nourishing to the skin and moisturizing. fab How? says to rub vitamin E oil into your cuticle. The extra moisturizer will help prevent the hangnails before they start.
2. Cuticle oil. In order keep from having hangnails, COSMOPOLITAN says to apply cuticle oil regularly at night to help ward off damaged cuticles.
3. Warm water soak. If you have a hangnail, howstuffworks says to soak your fingers in warm water and pat them dry. This will soften the hangnail so you can trim it without ripping it.
4. Trim them. Whatever you do, COSMOPOLITAN says to never rip a hangnail. Simply trim the hangnail at the base of it. The best time to trim the hangnail is to do it after the cuticle has been softened.
5. Vaseline. If you can't trim the hangnail, the Huffington Post recommends applying Vaseline or Bacitracin to the hangnail and then cover it with a band-aid.
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6. Aloe vera gel. Aloe vera gel is extremely moisturizing and excellent for healing skin problems. fab How? says to apply the gel to your cuticle to help heal hangnails and prevent new ones.
By taking care of your cuticle, you can prevent hangnails before they ever form.