Does This Strange TikTok Hack Actually Help Your Nails Grow?
We've bore witness to a lot of unorthodox life and beauty hacks thanks to social media. On TikTok, for instance, it's virtually impossible to scroll without stumbling across a hack video. The concept of life hacks is so popular on the short form video platform that the hashtag #LifeHack has garnered nearly 60 billion views. Whether it's for cooking or fashion, there's always something new to learn.
However, a new hack has picked up traction, and it involves using toothpaste to help grow your nails. As farfetched as it may seem, the latest TikTok trend consists of rubbing your minty toothpaste onto your fingernails to speed up the nail process.
Despite sounding too wild to be true, toothpaste has been used in other ways on the nails, too. One previous hack calls for using toothpaste to help whiten your nails, per Southern Living. Scrubbing your nails with a bit of toothpaste can help remove some dirt that's been trapped underneath, for instance. Still, how could toothpaste help our nails grow faster, and is it a scientifically proven method?
Can toothpaste help your nails grow?
According to Byrdie, the idea that toothpaste can help grow your nails quicker is simply not true. As of now, no evidence can demonstrate there is any type of correlation between nail growth and everyone's favorite minty morning tradition. No study has been conducted because toothpaste has no properties that could perform such a task. Furthermore, nail growth is generally very complex, and this TikTok trend hasn't produced any solid evidence that it can actually help your nails grow. The idea of toothpaste helping anything grow is simply too good to be true.
As reported by Get Long Nails, toothpaste is meant to remove stains from the teeth. Since toothpaste contains only cleaning ingredients, no ingredients can help nail growth. What's more, any time toothpaste is left for a long period on the nail can result in drying out the cuticles. Drying out your cuticles could result in weakened, broken, and slow-growing nails. Although toothpaste can help whiten the nail, it's still not the number one recommended item for doing so.
What you can do to help your nails grow?
Although there is no proven method of growing your nails quicker, there are ways that you can help strengthen them for their natural growth.
According to Medical News Today, supplements such as biotin and calcium could help strengthen the nail to prevent them from breaking or getting damaged. Since the nail growth process is relatively unknown, most experts recommend focusing on keeping the nails healthy as this will benefit them over time. Furthermore, it's known that those with iron deficiencies can also suffer from brittle and weak nails, which can affect the rate at which they grow.
Besides keeping a healthy diet, you want to provide your nails with adequate care. This includes moisturizing your nails, keeping them clean and groomed, and avoiding using harsh chemical agents for a long time with your hands. Because cleaning products contain these harsh chemicals, which could also pose health risks, it's recommended to use gloves while cleaning. This prevents the cuticle and nail matrix, which is the part responsible for your nail health, from overdrying and affecting the nail. You also want to limit the use of acetone nail polish remover, since this can also overdry and weaken the nail (via Healthline).