Keeping my nails strong and healthy

As a teenager, I used to spend half an hour massaging olive oils into my nails every weekend. These days, there's just not enough time, but in a bid to keep my nails strong and healthy, I've started using a couple of beauty products instead:

Organic surge lavender meadow hand & nail cream

No7 nourishing nail & cuticle care

Dr Lewinn's renunail nail strengthener

Dr Lewinn's renunail nourishing oil

Starting with a good quality hand cream. At the moment, I'm really liking Organic surge lavender meadow hand and nail cream. I type and write a lot during the day, so need something light and quick absorbing, yet still rich and moisturising, and this fits the bill perfectly. As always with Organic surge, it's free from chemical nasties, and for someone who didn't use to like lavender, I find the scent to be surprisingly comforting.

As bizarre as it sounds, my nails have been looking rather dry recently. So on weekends when I'm not wearing nail varnish, I like to massage in a small amount of No 7 nourishing nail & cuticle care. It contains extracts of sunflower, grape, honey and cocoa butter, all of which help to nourish and strengthen the nails. It's also a cream, which means that once applied, there's no need to hang about waiting for it to sink in.

Finally, there's Dr Lewinn's renunail nail strengthener and nourishing oil. The nail strengthener has quite specific instructions (every day for 5 days, remove on day 7 before starting the process again). I must admit, I just apply a coat every few weeks, then remove after about a week once it's started chipping. Prior to using this, my nails were weak and peeling, but after about 2 cycles, you could really notice the difference. Now they're much stronger and I've not had any problems with peeling since. The duo pack also comes with a nourishing oil, which I don't always use, but on days when I do have some spare time, it's a nice nourishing treat for the cuticles.

How do you keep your nails strong and healthy? What's your favourite hand cream?