Fix Broken Nails with Teabags!!

Today I wanted to share a tip with you that I found from a tutorial linked on youtube, it worked sooooo well I just could not keep it to myself!!

I had a broken nail a while ago and maanged to glue it back on. My usual method is just to cover the crack on the front and back of the nail with as much glue as possible, file on top of the nail to smooth it out and leave under the nail covered in messy lumps of glue! It does work but is very messy, glue dribbles everywhere and you get stuck with the glue clumps under the nail, so when my repair job on that nail gave out the other day and the tip came off again, I decided to try this teabag method.

There are literally tons of video tutorials on Youtube on how to do this, I saw this one by The Crafty Ninja.

 I loved the little teabag, it soaked up the nail glue and became perfectly solid, I could even layer it and with the right amount of glue one piece of tea bag just melted right into the other. It was really easy to buffer afterwards, I got a really nice smooth finish, and the tea bag became completetly transparent, you wouldn't even know it was there!!

The problem I had with my nail is that when it came off the second time, it wasn't still attached on one side, it came clean off. Luckily the remains of glue on both my nail and the tip formed layers so I could still slide the tip back into the exact right position on my nail. I could only get the nail to stick down in the middle though and the edges were still loose and wouldn't stick back on properly, so instead of attaching the teabag just to the top of the nail, I cut a long strip and glued it onto the crack on the nail, and then I wrapped the ends of the strip around the back of the nail and glued them down underneath. They glued down very cleanly and apart from a slightly rough feeling when you touched the back of the nail you would never know that there was a teabag under my nail! A distinct improvement on the big lumps of glue I had there before! Wrapping it around the side edges of my nail didn't just hold the ends in place properly, it also gave a very clean line along the sides, there was no sign of a crack anywhere. As it is usually from the side of a nail that a break begins, wrapping the tea bag around the back of my nail has given great reinforcement to the sides so I doubt it will crack again too easily!

I would be curious to know how long this repair lasts, if I will have to do it again or if it will last long enough for the crack to grow out. What I do know is that I LOVE this technique and I will never have nubbins again!!! (assuming I don't loose the nail when it breaks off!) WOO HOO!

I am also considering sticking a piece of tea bag to one nail on my right hand that just will not grow. For months now its kept breaking as soon as it grows even a milimeter and its driving me crazy! I reckon the tea bag trick will also serve as a great budget strengthening nail wrap!