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Will Vaseline Soften Toenails?

Will Vaseline Soften Toenails?

Vaseline is a wonderful product that has been around for many years. This ointment serves everything from moisturizing the skin, alleviating insect bite pains, treating diaper rash, healing blisters, and soothing and repairing damaged skin. 

But can it really help soften toenails? As people age, their toenails become hard and sensitive. Other factors such as trauma, fungal infection, and arterial disease also cause the nails to harden. Though not a life-threatening condition, hard toenails come with their own challenges, such as difficulty in trimming, poor nail quality, smelly feet, to name a few. 

Toenails form part of our beauty, and it’s everyone’s dream to have the most spectacular nails. What do you do when your toenails have become hard and unpleasant to look at? Can Vaseline help ease the condition by softening the nails? Read on to find out. 

Will Vaseline Soften Toenails?

Yes, Vaseline will help soften toenails. This ointment contains petroleum as its primary ingredient. Petroleum is a great moisturizing agent that works by forming a tight waterproof barrier when applied to the skin. This prevents water from evaporating from your skin, thus hydrating it. 

The emollient nature of Vaseline allows it to work as a moisturizer to soften dry skin. When applied, the oil combines with dry skin cells and moisture on the nail, creating a protective layer that seals in moisture and allows new cells to grow without being damaged by external elements. 

When applied to your toenails, Vaseline also helps prevent chipping by keeping excess moisture under the nail. 

Benefits of Using Vaseline to Soften Toenails

Vaseline is a readily available petroleum product that’s safe to use on your toenails and other body parts. Using Vaseline to soften your toenails offers the following benefits. 

It’s A Cheap and Readily Available Product

Vaseline is a readily available product that you can get at your nearest store. It’s also one of the cheapest petroleum jellies available in the market today. 

Easy To Use Product

Unlike other thick toenail treatments, Vaseline is an easy-to-use product that only requires you to wash and dry your feet before applying it. 

Vaseline Helps Waterproof Your Toenails, Thus Fighting Off the Infection Faster

Vaseline works to ensure that your toenails only have the needed moisture. When you apply Vaseline on your toenails, it will hydrate them and take off any extra moisture that may worsen a fungal infection. Vaseline contains petroleum jelly, which doesn’t mix with water, and thus, when applied to the toenails, it helps cut the oxygen supply to the fungal infection causing it to dry out. 

Vaseline Helps Rejuvenate Your Toe Nails

Your cuticles and toenails are at risk of becoming damaged due to fungal infection. This results in a change of color, pain, and awful smell on your feet. Vaseline boosts healing properties and can help repair the damaged cuticles and toenails within no time. 

For best results, ensure to use the jelly consistently and keep your feet clean to avoid bacterial infestation. 

How to Apply Vaseline on Your Toenails To Soften Them

To soften your toenails with Vaseline, first, wash your feet by soaking them in warm water and dry with a clean towel or cloth. Thereafter apply a thin layer of Vaseline on and around the affected toenail. Vaseline is safe to use on toenails and can be left overnight for the treatment to be effective. 

Though a safe and effective treatment, Vaseline is quite heavier than other petroleum products and may leave a greasy residue on your toenails when applied in excess. To avoid this, ensure to use a pea-sized amount of the product and instead apply it as many times as possible. 

How to Take Care of Your Feet to Avoid Thick Toe Nails

Thick toenails make your feet ugly, smelly, and painful. As such, you should do everything within your power to avoid this disturbing condition. Although thick toenails may be caused by different underlying medical conditions, fungal infection is one of the major causes of this condition. One of the best ways to therefore address thick toenails is to take care of your feet to avoid bacteria infestation that causes fungal infection. You can take the following measures to avoid fungal infection and thick toenails. 

Keep Your Feet Clean and Dry

Dirt feet are a grooming ground for bacteria. To help fight this, wash your feet regularly with soap and water and dry them with a clean, dry towel. 

Wear Cotton Socks

The type of socks you put on has a lot to do with the health of your feet. Non-cotton socks are not breathable and will facilitate the accumulation of moisture, which facilitates bacteria infestation in your feet. 

Get Your Pedicure and Manicure from High-Quality Clean Salons

Where you get your nails done has a lot to do with their health. It’s essential to get your nails done in a clean and professional salon/spa that upholds integrity and customer safety. A salon that values your health will ensure to disinfect the trimming tools before using them on your nails. 

Consequently, ensure to also disinfect the tools when doing the trimming at home. You may be tempted to think that the tools are safe since you are the only one using them, but this is not true. These tools collect dirt from the storage boxes and may turn out to be harmful if you use them without disinfecting. 

Keep Your Toe Nails Short and Clean

One of the surest ways to fight fungal infection is to maintain short and clean toenails. Keeping your toenails short and clean reduces the risk of bacteria infestation by eradicating any possible grooming ground. 

Wear Breathable Shoes and Change Them Often

Like any other body part, your feet need space to breathe and heal. If you are the type that loves being in closed shoes, you are always doing more harm to your feet than good. To ensure your feet remain dry throughout, wear breathable shoes and air dry them often to get rid of any buildup of moisture. 

At the same time, ensure to change the shoes, often more so after a fungal infection. 

Conclusion

When used correctly, Vaseline is an effective way of softening toenails. For best results, ensure to apply a pea-sized amount of the product on clean, dry feet as often as possible. Moreover, ensure to keep your feet and toenails clean and short to avoid bacteria infestation.