So My Nails Aren’t Great..

[HCarlH]

Well, I've decided to take a chance with the formaldehyde and other additives and continue using Nailtiques Formula 2 Plus. I've never had my nails this problem free, long and strong. I don't smoke nor drink, so I figure my chance of cancer is not going to come from nail protecting polish.

I've also seen so many people with problems with gel/acrylic nails...that they damage the nail bed and make your natural nails worse. I'd rather keep using my own nails along with taking a Biotin supplement. YMMV.

[Fraz]

Another product that you may want to consider:
https://amzn.eu/d/ciyTlmp

No formaldehyde but other chemicals there that may perhaps worry you. I used to use it to protect my nails when climbing.

You can get away with short nails though. I grew up playing classical guitar and had VERY long nails, like witch nails. Now as a flamenco guitar player, I have quite short nails but they work absolutely fine for classical playing.



As for what I do for nail care.. every day I take a multi-vitamin. I also take extra vitamin D. I file my nails every day with this:
https://amzn.eu/d/1AvwRsU

[Carey]

Virginia Luque plays at a very high level without nails (great left hand, too!) :

https://rmclassicalguitar.com/interv...irginia-luque/


My own nails have been enough of an issue that I went to the no-nails approach, first cutting off my thumbnail about ten years ago, then the 'a' nail, then finally the last two about a year ago. I do still miss the precise contact point available with
nail/flesh on the index finger, but maybe more time will help.

[MigueldeMaria]

If your nails are hooked, you might try merely sanding out the hook. I do that for my index finger, and it helps a lot.

[blindboyjimi]

I’ve tried almost every nail strengthening product, vitamins, etc. My natural nails are very thin and hooked. I play 90% fingerpicking blues and 10% classical. Acrylics are the best but now I am using 5 coats of dipped powder gel at my salon. $5/nail x 3 nails so I just leave $20 and I get about 15-20 days from it. I use flesh for my thumb as I have a pretty good callous there from the steel strings. I keep them short and ramped so they work with classical or steel. I normally play my steel strings with a NeckUp on the right thigh and a GuitarLift on the left thigh for classical. This ramp and length work well for both.

[TBman]

I gave up trying to grow nails.

I bought the following:

Blue Chip JDL thumb pick

And

Fred Kelly picks:

Thumb Delrin Speed Pick
Delrin finger picks (soft plastic)
Freedom poly (clear & hard) finger picks

I wear the finger picks upside down so they don't catch on the strings.

[Dlew919]

What do you mean ‘upside down’?

[Djard]

Don't waste your time with hardeners that predispose you to risk of onycholysis. Silk wrap is messy and unreliable, and good luck playing tremelo with short or no nails. As a flamenco guitarist, I think I have tried every option for thin nails. Eventually, I found a great solution.

Get a UV hardening gel kit (base coat and top coat). I really like my salon grade Canvalite UV light ($16) that hardens the gel. So if I break a nail or the coat I applied pops off during performance, I can apply a new one and be ready to play again in less than 2 minutes. The technology is safe as I have been using it for years. The hardened gel can be filed to any shape, immediately after curing. The hardened gel coat stays on for up to three weeks. But a few things to remember:

~ Never look directly at the blue (UV) light.
~ Never cure a thick coat, or you will suffer a very painful burn. If you decide to cure a think coat--instead of working with, say, three thin coats--cure for 3 seconds, remove from the light, and then repeat, until able to leave the fingers under the light without feeling intolerable heat.

Since 2 or 3 coats creates an artificial nail, which begins to lift off after about 2 weeks, wear a rubber glove in the shower (rubber band around the wrist) to avoid water getting trapped under the nail and causing fungal infection. After washing my hands, I put a drop of alcohol on the edge of any coating that has started to lift. The ETOH dries any trapped moisture.

Despite need for these precautions, the solution is by far the best. I will be happy to share the method I use to apply the gel, without it running off the nail or requiring a lot of filing to the right thickness.

[Dragonbones]

Originally Posted by OPJ77

I am a beginner at classical guitar.

Sorry, a bit late joining the chat, but I want to third the opinion, like Bookstorecowboy says, on keeping your nails in good shape from the start (in health, length, shape and most importantly for CG, glassy smooth edges). Every habit, from sitting position to hand position and other techniques should be started right from the start.

Rather than hooked nails, I had the problem of chipping nails and later splitting nails.

Chipping: a problem from the start -- easily solved by 1) keeping them trimmed by gently filing every three days to get them marginally shorter than the first pics posted earlier (even half that length is very playable but mine are 3/4 to 4/5 that length. Even short nails are better than flesh only for CG); 2) keeping them at the same length all the time with a little touch-up care; 3) shaping them, for me naturally rounded but others prefer a certain slope; 4) buffing them well with a four-way buffer like these, $3 at StringsByMail; they last for years. Unlike a three-part buffer, the four-part has a sandpaper-like quarter that acts like a nail file. Eventually the roughest quarter wears smoother and then it works even better after the nail file and before the other three textures (so then you have five steps). The fine sandpaper grades mentioned earlier work well between step 2 and three (1 file/2 rough part of quad-grade/3 medium part/4 smoother part/5 polishing part), and I like 3M 405N paper A wt. open coat 500. Way smoother than 500-grit sandpaper, so don’t swap for the latter.

When done I check them by running my left thumbnail gently along them and they should be as smooth as glass. I also check my i-m-a once a day before playing, the same way. It takes three seconds. If I can detect even the faintest roughness or nick or unevenness, I back up a step to very, very light filing or to buffing starting with the coarser texture, all the way to the smooth one. It sounds like a pain but it becomes a pre-guitar-playing ritual habit over time and really helps. Doing it every three days means I can usually skip the nail file and just do the four steps with the four-part buffer. 4) proper nail attack angle. Not only with the flesh engaging first like AndreF says, but also coming across the strings at an angle so rather than catching on the strings with each stroke they glide from the left edge to the center (for right-handers), which produces a better tone too.

Fragile nails (splitting): started years later, out of the blue. I think it may have been stress-related, 1-1/2 years or so before my first cancer diagnosis. That one was solved by 1) temporarily, so as to be able to keep playing, nail hardener or matte polish in multiple laters, drying well between them, but only on the white tips as Aimelie stresses, and 2) longer term, natural oils on the cuticle (doesn’t hurt to do all ten fingers). I can’t say which worked best because I was desperate for a quick cure and rotated through them, applying a thin line on the cuticle but then rubbing the extra over the whole nail to get rid of the extra: Sally Hansen Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil; cuccio white limetta and aloe vera oil; Jāsön tea tree oil, alternating with Burt’s Bees lemon butter cuticle cream (which is creamy, waxy and in a little tin; I put it on the whole nail, weekly still). Cured it quickly, but lowering stress helped too. The problem recurred during chemo so I resumed the oils and it helped. I’d say get just vitamin E nail/cuticle oil if buying one, and also Burt’s Bees if buying two. No need for all the above. That plus a healthy diet, or vitamins if you can’t bring yourself to have a healthy diet. The Burt’s Bees cream/wax helps keep the whole nail from drying out. As AndreF and btbliatout note, that’s vital.

Originally Posted by Picking Dick

The trouble is my nails crack or break sometimes just when I’m fixin’ stuff around the house.

Same problem happened with me before. But because CG is so important to me, I started regularly 1) wearing rubber gloves to wash dishes (helps prevent damage from steel wool when scouring, and dryness from too much soap), 2) wearing leather work gloves (or cheap, coarse cotton work gloves, almost burlap-like but softer cotton) that they sell here in Taiwan for pennies, in packages of dozens or scores, when doing repairs, sanding wood, etc.; just get in the routine of using them, no biggie. 3) only using my left hand for zippers (this is actually quite important, especially for male CG players; zippers are fingernail DEATH).

[Djard]

I think all the advice shared in this thread is valuable, but if you have paper thin nails, or if they are concave shaped (spoon), then only the UV gel will solve the problem.

I too supplement my diet with Biotin, but no valid study has shown that the nutrient is better than placebo. A lot of guitarists have employed natural remedies for problematic nails, including topical garlic. Again, no external agent will correct a genetic anomaly.

Filing a nail round helps counter the concave shaping as filing the tip square exacerbates it. The clinical solution is nail evulsion, performed by a dermatologist. Ouch!

[Dragonbones]

There are not only genetic but also medical conditions that can affect nail shape, and vary (e.g. the causes of spoon-shaped nails that can hold a drop of water are different from those causing hook-tipped nails that simply curve downward at the white part, which from my online browsing, appears to have either genetic causes, or nutritional or medical problems). I assume the OP is talking about something like this ('hooked nails'): https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-pho...-image57499330 (I tried to embed the image but got broken links each time.)
If the fingertips are also swollen a bit, or slightly bluish, DO see a doctor. And if not, at least do some online reading from reliable medical sources (rather than product sellers) about hooked nails and possible medical conditions, just to be safe. See e.g. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/art...pes-of-curving for starters. And to everyone: don't skip those routine medical checkups. Catching things like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension early is vital (I'm speaking from unfortunate experience here).

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Dlew919

What do you mean ‘upside down’?

Instead of the open back of the finger pick on the palm side of my fingers, the open back of the finger pick is on the nail side of my fingers.

[Djard]

Very nice!

[FrankHS]

Originally Posted by Djard

...if you have paper thin nails, or if they are concave shaped (spoon), then only the UV gel will solve the problem...

I have a paper thin annulo fingernail and have used GPN-type plastic and CA glue for going on 12 years, no problems. Lasts 3-5 weeks per nail, just like (I hear) UV gels do. And cheaper.

[Norsepicker]

I have the same problem on and off. What works for me is flexibility, when I have enough nail on a finger I use it, when I don't I use flesh. It took awhile for that to not be disconcerting, but now it doesn't bother me. I find the Wolfram nail file very useful, and I try to stay on top of it. If you have thin nails the trick is to file them before they break. I also play clawhammer, and I alternate between steel strings, nylgut, and nylon which gives the nails a break.