Published December 9, 2018 Today I want to talk about why jojoba is my #1 favorite nail oil for growth, deep hydration and reducing breakage. Jojoba is not an oil. It’s a wax ester that is liquid at room temperature, so it looks like an oily substance. Your body’s natural oil — SEBUM — is also a wax ester. The molecular structure of jojoba is almost identical to sebum so your body can assimilate it easily! Jojoba has very small molecules compared to other oils, making it easy for the nails, cuticles, and surrounding skin to absorb it deeply and stay hydrated. (The better hydrated the cuticles, the softer the nail. The softer the nail, the less likely it is to break. The less the nail breaks, the quicker it grows). Jojoba oil is also bacteria-resistant, hydrating and naturally aids absorption of substances into the skin and nails. (Great if you want to combine it with Vitamin E or essential oils) Your body naturally hydrates the nail plate from the bottom up: deep underneath the nail all the way to the top surface layer. That means the top layer doesn’t always get enough love, which makes it dry and prone to breakage. This is the same with your hair – your body moisturizes the scalp first (which is why it gets oily) and the ends last, which is why they get dry and split. Jojoba oil actually can penetrate from the top down, but probably only a few layers, which still helps with nourishment and flexibility nonetheless! Where jojoba truly shines, however, is in its ability to create a surface barrier in the top layers of nail keratin. This helps keep and protect the moisture and sebum that your body is naturally producing from the bottom of the nail plate up. That’s why I use jojoba on both my nails (with a hot towel to help it sink in deep) and my split ends. It’s so similar to the sebum your body is already trying to spread there, and it protects any existing moisture. I try to do a mini-treatment with a hot towel every time I trim my nails or take off polish. Try it and let me know what you think!
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