When we ask customers what nearly stopped them buying, one answer comes up again and again: "I wasn't sure it was real." Some worried we might be a scam. Others had simply tried so many nail products that did nothing, they'd stopped believing any of them would work.
That's a completely reasonable worry. Nail and beauty products are a crowded market, and some of it is genuinely helpful, some of it is wishful thinking, and a small part of it is outright dishonest. So here's the checklist I'd use myself, as a doctor and scientist, before spending money on any nail product. Please apply it to us too; that's rather the point.
1. Is there a real, findable person behind it?
Scams hide behind stock photos and vague "our team of experts". Legitimate brands usually have someone accountable. Search the founder's name. Do they exist outside the brand's own website? Do their credentials check out?
You can check me the same way. I'm Dr Tom Cawood, a consultant physician and endocrinologist in Christchurch, New Zealand, with a laboratory science PhD. Doctors in New Zealand are listed on the public Medical Council register, and my research is published under my own name. You can read how the brand started in my story.
2. Does it explain how it works?
A good product can tell you, in plain language, what it actually does to your nails. Watch out for words like "miracle", "revolutionary" or "secret formula" with no explanation behind them.
For nail strengtheners, the most useful question is whether the product coats the nail or absorbs into it. Many strengtheners are really nail polishes: they form a hard film on top that makes nails feel tougher, but the nail underneath hasn't changed. Once the coating wears off or is removed, you're back where you started.
You can check this yourself in two quick ways:
- Does it need nail polish remover to take off? If so, it's a coating. And regular remover dries nails out, which is the opposite of what weak nails need.
- Read the ingredient list. Film-formers such as nitrocellulose, along with solvents like butyl acetate or ethyl acetate, are the tell-tale signs of a polish. Some hardeners also contain formaldehyde (sometimes listed as methylene glycol or formalin), which can make nails harder in the short term but more brittle over time, and can irritate the skin.
None of that makes a coating a bad product; it just does a different job. Ours works the other way: it uses keratin from New Zealand sheep's wool, designed to absorb into the nail and support its own keratin structure. It's water-based, so there's nothing to peel or dissolve off. You can read more on how it works.
3. Is there real evidence, and can you see how it was gathered?
Numbers are easy to write. Evidence is harder to fake. Look for testing that explains what was tested, how, and on what. Be wary of "clinically proven" with no study you can actually read about.
Dr Tom's lab test nails made from sheep's wool - intact nail on the left, and standardised strips ready for testing on the the right.
It's also worth knowing the difference between types of evidence, and good brands will be upfront about which they have. Our lab testing used lab-grown nails made from wool keratin: the cream made them 30% stronger in 10 days, and the cream-plus-liquid combination 78% stronger in two weeks. That's lab evidence, not a medical clinical trial, and we say so. We then tested with real people too. You can see the details on our lab testing and consumer testing pages.
4. Are the promised timescales realistic?
Fingernails grow roughly 3mm a month, so a whole new nail takes around four to six months. Anything promising a total transformation "overnight" is either a temporary coating or an exaggeration. Honest products talk in weeks, and are clear about what you'll notice first (usually less peeling and breaking) and what takes longer.
5. Are the reviews independently verified?
Reviews written on a brand's own page are easy to invent. Reviews collected through an independent platform are much harder to fake. Ours are collected by Judge.me, an independent reviews service. Its "Verified Buyer" badge is added by Judge.me itself, by checking the review against real orders. We can't add it ourselves, and we can't change anyone's star rating.
Here's an example of. Dr Tom verified review, from Rinatte from Port Macquarie.
One more tip: look for a spread of ratings. A page of nothing but perfect five-star reviews is less believable than one with the odd four- or three-star review and a genuine grumble. Our reviews publish automatically, including the less glowing ones; one customer on our glass file page says she prefers another brand's file, and that review is still there.
6. Do the customer videos look genuine?
Video testimonials are a good sign, with two honest caveats. No business shows you its unhappy customers, and with AI it's now possible to fake a video. So look for the details that are hard to invent: ordinary homes and lighting, real hands with real imperfections, specific stories ("my nails peeled after two years of gel"), and a range of ages and voices rather than one polished script.
Our customer videos are sent to us by real customers, filmed on their own phones, in their own words.
7. Is there a fair guarantee?
A money-back guarantee tells you the brand expects its product to work, and is willing to pay if it doesn't. Check the terms are clear and realistic to claim. A guarantee buried in fine print, or one that requires returning an unopened product, isn't worth much for something you need to use to judge.
Ours is our performance promise: if you use the treatment consistently and don't see a benefit, you get your money back. It's available to customers in New Zealand and Australia.
8. Is it a real business you can reach?
Can you contact a real person? Is it clear where the product ships from, and how long it takes? Are the ingredients listed? If something feels off, Australians can check Scamwatch, the government's scam-reporting site, and paying by credit card or PayPal gives you extra protection if a seller doesn't deliver.
We're a registered New Zealand company. Australian orders ship from our warehouse in Sydney, and New Zealand orders from Christchurch. You can see delivery times or contact us directly, and yes, messages are often answered by me.
The takeaway
You don't need to trust any brand blindly, including ours. Check who's behind it, how it works, whether the evidence is real, whether the reviews are independent, and whether there's a fair guarantee. A product that passes all eight checks is worth trying. One that fails several probably isn't.
If you'd like to put us to the test, the Nail Strength Combo is where most people start, and it's backed by our performance promise.
This article is general information only and isn't a substitute for individual medical advice.