Beauty Advice for Yellow Nails

Happy Hump Day beauty lovers! Today’s question comes from a reader out of Texas who needs a little beauty advice for yellow nails.

After reading last week’s articles on the safety of gel manicures, Jessica wrote in to Ask the Pro for some beauty advice on yellow nails.

Hey Deirdre,

I have noticed I have been using cheap nail polish for some months — now my nails are yellow? What do you think?

Great question Jessica and thanks for letting me hold this until today to answer it. Yellow nails can be attributed to many things. However, my guess is you are correct, cheap nail polish may be causing your yellow nails, but not being able to physically see them hinders my beauty advice slightly, but let me explain this further.

Yellow nails may be due to Yellow Nail Syndrome, a rare medical syndrome that should be treated by a doctor as it can indicate serious conditions such as thyroid or lung disease, diabetes and psoriasis, a fungal infection, or nail polish that contain high levels of Titanium Dioxide.

There has been some evidence showing that foods including Titanium Dioxide will cause yellow nails, BUT, certain colors of pharmacy nail polishes, such as Brucci, contains the same ingredient, which when worn repeatedly will yellow the nails. The same thing happened to me using Brucci’s Purple Haze.

My beauty advice: let the nails breathe for a few weeks without nail polish, only using a conditioner such as Solar Oil to keep the nails healthy. If the yellow nails do not return to normal, then a visit to the doctor is warranted.

How do you know if you have Yellow Nail Syndrome or a fungal infection? If the yellowing doesn’t dissipate within a few weeks after following my suggestions above, then medical attention should be sought to rule out more serious conditions. Yellow nails caused by fungus will be thicker than normal and crumble when manipulated.

If you receive frequent manicures and pedicures from the salon, it is optimal to bring your own manicure kit or ask the salon to hold one for you to avoid fungal infections.

I hope my beauty advice solved your yellow nail issues. If you have a question for me, feel free to email me at DeirdreAHaggerty@gmail.com, use the contact form above or like my Facebook fan page, Ask the Pro and message me there. Next week we will be discussing another gel manicure system, however this brand uses a fan to cure.

Until then, Happy Styling!