3 REASONS SHORT NAILS PEEL MORE: Short nails often struggle more with peeling than longer nails. Over the last decade working with thousands of people struggling to grow their nails longer, I have learned the top 3 reasons why short nails peel more than longer nails:

1. Tip Wear. The free edge of shorter nails takes a lot more abuse. They get rubbed and beaten more. We scratch places that itch, oftentimes through fabric. We grab, dig, push, pry, poke, and so much more. This abuse can cause the layers at your tips to splay out and start to peel.

2. Water Damage. Nails can absorb 1/3rd of their weight in water very quickly. The water molecules push the layers apart and over time this leads to peeling and brittle nails.

3. Stress Fractures. Short nail tips keep bumping into EVERYTHING. Your tips are continually getting bent and you probably don’t even notice.

“Oils are absorbed into the nail plate to keep it flexible, but much slower than water. Since nail oils are absorbed more slowly into the nail plate, it is also more difficult for oils to escape. Therefore, oils stay in the plate for a very long time and can exert a dramatic long-term influence on the durability of the natural nail plate.”

~Doug Schoon, Nail Structure and Product Chemistry