Great cuticles take a lot of work. This isn’t a once a week treatment, instead you need to take care of your cuticles multiple times a day to keep them hydrated and looking perfect. There are a lot of cuticle products out there, but which ones are great and how often should you use them? How do you get perfect cuticles at home?
I thought I would share my favorite cuticle products and tips on how to use them to get perfect cuticles at home. The real secret is to keep up with using the products. Travel seems to always make my cuticles especially dry, I can get on to a plane with perfectly manicured nails and get off a few hours later with dried out cuticles with hanging skin everywhere. I have an answer for that too.
The Best Cuticle Removers
My best tip for great cuticles is the regular use of a cuticle remover. I usually use a remover about once a week, though when the weather gets cold and dry, I will increase my use to every 5 days or so. I usually use cuticle removers around the entire nail plate, since they’ll help prevent hang nails and remove dry skin.
1. Sally Hansen Nail Treatment Instant Cuticle Remover: Sally Hansen in “the blue bottle” is the one I usually recommend. It works super fast (under a minute) and never irritates my skin by over doing things.
2. Deborah Lippmann Cuticle Remover: This cuticle remover contains Lanolin to add a little extra moisture.
The Best Hydroxy Acid Cuticle Creams
Think of these creams as a combination of a cuticle remover and a moisturizer. As you moisturize, the alpha hydroxy acids help to exfoliate the cuticle area, improving cell turn over and preventing hang nails. I’ve found that they’re not a substitute for cuticle remover, but they definitely keep my cuticles looking better and they are essential in the winter.
3. Sally Hansen Treatment Cuticle Rehab: I started using this cream after Michelle from All Lacquered Up raved about it, and she’s right! It is very hydrating and doesn’t irritate my skin at all.
4. CND Cuticle Eraser: This cream is a little heavier duty, I tend to use it more in the winter than the Sally Hansen option.
Cuticle Tools
I don’t use actual scissors or nippers on my cuticles, it’s best to not cut the cuticles since that increases your risk of infection. However, I do remove my hang nails when they pop up and are painful. Be sure to only remove the dead skin, don’t go into the live skin!
5. Sally Hansen Push-N-Trim-Cuticle Trimmer
6. Sally Hansen Cuticle Trimmer
My Favorite Cuticle Moisturizers
The real key to great cuticles is moisture. Frequent and intense hydration is really what you need, and under dry conditions (in the winter, when I’m washing my hands a lot, especially when I’m on an airplane). I apply lotion to my hands multiple times a day, and I always make sure to concentrate some of the lotion onto my cuticles. I usually only use cuticle specific products at night, unless I’m having issues (and then I’ll use them 2 or 3 times a day). It is really up to you whether you use a cream, balm or oil. However, I do recommend having different options so that you can layer your cuticle treatments for extra hydration when you’re particularly dry. I love to use an oil and then a thick cream like the Orly Cuticle Therapy Cream.
9. L’Occitane Shea Nail And Cuticle Oil
10. Orly Cuticle Therapy Creme
I’m a doctor, a mommy and a bit of a beauty addict. If you let me, I can take 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Really. I'm on a quest for faster beauty that works!
You might consider trying Dior Creme Abricot. It’s a nighttime cuticle treatment (not for day as it’s pretty heavy and sticky) and it’s incredibly effective for keeping cuticles soft and healthy and also supports nail growth and strength. It’s quite expensive but a little pot lasts a long time. I’ve tried many other products and always gone back to this one – nothing else works half as well on my dry, raggedy cuticles and flimsy nails. It’s also great for cracked fingertips and knuckles.
I do really like that one a lot, but it’s such a splurge I didn’t include it here on my list.
My nails are super weak- they often get a wave in them if I let them get too long— any suggestions on nail strengtheners??? Thank you!
I’d start taking biotin!
I like Sally Hansen. I have been using this tool for a long time. Recently I bought a Korean remedy, I used it only once. And I cannot say anything about prolonged use yet.
Nice-looking cuticles have always been the most difficult thing for me to achieve. The more birthdays I have, the more stubborn my cuticles are to treatment. I’m looking forward to using these products regularly and hoping for the best results everQ