Dirty fingernails?

Can't get your nails clean after working in the garden even after scrubbing?

I found the solution...

Soak them for a few seconds in lemon juice...absolutely amazing!

The best, bar none, nail scrubbers are those plastic ones like surgeons use. Lee Valley sells them cheap.

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10259&cat=2,42551

I have one I found at Walmart in the vegetables but it's not as good as these white ones.

If your fingers are sore and your nails are dirty and you can't scrub with a brush and will have to peel yourself off the ceiling if you use lemon juice, try a combination of dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide. It cleans, it doesn't burn cut fingers. Just put enough dishwashing liquid into a shallow bowl of peroxide to make it slippery. Soak.

Try these plastic ones, Spooky. They're not rough on your fingers at all but do a much better job of cleaning under and around your nails.

In a pinch, I've found just washing a load of dishes or washing my hair works too so I know soaking works. LOL

I have no issues with dirty finger nails, It's dirty toe nails that has me climbing the walls. I have Hobbit feet. LOL
I wear those plastic croc type shoes with holes in the top and when I get done in the yard my feet are so filthy that I hate to walk on my floors. I have a nail brush that has a pumice stone on the back of it and I also have this sand scrub that you use to soften your feet. So every night when I'm done in the garden I come in and spend 5 minutes scrubbing my feet. Even then I can't seem to get it all. I guess I could wear socks with my crocks that might help but they better be black socks as I would never get the white ones clean again. Thanks for the tips I'll have to try both of them.

"Hobbit feet?" - ROTFLMBO....oh you didn't see MINE did you? You'd feel so much better about yours....
I DON"T have dirty nails....I'VE been using my gloves as instructed....LOL

I know I should wear gloves, especially working in my rocky soil. It tears my nails to pieces. I just hate wearing them.

Holly, another Croc lover here and I know what you mean. I have this foot brush I got at Walmart, it's some kind of natural bristles, maybe 5 inches long and shaped in a loop. It's terrific for scrubbing not only the dirty skin on my feet (and scrubbing off the dead skin) but is the only thing I've found that gets the dirt that gets imbedded around my toenails. Do you know what I mean? It was pretty inexpensive too.

Ah, here it is. Only paid about $3 something at Walmart though.

https://www.grassrootsstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=374 Try one of these, they work better than pumice at scrubbing off that ground in dirt.

Same thing much cheaper here but still not as cheap as Walmart.
http://www.divaspaworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DS&Product_Code=NFB&Category_Code=A

I always wear gloves and since the swap I have a new pair of Atlas gloves. My old pairs were pretty ratty. Hart have you tried the Atlas gloves they fit nice and tight you hardly even know you are wearing them. The only thing I need to take them off to do is untangle my baby MG. Although they won't give you any protection against thorns.

No, I haven't tried those. One reason why I hate wearing gloves is my fingers are kind for short so the fingers are usually too long for me so I'm so awkward working in gloves. Maybe those would work.

I sure do destroy my fingernails in the summer working in this rocky soil. Tears up my fingers too.

Just looked them up. I have tried those. Same problem - the fingers are too long and the tips flop over at the end of my fingers. Darn.

This message was edited Jun 2, 2009 11:13 PM

And my fingers are too long! The coated knit kind helps me out there., they can be large so the fingrs are long, yet stay on. I was just looking at my nails last night! Cloth gloves let silt work thru and they still get dirty. Then we had pizza for lunch- Brown and orange nails. I thought about soaking in that new whitening type mouthwash, has peroxide in it. Plain peroxide and soap would be cheaper.
Yes dirty feet too! While I try harder than ever to keep gloves on, I still garden in sandals or bare feet many days. I try to remember to slip on my old, worn out-to-fit like skin , slightly dog-chewed moccasin type Dexter shoes.

I have some of those rubber garden shoes that I found at Target several years ago but they're too hot in the summer. They're fine in the spring, especially when working in mud.

Trying to break the habit of gardening in flip flops....I actually like the "pool shoes" for garden...they're mesh on the sides so the tooties stay aired out. Got them for $1 at Wally World in Hylton Head last Oct....end of season mark downs!!
Diane - even the Atlas small size? My hands aren't very big and those fit well...just a bit of extra at the finger tips.

My fingers are short but my hands aren't slender, so small is way too tight. The medium fits my hands but the fingers are too long. Thank you, Mom, for these short, fat fingers. LOL And I'm not talking about a little at the fingertips, more like an inch. In winter, I have to get those little stretchy gloves that look like kids gloves. They fit. I don't want to use those in the garden though, they wouldn't hold up.

Ugh...sorry about that Diane...remind me to show you my thumbs ("Hammer thumb") though...you'll feel much better about your fingers!

And you know what, I have really long toes. Like monkey toes. I could probably hang from a branch. LOL So whatever gene causes these short, stubby fingers doesn't translate to toes.

Joyce has eensy fingers. I tried to paint her nails one time and her fingernails are about the size of a five or six year old child's. Her hands aren't particularly small, just teeny little slender fingers.

Yes the very infrequent times that I've had my nails done in my life - they get to the thumb and the "look" is priceless...glad I'm not sensitive about it...LOL Correction - "club thumb" (got confused with hammer toe, I guess...LOL) http://www.brachydactyly.org/blog/?page_id=17

That doesn't look so bad.

WHAT?!?! A toe for a thumb is not appealing, I tell you...course I couldn't give a rats batootie - have had them since birth...LOL

Better than toes that are fingers. LOL

Shall we swap?

I have stubby fingers too...my mom has those club thumbs I have a modified version of them. My feet went to a wide when I was pregnant, so now I have real stubby feet.

Chantell, I use the black sock approach. Only problem is the dye gets all over your feet!!!!!

I also wear crocs to work out and when I mow the lawn I end up with green heels..Now try and get that off......and have to work at getting the toenails clean....but I love my crocs!!!

Such a nice hoof and nail conversation!! LOL

LOLOL I give it a thumbs up. (arrrrrgh)

Oh....baddddd....very baddddd....LOL

Another finger nail tip. A gardener told me that before going out to the garden she sinks her nails into the shower's softened bar of soap to the point where the undersides of her nails and cuticles are covered in the soap. She gives it a few minutes to dry and then starts the day's work. Claims clean up is always easy. I personally use hard milled soap, but it may be worth a try with one of the soft soaps like Dove or Tone.

Yes heard that one before...problem is I forget about it BEFORE I head out...LOL...mercy!

I just cringe at the thought of cramming stuff under my nails--even tho when I DON"T I will be in essence cramming dirt under them. Maybe if you get them nice and white and then work hand cream under them?

Can't say I have ever heard of Hobbit Feet. My older son and I both refer to our feet as being Fred Flintstone feet. Ugly. LOL

Ruby

jen, I 'juiced' my nails tonight- it did work!

Isn't it awesome???!!!

Wasn't sure at first because being wet made them sort of clear/ dark, but yes it worked!

I'm using a parrifin wax bath thing for my hands these days. It's wonderful, the wax puts moisture back into your skin, and it's great for feet too. Also the hot wax is very soothing when my arthritis bothers me. I use it in the winter quite alot, because my skin feels so dry and itchy. I'm a florist, and these days I'm becoming allergic to more stuff than ever. Whenever I handle salal , the skin around my nails dries up and splits open-and man, it hurts. The wax seems to help heal the splits. The wax bath things aren't terribly expensive, and you can keep reusing the wax if you want. They are worth every penny of the investment.

I thought last winter about getting Joyce one of those wax bath things. It's good to know they work for arthritus.

Spooky, have you tried putting Bag Balm on your hands before and after handling the salal? I know the lady darkroom techs we had years ago at the newspaper swore that was the only thing that kept their hands from splitting and getting sore from the photo chemicals. (Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and photos had to be processed instead of photoshopped. LOL) It has a lot of lanolin in it as well as a very mild antibiotic. You can find Bag Balm at Walmart or most any feed store.

Bag Balm/ lanolin is good stuff. So was Neutrogena real hand cream that had lanolin and was very thick. Wimpy hand lotion is practically useless. Bath and Body orks stuff was very good too whne you got one with lots of shea butter, like hand cream--but I think they are skimping on shea butter now.

I use the "Hemp" hand cream from The Body Shop. A surgeon friend of mine gave me some saying that the OR nurses told her that it's the only thing that works on their excessively scrubbed hands. It really helps with that winter dryness. Not greasy at all. The face moisturizer and lip balm are great too. Here's the link, I see they've raised the price on the big tube by $2. I stock up when they have their 20% off sale.

http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/bodyshop/browse/product_detail.jsp?categoryId=cat1010003&productId=prod5950023

Hi there

No, I haven't tried Bag Balm but I know where I can get some, I'd be willing to try anything that I can have at work with me.

Do get the wax bath for your Joyce, Hart. It really is soothing and helps with arthritis pain.

I noticed years ago whenever I was crocheting with real wool, my hands and nails would look great. I finally figured out it was the lanolin.

Stormy, you can get a monster can of Bag Balm that will last you several years for less than half what that cream costs. LOL I just use a little at a time because it is a bit sticky and greasy if you use too much.

SO has a lot of trouble with his hands breaking out and splitting in winter. He has exzema. Nothing the dermatologist gave him was working so I had him put on a generous amount of Bag Balm at night and then put on some old cotton gloves. Worked like a charm.

The wax bath sounds like a plan, Spooky. Too late for birthday or Mother's Day so maybe for Christmas.

Sorry, Hart. I have used Bag Balm in the past and have found it to be extremely greasy and not much more effective than other products. I find this product to be much better, if only because I am apt to use it more often because it is not greasy, yet far superior to other hand creams I've used. If I have to resort to the cotton gloves treatment, which I haven't had to since using this product, I'd use plain Vaseline. Nothing like it and the cheapest yet.The Hemp lip balm leaves all others in the dust.