American International Gena Healthy Hoof Protein Treatment, 1 oz

Been using this stuff every day for about 2 weeks now, and I can already feel a difference in the strength of my nails! Some people complained about the smell, but I don't think it smells bad at all. The container is little, but you use so little each time I imagine this stuff is going to last a longgggg long time. So happy I found this stuff. Highly recommend!

This product was originally used for horse hooves and was found to work well on human fingernails. It makes sense since horse hooves and human nails are essentially the same sort of thing... they are both unguis which are "hard, horn-like plates or claws at the end of an animal's digit." So, a horse's hoof is sort of like a giant fingernail, and hooves and human nails are all composed similarly and made out of keratin. SO, I will address a negative review complaining about the scent. This product doesn't have fancy scents etc since it is actually horse-hoof cream. This product is very natural smelling, and the I believe the natural, "farmy" nature of this product's scent primarily comes from the lanolin, which is a fatty substance that comes from sheeps' wool and is used in many cosmetic and hair products, and ointments. It also does contain lavender and rosemary oils which do make the scent pretty pleasant, albeit "natural"-smelling and not perfumey. I find the scent pleasant compared to more perfumey scents which irritate my skin and my asthma. This product is pretty thick and yes some may describe it as "greasy" since it contains several oils (soybean and castor) in addition to the lanolin, as well as beeswax. However, in my experience with this product, this "greasy" formula creates a good barrier and does a good job of protecting the nails from things like cleaning products, dish-washing, as well as general wear-and-tear type stuff. It does absorb into nails but it does leave a bit of a barrier on top of the nail, as well, which I think is a pro. It contains good strengthening and conditioning ingredients such as fatty acids, a couple types of natural glycerides, hydrolized wheat protein, and allantoin. These are the kind of things found in strengthening hair conditioners, among other products. Overall, I really like this product. It does strengthen my nails and use of this product is one of the only way I can actually grow my normally weak nails out.