10 Reasons fail Nails Are Dry and Brittle, According to Dermatologists

 Your hands reveal a lot about your health, especially your nails. Just like your skin, they can start to lose moisture, causing them to feel brittle, weak, and dry. And there's a lot more to your nails than meets the eye. In fact, what you see on the surface has been in the works for a while, growing out from the nail matrix—the living tissue below your cuticle that supports nail growth—deep in your fingers.

So if it feels like you can’t keep your freshly painted mani intact, don’t ignore the constant breakage. It’s a complicated system, and when your nails start looking not-so-hot, any number of things could be to blame. Here, ten common causes of brittle nails, and exactly what you can to prevent the breakage.

Whether you do it out of concentration, nervousness, or boredom, biting your nails not only makes them break easier, but it also opens you up for infections. “Saliva, which is a digestive enzyme and is meant to break down food, dissolves nails and the cuticle skin, making them weak and brittle. With a suboptimal barrier, fungus, yeast, and bacteria can invade through the area around the nails and cause infections,” says Rachel , MD, a dermatologist from Dermatology Group in New York.

The fix: Keep your nails neat and short, which makes it more challenging to really gnaw on them, says Dr. . You can also try a nail treatment that tastes bitter (like this one from ORLY) to motivate you to quit the habit. If all else fails, IDing your triggers and addressing any anxiety at the source may also be a good approach.