Nails

Nails discharge poisons in the same way hair does. During periods when the body is actively moving metals and chemicals out through this channel, the nails will become dry, develop ridges, develop gaps, and crack. Aajonus described going through a two-year period where one of his own nails caved in and remained that way while his body was actively dumping through that nail, noting that six months after the dumping finished, the nail had normalized completely and could not be told from a nail that had never been involved in that process.

The follicle structures beneath the nail are one specific site where the body directs the worst chemical contamination. When factory chemicals, industrial chemicals, or other substances too toxic for bacteria, parasites, or fungi to consume are present in connective tissue near the nails, the body responds by manufacturing viruses, which are not living organisms but solvents, to address that tissue. The connective tissue that connects with the nails and underlies them where the nails grow is a distinct tissue from connective tissue elsewhere, and the body produces specific viral varieties suited to cleaning that particular tissue.

Aajonus described his own nails in detail when discussing his poisoning by injected chemicals: "All my nails, they'd turn discolored and toxic. And one of them got, like, almost a quarter of an inch thick. And this one completely deteriorated. Now they're back to normal. But it took four years. Well, five years." He attributed this directly to mercury, aluminum, and other metals from forced injections working their way out through the nail tissue, and noted he could see the nails beginning to normalize as the detoxification progressed.

Ridges are the most commonly discussed nail symptom in Aajonus's framework. He addressed them repeatedly and consistently. Ridges form primarily because toxic minerals are being discharged through the nail. The body requires good, natural minerals to bind and chelate the toxic metals in the blood and serum before they can be built out into the nail. When the body is heavily loaded with toxic minerals, it uses up the good mineral supply in the chelation process, resulting in a net mineral deficiency as far as the nails are concerned. This is why Aajonus stated that "wrenches in the nails" (ridges and deformities) indicate mineral deficiency, but clarified that the underlying cause is excessive toxic mineral accumulation consuming the available good minerals rather than a simple dietary shortage.

He applied this to himself directly. He noted that he had two remaining toxic mineral deposits in his body at the time of the early training recordings, one in his brain and one in his testicles, visible as yellow areas through iridology. Whenever he began detoxing those mineral deposits, they built into his hair and nails: his hair would go gray and his nails would develop ridges. When the detox cycle paused, the gray would disappear from his hair and the nails would smooth out again. He described going through periods with lots of gray hair that then cleared, and noted the same cycling relationship between active detox and nail ridging.

When asked about ridges in the context of a patient presenting with them, Aajonus explained that the ridges meant the person was putting out a lot of toxic minerals from solvents that had been in the hands, and that this process would go on "for years and years and years." However, he noted that a nice sheen on the nails alongside the ridges indicated they were good and strong, meaning the dumping was happening from a position of relative nail health.

In his book he stated the position plainly: avoiding salt most often settles nail problems, because salt dries cells and interferes with mineral and fat utilization and the process of building nails. Ridges in the nails mainly result from mineral deficiencies, and he cross-referenced the Mineral Deficiency section for fuller treatment.

Nail biting is caused by mineral deficiencies or severe mineral imbalance. The person eating their own finger and toenails is acting instinctively to recycle the minerals contained in the nail tissue. Aajonus regarded this as a body-directed behavior rather than a psychological habit or disorder. The specific foods he identified as capable of correcting this mineral deficiency within three months are: no-salt-added raw cheeses eaten with an equal quantity of fat, particularly unsalted raw butter; fresh raw ocean fish including scallops, oysters, and clams; whole raw milk; and occasionally one quarter teaspoon of clay.

Nail polish was one of the substances Aajonus treated with the most alarm in relation to nails. He stated that women who use nail polish will prevent themselves from lubricating their entire body for up to two weeks from just one use. The toxicity in the polish penetrates into the nails, gets into the blood, and is "one of the most dangerous of all toxins." He recommended that women use olive oil, butter, or coconut oil on the nails instead of polish.

Beyond the systemic effect on the individual wearing it, Aajonus warned about environmental exposure to nail polish. He described it as the most toxic available substance in industrial settings, noting it is illegal to open a bottle of nail polish in an airplane or any closed environment. If an airline attendant smells nail polish being opened, she will immediately intervene. Breathing in nail polish fumes together with hairspray aerosols in a salon environment will damage multiple body systems. He placed nail polish remover alongside nail polish as equally dangerous.

For detoxification from nail polish already on the nails, his protocol specified: 25% more dietary fat, 15 sprigs of fresh parsley daily, and applying coconut oil or olive oil to the nails instead of the polish.

The nails, particularly under the nails, are a site where the body is prone to fungal activity. Aajonus explained that fungi prefer cooler, moister areas, and the undersides of the nails fit this profile in the same way as the brain, bone marrow, and joints. Fungus is a cleansing agent the body uses where the tissue is cool and moist enough to support it rather than the bacteria or parasites that handle warmer tissues.

The black things that come out from under nails, along with cracking around the nail margins, are all antibiotic fungi. When a person has received penicillin or other antibiotic injections, the fungal organism introduced does not go through its normal on-off cycle of three to five months on and three to five months off the way natural fungi do. Instead, it stays active continuously, working on the body the whole time. Mold from antibiotics lives in the skull and the feet preferentially, because those are the areas the body pushes these fungi into as it tries to contain them in heat-retaining areas.

Aajonus recounted the case described in We Want to Live where pus forming at the side of his thumbnail was tested for molds after the fourth recurrence of the same blackening, hole-eating infection. The test came back positive for penicillin, fifteen years after his last penicillin exposure. He used this to illustrate the persistence of antibiotic fungi in the body and their destructive capacity on the nail tissue itself: "If it can eat a hole through my nail, imagine what it has done to the inside of my body."

The visual presentation of antibiotic fungal activity in the nails includes blackening of the nail and surrounding skin, pus formation, and literal holes eaten through the nail substance. This is painful and recurrent. Aajonus treated the condition as inevitable during detoxification of long-stored antibiotic compounds and recommended against suppressing it with further medication, which would compound the problem.

For nail problems in general, the primary dietary intervention is eliminating salt. Salt dries cells and directly interferes with both mineral and fat utilization and with the physical process of building nail tissue. Drinking fresh raw milk within two hours after eating raw meat helps mineral assimilation and utilization, which in turn supports nail condition.

Topically, Aajonus prescribed a balm made of five parts fermented coconut oil (unheated above 96 degrees Fahrenheit) or stone-pressed olive oil mixed with one part unsalted raw butter when available, rubbed into the nails two to three times daily. When coconut oil was not available, olive oil alone was usable. Butter was also acceptable as a standalone topical.

For injuries involving the nail specifically, as in the case of his smashed toe where the nail was ready to detach, he used a poultice of lime juice, honey, coconut cream, and raw meat applied directly to the area. In his own case with the toe crushed by a 90-pound wooden pile, he initially attempted an herbal application that caused the tissue to break down within 24 hours, then switched to the meat-based poultice and left it on for five days without cleaning. At that point the nail, which had been about to fall out, reattached solidly to the skin and the bruising resolved in the toe without the nail being lost. He noted bone pain was the last thing to resolve.

When the body is processing large amounts of industrial chemicals or heavy metals, the nails may change color dramatically. Aajonus described his own nails turning brown from mercury and other metals following a chemical poisoning event. He showed photographs documenting the progression over several days, noting that full contamination of the nails from the toxic exposure was visible within two days of the initial poisoning event, and that all the nails showed the discoloration together.

During his multi-year poisoning from injected substances containing mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, ether, and other compounds, nails became discolored, one grew to nearly a quarter inch thick, and at least one completely deteriorated. He described spending extended periods in warm climates, particularly the Philippines and Thailand, specifically to keep his body temperature elevated around the clock in order to assist in moving these poisons out through the skin and other channels including the nails. Full normalization of the nails after that poisoning took four to five years.

Aajonus documented and discussed several cases of nail regrowth following traumatic injury, both in his own history and in patients. After his finger was cut off at age three in a lawn mower accident, the attending physician injected penicillin and tetanus both intramuscularly and directly around the finger and nail. Approximately sixty years later, Aajonus's body began discharging those substances through the finger. The nail in that photograph showed the damage from the discharge process.

For a woman whose finger was ground off in a coconut juicer (including part of the bone), he prescribed lime juice on the open wound, then the meat-and-lime-juice-honey-coconut-cream poultice applied and refreshed every three days. She continued this for nine months. At five months, the finger was stable enough to stop continuous application. Photographs he showed documented the nail regrowing deformed initially, then progressively normalizing over the following months. When he saw her again roughly a year after the accident, there was very little remaining deformity in the nail, and the finger functioned better and had more feeling than her other digits.

For his own finger that he cut off at age sixteen, the nail had been split in half lengthwise, and he described it as "slowly but surely" over the years continuing to normalize toward a more complete nail structure through the raw diet.

He also noted cases where severed fingertips regrew on the Primal Diet in adults, with the nail forming as part of that regrowth process, citing a 56-year-old woman whose finger grew back after being ground off, with the nail initially showing ridges and deformity that progressively resolved. A year after the accident, the nail was essentially straight.

Aajonus pointed to his own nails as evidence of what the diet could sustain. At 63 years old, he described his nails as "pretty nice" and compared them favorably to those of people his age who had deformed, damaged nails and knuckles. He described going through a two-year period of a caved-in nail during detox, then projecting that within six months of the detox completing, no one would be able to tell that nail had been involved in dumping at all.

When his own nails showed ridges, he interpreted them as markers of an active detox cycle involving the remaining mineral deposits in his brain and testicles, and expected them to smooth out when that cycle finished.

Aajonus traced a significant category of nail problems directly to antibiotic exposure, particularly penicillin. He described penicillin as a mold and a fungus that, after injection, settles preferentially in the skull and feet. The fungal organisms introduced by antibiotic injections alter their normal cycling behavior and work continuously on the body rather than cycling on and off. The manifestation in the nails includes black mold growing underneath the nail, cracking of the nail and surrounding skin, and gradual destruction of the nail tissue.

He described a scenario where penicillin or another antibiotic that had been stored in the body for years finally begins to discharge: it may come out under a thumb or a big toe, turn the skin black, produce pus, and melt the toenail away. He acknowledged this is painful but stated it could be gotten through without medical intervention, and that using medication at that point would simply add to the toxic load, causing the same problem to reappear later in the same or an adjacent area.

The rate of such fungal problems in the nails tracks with antibiotic use history. Grain foods in the diet feed these antibiotic fungi, making the problem worse. Aajonus linked the broader rise of intestinal mold-related diseases like Crohn's disease directly to this mechanism, noting a 2,000% increase in Crohn's in children since frequent penicillin use began.