Wow! I don’t know what’s going on with my nails, but they are longer, stronger, and prettier than they’ve ever been.  I lie. I do know what’s going on with my nails. Like many other things on my body (understand: my hair), I’ve decided to do away with all the fuss and artificiality with which we normally deal with parts of our body that we consider portrayers of beauty. For me, natural is easier and so is the way I chose to go.

Honestly, I never intended this to be a statement of any sort, at first. The truth is: I can’t keep a manicure intact for more than two days. When I finally came to this realization, I decided to stop struggling with manicures and instead treat my nails more in accordance to what they were by nature. A quick scan of my mental recesses reminded me of a conversation I had with a dear friend back when I was 18.

On a lazy summer afternoon when we were chilling at my place, I noticed that my friend had the most perfect, natural-looking nails that I had ever seen. My friend is a natural beauty (yep, that’s you I mean LR), so it occurred to me to put it down to good genes. Still, I thought I would ask her: was there a secret to her beautiful nails? Surprisingly, she told me that there was. Her secret, she said, was that she had taken to buffing her nails, quite simply. Having never heard of nail buffing before that, my friend explained to me that nail buffing was the process of polishing the nails with increasingly smooth surfaces until they were smooth and shiny. The results on her were simply outstanding!

Back to me and my unpreservable manicures. The way forward, I decided, was to try out the secret which my friend shared with me on that day, so long ago. Maybe, just maybe, I too could have gorgeous nails that would stay like that for a long time using this simple procedure.

One afternoon, as I was strolling through downtown Nairobi, I entered Beauty Options, on Kimathi Street, to pick up some much-needed beauty products. As I was getting those, I happened on a very inexpensive buffing block (KSh 139) that I quickly threw into my basket of items. That evening, I buffed my nails for the very first time.

First, I used the roughest surface on the buffing block to file my nails into desired shape. Then, I used the next smoother surface to even out any ridges on my nails. I followed that by a third surface which brought my nails to a smooth matte finished. Finally, I finished my nails off using the smoothest surface of all, to give my nails a high-definition shine. It was all quite simple to figure out since the order of surfaces to use was marked on the block itself.

My original plan was to then finish my nail treatment by applying a layer of clear nail varnish on my nails for extra shine. When I saw my nails after buffing, though, that last step became redundant. My nails already looked smooth and clean and shined as though I was already wearing clear nail varnish. I would never have believed it if I had not seen it for myself!

It’s been about a year down the line of weekly nail buffing and my nails look (almost) as good as my friend’s did on that lazy summer afternoon. (LR, what can I say? Good genes may have something to do with it too. ) I cannot believe it, but now I am one of those women who receives compliments about her beautiful strong nails, when this had never been the case for 20+ years prior.

If you’ve been looking for an easy, natural way to take care of your nails, nail buffing might be just what you are seeking.

To find out more, click here to watch a short video on how to buff your nails.

Now you know the secret!

Wishing you beautiful nails,
Biche

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