Proteins in nail hardeners?

You know how a lot of nail hardener products have silk proteins, soy proteins, etc., in them that are supposed to strengthen your nails? I've been wondering about that. So you apply a mixture of organics (organic as in chemistry, not organic as in hippy) including some dissolved proteins to your nails...are they supposed to


a) just increase the strength of the nail polish coating or


b) become adsorbed to the nail keratin and increase the strength of the nail itself, i.e. nail stays thicker even after you remove the polish?





I'm a nailbiter and _not_ a biochemist...can anyone explain to me whether these products are snake oil or not? Thanks.





(Just looked up the ';Keratin'; Wikipedia article, it says silk fibroins are similar to vertebrate keratins, so would silk in nail polish hydrogen bond to nails???)





Bonus points for someone who can explain what the nitrocellulose is for. Only thing I can think of is a guitarist I knew glued bits of ping pong balls to his nails.Proteins in nail hardeners?
It is formaldehyde (or ethyl acetate) that makes the hardening job in nail hardeners (it crosslinks keratin). Nitrocellulose helps to form a thin-film while applying the hardener (it is potentially explosive, by the way)


Silk proteins, soy proteins, milk, honey, avocado extract, gingko leaves, ginseng roots, eucalyptus oil, horsetail root, cucumber, rainforest pollens and tropical hambojambo extracts are simple junk.Proteins in nail hardeners?
how about i don' know,sorry!
hhhhhaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy
nail are made of keratin which is a protein... nails can be strenghtened only when these proteins are taken in diet...





nail polishes having protein provide a thicker coat so that the nail doesnt break off easily... once the coat is removed the nail remains the same and is not that it is strengthened....





I dont find any relavance of nitrocellulose with nails...
I think anything that sits on top of your nails and makes them thicker (by being on top of them) will help keep them from breaking..but your nails are dead skin cells, so I cant imagine how you could actually improve them on any kind of cellular level.