Industry leaders are reshaping what it means to care for your nails with a wellness-focused approach and beneficial, breakthrough formulas
A manicure at sundays, a wellness-focused nail studio in New York City, feels more like soulful self-care than beauty maintenance. The space is calm and chic, and the air doesn’t smell like chemicals. Rhythmic jazz plays in the background, and tea is served. “At sundays, nail health and wellbeing are always our #1 priority,” says founder Amy Ling Lin. “We approach nail care as an extension of overall wellness, using a gentle technique from start to finish with high-quality, nontoxic products. There are no microplastics in the air, and we avoid anything that can weaken the nail plate or cuticle area. We also have optional guided meditation, so both your nails and your mind can unwind.”
There’s a similar sensibility at JINsoon in NYC, where founder Jin Soon Choi also views nail care as a health pursuit, rather than just prettying up your tips. And that means going to lengths to provide nourishing treatments for hands and feet in a setting that’s conducive to downshifting. “Atmosphere sets the tone for everything,” she says. “A calming, beautiful space helps people relax, and relaxation is part of wellness.” At her studios, the interiors are refined and serene. “When clients feel good, they leave not only with better nails, but feeling restored.”
Lin and Choi are pioneers in a modern approach to nail care, focused entirely on health. Yes, of course, there’s still pretty polish, but that polish has ingredients that do your nails good. The old notion of a quickie mani/pedi has matured into healthcare for the nails, hands, and feet, which deserve the same daily attention we give our face: consistency in routine, barrier support, non-damaging product choices. The pros' healthy nail tip as follow:
Hydrate to Build Strength
“Moisture is everything,” says Choi. “When nails are dry, they become brittle—even naturally strong nails. Moisture makes them flexible, and keeps them from cracking, peeling, and developing ridges.” Hydrating the skin around the nail is just as important, because that tissue supports the nail as it grows and helps keep it resilient from the base.
“Regular exposure to hot water, soap, dishwashing, and cleaning products strips away your natural moisture,” says Lin. Without replacing it, the dryness compounds quickly. The fix is consistent maintenance: Apply hand cream over nails and cuticles, not just palms, and reapply often.
Look for formulas that pull in moisture and hold it there. Ingredients such as glycerin and aloe attract water, while shea butter and other plant oils help prevent it from evaporating. JINsoon’s Argan + Rose Moisturizing Hand Cream offers the full package in a beautiful texture, pairing aloe with argan oil, shea, and cocoa butter so a thin layer brings lasting hydration without feeling heavy. For a slightly more concentrated treatment, Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, with honey, beeswax, and oils, can be pressed into nails and surrounding skin to reinforce moisture throughout the day.
And when in need of deeper repair, barrier-focused treatments can help restore very depleted skin. PAUME is an all-natural brand built on strengthening the skin barrier, and its Overnight Hand and Foot Hydration Mask does reparative magic with its delivery of squalane, a highly nourishing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, shea butter, and glycerin. The rich texture is designed to replenish severely dry skin without relying on medicated actives, says Founder Amy Welsman.
Make Cuticle Care a Daily and Nightly Habit
Cuticles are a protective seal over the nail matrix, where growth begins. When that area is dry, the new nail that forms is more prone to peeling and uneven texture. “Using a cuticle treatment, like an oil, consistently is one nail habit that delivers a big payoff over time,” says Choi. “Keeping that area well-nourished is essential to smoother nail growth.”
Not all cuticle treatments work the same way. A cuticle serum is light and fast-absorbing, designed for daytime use when you want hydration without slippery residue. Sundays’ Cs.02 Hydrating Cuticle Serum contains soybean oil and vitamins A, C, and E to moisturize and bring nutrients to the nail plate and surrounding skin while remaining weightless enough for use at work or on the go. An oil, by contrast, is richer and more protective, and perfect for overnight, when deeper repair is the goal.
Lin advises looking for plant oils that resemble the skin’s natural lipids and thus, are able to also penetrate the nail plate. Jojoba oil is particularly effective because its structure is similar to sebum (the skin’s own natural oil), helping reduce peeling and improve flexibility. Sweet almond oil is another lightweight, well-absorbed option that provides good hydration, along with vitamin E, which acts as an antioxidant against environmental stress. Richer oils such as avocado or argan offer more intensive nourishment for very dry or brittle cuticles and nails.
JINsoon’s Primrose + Honeysuckle Healing Cuticle Oil blends conditioning plant oils, like jojoba, rosemary, and avocado, in a nongreasy base that absorbs well enough for use daily. The same botanical approach carries through in formulas like Ollie Skincare’s Cuticle Oil and Karma Organic’s Avocado Cuticle Oil with Lavender, both of which focus on plant oils to maintain flexibility. Cuccio’s Revitalizing Cuticle Oil Milk & Honey pairs plant oils and vitamins with honey (a humectant) and milk, for its lactic acid’s ability to soften skin.
Refine Your Mani/Pedi Technique
Strong nails are a product of how they are handled. Whether at home or a spa, the experts say to file with a fine-grit board and move in one direction. Sawing back and forth creates micro-tears along the edge, which can lead to peeling. Over-buffing is another frequent problem. Buffers are designed to smooth the surface, not remove layers, which make nails more prone to bending and splitting.
Cuticles should be softened and gently pushed back, preferable after a shower or soak in warm water to make skin pliable, and not routinely cut. Since cuticles form the protectant seal over the nail matrix where new cells are produced, cutting that barrier increases the risk of dryness and uneven growth.
Paint with Smarter Polish
Today, healthy polish should support the nail beneath it, not weaken and compromise it. Many formulas have relied on deleterious solvents and monomers that can dry the nail plate and require harsh removal methods. Gaëlle Lebrat-Personnaz saw a lot of that damage up close while growing up in her mother’s Paris nail salon. It led her to found Manucurist, a plant-based nail brand, with a very different standard in mind. “For me, innovation in nail care must go hand in hand with toxicological safety,” she says.
“Traditional formulas often contain aggressive or allergenic molecules, and I’ve seen real harm caused by them. At Manucurist, we never used controversial monomers in our formulas. We chose vegan, plant-based ingredients like corn, manioc, or sugarcane.”
The theory at Manucurist is that polish is part of nail care. “Our approach goes beyond ‘free-from’ chemical claims. We actively treat the nail with our formulas,” explains Lebrat-Personnaz. The brand developed a dynamic line of nail-nourishing and strengthening products, including Vitaminized Base, enriched with vitamins and plant extracts to protect and moisturize nails under polish, and an S.O.S. Nail Mask for an overnight intensive moisture treatment that results in healthy growth.
As for color, its Active Range of hued polishes incorporate AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids that gently exfoliate and resurface) and botanical extracts to smooth and hydrate the nail. The goal, says Lebrat-Personnaz, is performance without damage. It’s the philosophy that led to the creation of her beloved, game-changing Green Flash: a vegan gel polish designed for long wear and high shine with an easy soak-off removal that does no harm.
Other modern brands are also redefining what healthy polish looks like. JINsoon offers HyperRepair, a restorative base coat formulated with glycolic, malic, and lactic acids to resurface and reinforce the nail plate, along with conditioning vitamins. It can be worn alone as a treatment or under color. Sundays builds its full polish line around nontoxic formulas and gentle removal practices. Olive & June and SOPHi also produce formulas without many of the harsher chemicals historically used in conventional polish. They all agree, the healthy mani-pedi should leave your nails stronger, better nourished, and looking vibrant.
