Stop Cutting Your Cuticles
The cuticle is a seal. It sits at the base of each nail and blocks bacteria, fungi, and moisture loss from entering the matrix where new nail cells form. Cutting it, a standard step in most Indian parlour manicures, removes that seal entirely. A 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology confirmed that cuticle removal is one of the leading causes of paronychia, the painful nail-fold infection that many women assume is just bad luck. Push cuticles back gently with a wooden stick after a warm soak. Never cut them. The parlour habit is wrong, and it has been wrong for a long time.
