What can be done to help get rid of these or better yet, prevent them? Mine flair up from time to time to the point of leaving big gaping cuts above my fingernails.
Hang nails
- Thread starter Mr. O
- Start date
My cuticles get really dry and crack in the winter. What works for me is Bag Balm, which you can get Wal-Mart, Meijer, etc. It's usually located in the section with foot creams and shoe insoles. It's kind of greasy, so you may want to put it on before bed, or put on some cheap gloves. It was originally made for chapped cow utters, but they sell it in almost every pharmacy and major discount store now.
http://www.bagbalm.com/
http://www.bagbalm.com/
I have heard jojoba oil. I don't know for sure though...have not tried it for that.
I get them from time to time, but I usually trim them off with my pocketknife.
I think dryness of the hands contribute to hang nails. Any good skin cream, your choice, should keep them at bay. I just clip mine off with a pair of nail clippers. 
I can't say this works for anyone else, but here's my deal. If I don't stay on top of my cuticles, they grow out and eventually flake and peel back, which leads to the type of "cuts" you refer to. Staying on top of them means simply keeping them pushed back with a cuticle pusher daily, usually following a shower, when they're damp and pliable. It doesn't sound like much - and it isn't - but if you're already in a hurry, it's just one more annoying thing to have to do, and it's easily the thing that takes the least precedence, at least for me. Once I've let them go long enough to get to the point where they're as bad as you describe, pushing them back isn't enough. I basically have to give myself what amounts to a manicure. That involves softening them with a cuticle remover solution, pushing them back, then trimming the excess with nippers. This leads to a "recovery" period where the cuticles start to flake a bit, but after about a week, they are in great shape. If I continue to push them back daily, then use a cuticle remover once a week or so, they stay in great shape with little effort. Using some lotion or cuticle oil helps, but the issue for me isn't one of dryness - it's of managing the growth.
Burt's Bees cuticle cream -- their best selling product & an excellent preventive.
The best thing I've found to clip off existing hang nails is a fingernail clipper! It snips them off just right for me so they don't keep going any deeper.
I think if you keep your nails always very short it will help. I heard also moisturiser will fix it.
I use my teeth.
Bag Balm
Or Badger Balm
Corn Huskers
I do my hand in the evenings about a hour before bed.
Or Badger Balm
Corn Huskers
I do my hand in the evenings about a hour before bed.
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+1 for Corn Huskers Lotion. I suffer from the same Scottish dry skin my grandfather did, and he introduced me to the stuff. When my fingertips split or I get a hang nail...I have found that one of the quickest ways to heal them is Neosporin...and you can find it with pain killer to lessen the throbbing and soreness.
Take a good multivitamin, too.
Add citrus fruits to your diet. They also keep away the scurvy. Just in case.
Absolutely. Water is the best moisturizer there is.
I get hangnails from time to time but I do exactly what it says not to. I just pick at them with a fingernail until they tear off. Never had any problem. I also rarely clip my nails; I peel the excess nail off with a fingernail from the other hand. No, it never goes into the quick.
I just grab mine and pull them out by the root, which hurts like #$ll when I do it but a) gets them and b) seems to keep them from recurring.
