Why do nails peel
Human fingernails are made out of keratin and their function is to protect the sensitive finger tips from all sorts of damage. There is more than one reason as to why a fingernail peels, but whatever the reason, it is never a desired effect and the causes should be understood in order to treat the peeling fingernails efficiently.
If you are experiencing a very cold weather, then it could be the reason why your nails are peeling off. What happens is during extremely cold temperatures, the skin as well as nails becomes dry due to lack of moisture and thus the layers in our nails fall apart. You can protect your nails in the same way that you protect your skin, which means you can apply moisturizing lotions and wear gloves when going out into the cold wind.
Psoriasis is a common skin disease that is also responsible for brittle and peeling nails. Yeast infections can have similar destructive effect on your nails too. You need to apply the same ointments that you use on your skin in order to stop the layering off.
Overexposure to water is one of the main reasons why nails peel off and if you are a swimmer or you do a job that requires you to soak your hands far too often, then use precautions like moisturizers, petroleum jelly and olive oil on your fingernails to protect them from swelling up and separating. Apart from water, even household chemicals like pest controllers and room cleaners can rot your nails, therefore wearing gloves is again, a good idea when cleaning or disinfecting a room.
A problem that is typical to fashion and affects mostly women is the bad effect that acrylic nails leave when they are removed. Damaged and peeling nails is a direct side effect of getting fake nails because it thins the natural density of keratin in your nails, hence leaving them brittle and easily breakable. Also be careful about the kind of nail products you use. The three substances that you would not want in your nail products are formaldehyde, dibutyl pthalate and toluene as they are reported to do more damage than good.
The basic idea is to treat your nails like they are a part of your skin and not ignore them just because they are made up of dead cells.