How To Make My Nails Grow Faster

It takes around 6 months to regrow your fingernail and around 12 months (one full year) to regrow your big toenail. For us nail biters, nail growth isn’t necessarily a problem as we’re busy biting them down and keeping them short. But what if we’re in the process of quitting and want to know how to make them grow quicker? What if we bit too much off a nail and it hurts and we want to know how long it will take to grow back so it won’t hurt again?

You might be tempted to go online and buy a product that claims to increase the speed of nail growth or get a biotin supplement because it’s a vitamin that assists in hair and nail growth among other functions.

Nails normally grow around 3mm (0.12″) per month and assuming you are eating a healthy diet, there isn’t much you can do to make them grow quicker other than stop biting them and allowing them to grow. Eating a healthy diet is the best thing you can do to make nails grow but not any faster. Nails are going to grow as quickly as they are supposed to despite what you may read online about taking various supplements to promote quicker nail growth.

Biotin

While biotin (part of the Vitamin B family but also known as Vitamin H) is often mentioned as being a nail growth aid, research is limited and assuming you’re eating a well-balanced diet involving fruits, vegetables, meats and specifically Vitamins A and C and zinc, you should be fine.

Biotin supplementation may help to increase nail thickness if you have brittle nails which may be where the growth claim originates as research showed that the thickness increase may be as high as 25%. But you can get your daily requirement of biotin naturally with a good diet.

How Do I Make My Nails Grow Faster?

For the most part, you can’t. If you are a nail biter, stop biting them (not easy, I know) and allow them to grow. And start eating a well-balanced diet if you aren’t doing so already. While biotin deficiency is rare, symptoms include brittle nails among many others.

The good news is that biotin occurs naturally in many foods, specifically:

• Beef and chicken liver
• Whole egg
• Pink salmon
• Pork chops
• Roasted sunflower seeds
• Roasted almonds
• Canned tuna
• Broccoli
• Cheddar cheese
• 2% milk

These are some of the main sources and you’ll see they include meats, egg, fish, dairy products as well as nuts and grains. Even if you are a vegan or vegetarian you have choices. As long as you are eating a balanced diet, you will meet your daily biotin intake.

Dietary Intake Examples: In order for an average person over 4 years old to get their daily biotin intake, they could consume 3 ounces of beef liver. They could also get their daily intake with 3 cooked eggs. Or a combination of the above list, throughout the day.

Brittle Nails

If you have brittle nails it could be a biotin deficiency but it could also be a number of other issues like anemia, dryness, excessive nail polish use, cold weather or the aforementioned poor nutrition and diet.

Your best bet? Don’t diagnose yourself. See your doctor and get a professional opinion especially if you are a vegan or vegetarian and are deliberately avoiding many of the foods listed above like meats, eggs, dairy and fish.

Conclusion

Assuming you have a balanced diet and overall good health, there isn’t much you can do to grow your fingernails quicker. Not biting them will of course make them grow, full stop. But buying products to grow your nails quicker are likely a waste of money and will end in disappointment.

Learn some strategies to quit get a handle on your nail biting habit with the article called How To Quit Biting Your Nails.