Has anybody else noticed this?  I tore a nail about three weeks ago, and have been nursing it as it grows.  This morning it was looking good, back to normal.  Then I caught it and it tore again in another spot.  I swear I get it when a girl would cry when breaking a nail, you put in all that work, are careful and it still happens.  Anyway, is there something to take or a special polish that makes nails strong?  I really need it apparently.

Oh, and as the title says, my nails were strong before hrt.

Bari Jo

Hi Bari Jo 🙋‍♀️ I nearly broke a nail. It only bent back. They were wet.  I thought it was because I'm letting my nails grow longer.  My wife and I are getting manis and pedis tomorrow.  I'll ask about the polish.

Hugs, Jessica 💁‍♀️

Cant agree more, they take ages to heal, but strengthen with base coat, 2 colour coats and top coat as for me it helps a lot to the nail strength (Gel is something more properly applied but I cant as I'm not Full time, and was only once for me). Some nails seem weaker than others as well for me - Index ring and 2nd- and I am forever having to file them down/ smooth them out due to catching them on stuff, only minor though.
Just keep them painted and trimmed nicely and you should be OK unless you start wielding spanners, saws, hammers and axes etc... lol
Katie J

Hugz

I always clean off with Cutex Strengthening nail varnish remover rather than the other types as it seems to build them up a bit more.
Hugz Again
Katie Again (Katie J)

HRT has ruined mine, they break and 'delaminate' very easily, especially in dry/winter weather; I have to keep them very short as a result. They were thicker and stronger pre-hrt.

Make sure you've got a good diet,  including biotin supplements, and that you get enough vitamin A.

You can buy nail strengthening treatments (not tried these). I did get as far as using topcoat and a teabag section to reinforce one nail (like fibreglassing) when it got really bad!

X.

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Quote from: Katie Again on January 02, 2018, 05:20:32 PM
Just keep them painted and trimmed nicely and you should be OK unless you start wielding spanners, saws, hammers and axes etc... lol
Katie J

Lol, I feel like you know me with that comment:)  I'm catching them on just door handles or clothes, not my tools!

I'll try the base, two coats and a top coat.  Would this just be four coats of clear of I wear clear?

Bari Jo

An old crossdressing journal recommended something called Mane And Tail Hoofmaker. which was developed for horses' hooves like the name suggests, but was found to strengthen fingernails too, so I dutifully bought a tube at my local farm and feed store.  Seems to help - when I started with HRT my nails really fell apart.  I don't doubt there are similar products out there, too. 

I tried the bit of teabag repair once, kind of a mess.  Wound up just chopping the thing off and waiting for it to catch up.

Incidentally I bought a bunch of empty small plastic squeeze tubes on Amazon, and fill these with moisturizers and put them in the bag I carry to work, so I can apply on the way there.  It's really handy to have this stuff on hand in multiple locations.

Well funny I am not sure mine was related to hrt or is but, mine do break a lot but, I work at home depot. Home Depot is not exactly easy on nails in the least maybe if I was a cashier but, I am not. Mine never had the opportunity to break before. I didn't have much confidence before and had a nervous tick before starting transition and it was that I chewed my nails badly. I had done this since I was about 7 and nothing my mom could do to stop it. So fast forward to now I grow them out and don't gnaw them off. So I couldn't tell you if mine were week or strong before but, my mom has similar issues with her's as well. So partly diet, part genetics and could be HRT. I know they suggest that transgenders take vitamins with extra calcium. Which is what I do and seems to help strengthen them. I can get them out pretty long but, knocking them on shelves and boxes doesn't help!

You might want to try a gel manicure. I got nail tips and gel a while back. I had them filled in every two weeks and the girl filed them each time. The tips all grew out and I have natural nails covered with gel. The gel is really strong. My nails are very long but the gel keeps them from breaking. If you're not ready for nail tips you could just get a plain gel manicure. The gel looks like clear nail polish and it makes your nails really strong.

as someone who plays guitar, yes, I've definitely had nail issues since starting hrt! I hold my guitar pick with my right thumb and index finger but with the way I hold it my index finger hits the strings a lot and I think there's going to be a permanent chip out of that nail 

Hi, Bari Jo

Happy new year!

It may depend on other factors as well—I think that if anything my nails have become stronger. They used to tear and delaminate all the time but now seem to do fairly well even with no protection except when it's cold and dry.

l agree with Julia about gel polish. It makes my nails feel very safe so I like to use it at least in the winter. The nails themselves don't become indestructible, though—it's the gel that's strong—so doing a fill in frequently enough to ensure the edges don't lift is pretty important.

Since starting Biotin supplements for my hair, my nails are ridiculously strong. I can barely cut them with a clipper.

Ellie, ordered biotin.  I'm hoping that helps me too.

Julia/Zirconia, do you have recommendations for product?  I did some searches and got confused.  Do I need a uv light with gel polish?  How do you apply?  Fill in?  Not sure what that means.  I'm new to doing my nails but I love to do them.

Bari Jo

Bari Jo,

  We can cry together. My nails used to be nice, strong and grew like a bad weeds. Now I have women's nails. Seems like every time I look at them the is another chip, split, or break to file down. and there is delaminating as Megan noted. I had nice longer nails and now can't get them to grow long enough to bother painting them. Haven't had color on them in months. 

Nails under HRT is akin to skin on hrt, they are much dryer. So increase water, take biotin. The dramatic change caused by hrt in mtf really affects our skin and nails.

Using nail polish, especially gels will dry up the nails even more. Plus removal of polish and especially gel types which require agressive polish remover.

Finally, all women go thu periods of 1 month without nail polish to allow the nail to recover and get healthy. If you need nail polish for an event then take it off when the event is over. Nail polish is NEVER good for healthy nails.

Hi Bari Jo

Yes, I think Julia and I both mean ultraviolet curing gels. I like e.g. Bio Sculpture and Akzéntz. They can be soaked off with remover when necessary. Some other products I've used are so hard that they really must be ground off—which can be scary until you know how to do it.

Filling in is what you do to maintain the gel cover as the nail grows and the new part near the root is exposed. Put very simply,  you start by grinding the old gel to get nice blend and good bond, and thoroughly removing any traces of eponychium (cuticle) and oil from the new part. Then you dehydrate the surface and apply new gel to cover the new nail and the old layer of gel.

Slight lifting (separation of the gel from the nail plate) can also be fixed when filling in by grinding off the loose edge of the gel. (If you get lifting, don't try to just peel any part off because that will likely damage the nail plate.) Major lifting usually warrants a soak off and reapplication.

In any case, the preparatory work is the most important—it determines how long the nails will stay pretty and strong—so if you want to really become proficient observing a good nailist at a salon (or even taking a course) may be a good idea. The fancy effects you can experiment with any time after you've mastered the basics.

Warlockmaker,

I very much agree with you in regard to polishes and dry nails and the need for resting them. That said, I also suspect that it may actually be frequent exposure to solvents from the removers and the polish itself that is the real culprit. Using just gel I was surprised to find my nails in much better condition after about six months of use than before I started—possibly because I didn't need to remove it completely even once and never tried to pry it off. (Although oiling the cuticles regularly probably helped as well.)

Yes I did mean UV gel. I reccomend having it done at a nail salon. Trying to do it yourself is difficult. I don't do my own nails. Doing nails is a separate skill set from cutting hair and I don't really know much about nail tips, gel, etc.

Yup... they're gonna break. They do make pills to help with that. Gelatin seems to be the hot ticket.

I think I'm going to have to look into a supplement,  gelatin and/or biotin, as you can add mine to the list of HRT broken nails.




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Quote from: warlockmaker on January 02, 2018, 09:36:31 PM
Nails under HRT is akin to skin on hrt, they are much dryer. So increase water, take biotin. The dramatic change caused by hrt in mtf really affects our skin and nails.

Estrogen actually increases skin moisture and water content in skin.

Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2009 Jan;64(1):58-72.

"The age-associated decline in estrogen is accompanied by drier skin as the water-holding capacity is reduced (20)."

"Improvements in water retention are a result of an increase in acid mucopolysaccharides and hyaluronic acid in the dermis (29)."

"Estrogen replacement therapy has been demonstrated to improve skin hydration (4), and decrease the risk of postmenopausal dry skin (20). Elevated endogenous estrogen levels during pregnancy also improve the hydroscopic properties of the dermis (4)."

"most subjects exhibited the driest skin during the menstrual flow, when circulating estrogen levels are at their lowest (2)."

However, it appears estrogen reduces skin sebum (oil) production and by doing so, *may* weaken nails. Some women report increased nail strength with the addition of progesterone as it tends to oppose estrogen and increase sebum production. The same would, in theory, be valid, if one let their T slightly rise or add a little T.

I remember my nails getting stronger when my estrogen dosage increased, years ago. That actually surprised me! These days, I get my nails done at the salon and a bio-Gel is applied onto the nails, before applying nail polish. No issues, ever. My "fake" nails are as strong as rock but underneath, probably very brittle...oh well! They look great, don't really care about the rest.