Winter and the no good, brittle nails

My nails have been driving me bonkers since about the first week of December. They have been peeling off the tips in layers. Google gives you all sorts of crazy reasons why this happens. Everything from deficiencies, to just the weather being cold/dry. I tried keeping them shorter and painting them (you know to 'glue' them together). Go figure, that logic didn't work and I ended up with polish that also peeled in a day or 2. This was the Zoya I raved about (and still love), but clearly it's not meant to be a nail 'glue' .

Apparently I'm doing several things wrong that could also contribute to this issue. I'm using a metal nail file, which is apparently a no, no. I also file back and forth when you should just file and buff in one direction. The metal files sound to be too harsh for most nails. The back and forth sawing motion just causes damages and weaknesses. 

Then cue cold weather and dry skin/cuticles. This also makes things brittle, as will having your hands submerged in water too long. I was doing a lot of hand washing around the holidays when the dishwasher was too full. I also just hand wash my pots/pans as I feel it helps keep the nonstick coating in better condition for longer. 

Now the nails just seem unable to get back to a good place. I don't think I fall under the deficiency category for this issue. I've not changed my diet, and this is a new problem. If it were diet/deficiency related I'm thinking it would have been an issue long before now. I'm assuming it was a combination of my bad filing habits and elements (cold, dry and being submerged in hot water too long). 

I got some biotin which supports nail growth and some coconut oil to use as a cuticle oil/hand moisturizer. I also have some hand lotion that I should probably actually use. This stuff is only really going to help with new growth though, so might be awhile before this troublesome problem goes away.

I got the biotin and coconut oil at the grocery store. The coconut oil is USDA organic unrefined oil. I got this brand (link to Amazon, but this doesn't appear to be the best deal around), but it was the only option they had at our tiny store on base. It was about $6 for 14 oz. You need such a small amount for your hands, so if this is your only use of it the bottle would last for quite some time. Brand shouldn't matter here either, just look for USDA organic unrefined and it will be the same. The oil is a solid at room temperature, but melts at body temperature. Just scoop a little out and massage into your cuticles and hands. It will feel greasy at first, but it absorbs quickly. My hands already feel a little softer and I only purchased it yesterday (so have only done a couple applications). 

Then I got Nature Made biotin. It is one 2500 mcg soft gel a day. I have read blogs where others were taking 5000 per day. Since most people do not have a deficiency, there is a very low daily recommendation of about 30 mcg for adults (see here for more information or consult your doctor to make sure it won't interfere with anything). Seems that even at high levels it is safe, but I'm going to stick with the one pill a day. It was about $5 for the bottle I do believe (so once again, Amazon link not the best deal, just an example). 

I'll update later on for any interested to hear if it helped, or didn't seem to make much difference.