Hi Selina,
what you are describing is actually not a weak nail - it is actually a very dry, hard nail.
If you use a nail strengthener/hardner you will actually make the situation worse...
Let me explain.
Nails are sooo very porous that the water is absorbed very quickly, but just as easily it dehydrates, and will take more out that went in to start with... Dehydrators such as sanitiser gels will compound this problem.
When the nail plate becomes too dry it becomes brittle, it looses the elastisity and the keratin actually dehydrates and starts to break the bonds - hence peeling and layer seperation.
Not only that, it looses flexability - which in turn causes the nail to break from the corner as it is unable to bend.
Nail hardners/ Strengtheners work by increasing the number of keratin bonds within soft overly flexable nails. If you used this it would mean they are able to flex even less, so would start to shatter.
What you need is moisture...
To keep moisture in your nail you will actually need to create a seal on the nail to stop dehydration occuring.. A penetrating oil (such as Solar Oil by CND) works by penetrating the surface of the nail (the more often you use it, the deeper the effect) this fills the channels in the nail plate and seals water out of the surface.
This in turn means the moisture inside your body is able to flow up through the nail plate without being dehydrated off the plate surface layers...
Hydrated nails will be much more flexable and will actually add a level of toughness, they won't seperate, tear or break...
Hope that helps..
