How to Cut Nails? - A Lady's Guide

Hands are one of the most important parts of the body when it comes to beauty. Every woman wants to have perfect hands. But you will have to spend time for this. You need to take care of them in order to make them look good. Cutting nails is one of the most important procedures for keeping your hands in perfect shape. Here are the reasons for this:

• Doesn’t matter how pretty you are. If your nails are too long and have bad condition you can’t look attractive. But if they are well-cared you also look much more beautiful.
• That’s not only about beauty. If they are too long you may accidently damage yourself or someone else with fast movement of your hand. The injury can be quite serious because they can be quite sharp.
• The longer they are the more difficult it is to keep them healthy. Regular trimming removes excessive length allowing them to be strong. It also prevents them from accident breaks.

In this article I will explain how to cut your nails and will give you some tips you will definitely use.

How often?

One of the most frequently asked questions is about regularity. People ask how often they should trim their nails and toenails. The answer is: every human has individual speed of growth. We all have different metabolism and it affects this directly. Some people have to cut nails once a week while others can do it once every two weeks. Everything depends on you. Average value is about once every 5 - 7 days.

General rule here is: you should trim them when you feel they are too long. If you see that you are not comfortable with your current length – it’s time to take care.

There is one more rule: always cut them when they are damaged. This will prevent them from further delamination.

Preparation

All health care procedures start with clearing. You should visit bathroom and clean your hands with soap before you start. This will kill all the microbes and will make your hands ready. You may also soak fingers for several minutes in warm water to make nails softer. This will make further actions a little bit easier. Try this to find out if this procedure is good for you.

Dry your hands after this. It’s possible to continue with wet hands but it’s more difficult. When your hands are wet you have less control over your cut and you may get injury or make a wrong cut. This may be a disaster for some women.

Find a quiet place where nobody can push you. This is important especially when you use manicure scissors. They are very sharp and have sharp tips. So be attentive!

You should also respect other people and set up a place for the cuticle clippings and chunks of your nails. It's better to use a sheet of paper or a towel for this.

Tools to Use

Nowadays there are several great tools you can use for trimming purposes: Nail clippers and Scissors. Both tools are good but have differences:

• Nail clippers are very popular and are not expensive at all. Their advantage is that they can cut along a set concave edge. This is a guarantee that all your cuts will be the same and thus all your nails will have the same shape. But this is possible only if the clippers fit the size of your nail. If they are larger or smaller you may have problems. There is one more problem: cheap clippers are usually not sharp enough.
• Manicure scissors are very good alternative. Many people use them because they are sharp and they fit better. They provide more control and you can make the cut you want. But they require more dexterity than clippers, especially when you trim your fingernails on the right hand. On my opinion Manicure scissors is the best choice and I prefer to use them.

I know that some people sometimes try to trim using other sharp stuff like knives, razor blades and so on. Never try this!!! This may lead to serious injury! Use only special tools listed above!

There is one important thing you should know: every member of your family must have his own tools for hand-care. If you don’t have any – go and purchase them now. Never give your set to your friends or to someone else.

Also keep in mind that your tools must be clean. Always clear them before and after usage. You must have separate scissors or clipprts for fingernails and toenails.

Time to Start

I recommend to start with you left hand. Take scissors or clippers and start trimming the nails one by one. Men usually don’t have problems with this. They can cut almost all excessive length and everything will be ok. But ladies have to worry about the length. That’s why you shouldn’t rush.

Start with a finger that has the shortest nail. Cut it to the desired length and then go to the others. Try to make them even. If they are the same length they look much better. This is important for further manicure.

If you have a broken nail it will be the shortest one. But very often it will be too short because they usually break near the finger. In this case you have two options:

• To cut all the nails to this smallest size making them even. This is not the best decision, especially when you like to wear long manicure.
• Not to cut other nails seriously and wait until this smallest grows. This is much better on my opinion. It will grow pretty fast and you will not suffer a lot.

Don’t forget about the shape! If you like oval make oval cuts and so on. This will help you during the filing process.

Use small cuts. It’s easier to control the scissors when you make smaller cuts.

If you want to make the nails short try not to cut too much! If you cut too much you will expose the sensitive skin and it may be painful. The pain may last for several days when you touch this area.

Filling Nails

Filing is a very good procedure to give your nails desired shape and to remove jagged edges.  But there are several secrets you should know:

• Never file wet nails. Wait until they dry completely. If you try to file them when they are wet you may split them or even crack.
• If you have natural nails don’t use rough file. It will damage them and will make them split. It’s better to select softer tool.
• If you have too much length to remove it’s better to cut excessive length with scissors and then file a little. Remember that filing is not a very good procedure for nails` health and if you do it for too long it may lead to splitting.
• Don’t use coarse side of the file if it's not really necessary. As you know there are 2 sides: coarse and finer-grade. Use the smallest grade. Coarse side is too rough and may lead to splitting. Once again: excessive length must be removed with scissors! Filing is for final shaping and polishing!

Now let’s talk about the technique. Many people do it wrong moving the file back and forth in both directions. Never do this. You should move in one direction: from the side to the center. Then in other direction: from the other side to the center. This will help to avoid splitting. Use full length of the file and move fast. We have a detailed article about most common mistakes women do during this process: Nail Filing – You Are Doing It Wrong!!! Read it for more information.

That’s the end. Now you have prepared your nails for further actions: pushing back cuticles and applying polish. If you like this guide, don’t forget to share it with your friends. I`m sure they sometimes do their manicure wrong. This will also help our website to provide you with better content and updates! Thanks you ladies!