Nail growth oil: what an oil can and cannot do for growth, and why longer nails mostly means fewer breaks

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Researched. We have not used this one long enough to give you a verdict, and we would rather say so than invent one. What follows is how it works, who it suits, and what it will not do. When we have used it properly, this page carries the verdict and the date.

Modelones Nail Strengthener and Growth Oil

Every bottle of nail oil seems to promise growth. It is worth being clear about what that can honestly mean, because the honest version is still a good reason to buy one.

Where nails grow

New nail is made in the matrix, under the skin behind the cuticle. By the time nail is visible it is dead keratin, pushed forward at roughly three millimetres a month. Nothing painted on the surface reaches the matrix, so no oil, serum or polish changes that rate.

What growth oil actually changes

Length is not only about growth. It is growth minus breakage. Most people who think their nails do not grow have nails that grow perfectly well and then split, peel or snap at the tip before they get anywhere.

That is where an oil earns its keep. Oil slows the water leaving the nail and keeps it flexible, and a flexible nail bends where a dry one would crack. It also keeps the cuticle soft, so it does not tear and leave ragged skin around the nail. Keep more of what grows, and nails get longer. We go into how oils get into the nail in cuticle oil, and why the carrier decides whether anything gets in.

What to look for on the label

Modelones lists its strengthening products as made with plant oils such as jojoba and evening primrose. Jojoba is a good sign: it is a liquid wax rather than a true oil, close to the skin's own sebum, and it soaks in rather than sitting on top. Check the ingredient panel of the version you buy, as Modelones sells several nail treatments with similar names.

How to use it

Every day, on the nail and the cuticle, rubbed in for a few seconds. Bedtime is best because it stays on for hours. A single drop per nail is plenty. Give it four to six weeks before judging, which is how long it takes for the tip of the nail to be nail that grew under the new routine.

Who it suits

Anyone whose nails split or peel before they get long, anyone with dry or ragged cuticles, and anyone who uses polish remover often. It is a good partner to a hardening coat, which can make nails brittle on its own.

What it will not do

It will not make nails grow faster than your body makes them. It will not mend a split; that grows out. And it will not do much if you only remember it twice a week. Little and often is the whole method.

A nail and cuticle oil for keeping nails flexible and cuticles soft, so more of the length you grow survives.

The product

The one people are searching for is the Modelones Nail Strengthener and Growth Oil.

Modelones Nail Strengthener and Growth Oil

We do not print prices here, because a price we typed last month is a price that is wrong today.

Written by CatieH, who covers nails and hair here.