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Thanks, I am glad I am not the only one that felt this way. I will stick to the regular manis and find somewhere that wants to do them without attitude.
Approx 16 months ago I started my journey to healthy nails. I am 100% convinced that filing the nail.beds is not good. And that is exactly what these salons do! Not buffing but literally Ruining the nail bed. I have extremely pliable nails...So any pressure on them creates a split. Gel nails rank right up there with acrylic fakes.
I do five steps at home: push back cuticles,soak in lemon and olive oil. Lightly buff/file in one direction nails, apply ridge filler. Apply acrylic glaze -clear. For speedy drying...Get a bowl of ice cube chips,and cold water. Soak freshly painted nails in the bowl.wait 3-5 mins...And viola! Nail paint is hardened.sounds odd, but it's inexpensive and looks great!
Approx 16 months ago I started my journey to healthy nails. I am 100% convinced that filing the nail.beds is not good. And that is exactly what these salons do! Not buffing but literally Ruining the nail bed. I have extremely pliable nails...So any pressure on them creates a split. Gel nails rank right up there with acrylic fakes.
I do five steps at home: push back cuticles,soak in lemon and olive oil. Lightly buff/file in one direction nails, apply ridge filler. Apply acrylic glaze -clear. For speedy drying...Get a bowl of ice cube chips,and cold water. Soak freshly painted nails in the bowl.wait 3-5 mins...And viola! Nail paint is hardened.sounds odd, but it's inexpensive and looks great!
That's exactly what I do too. I also take Biotin in addition to a Vit B tab daily, and it's made both my nails and hair a lot stronger.
I agree with Nov3! My nails have always been soft and brittle, and they grow in layers so it was easy to peel a layer, making them even thinner. Also they are very "ridgy".
I read where Biotin is important to nails, hair and skin. I have been taking a separate Biotin supplement and using nail ridge filler under a clear strengthener, and my nails are healthy and strong! My hair is soft and shiny, to the point I get compliments on it. I wear it straight and longish. When I was a kid it was always stringy.
I take a daily vitamin for Women over 50, and the Biotin in it is so low it may as well not even be in there, that is why I buy and take a separate Biotin supplement 1x daily.
ETA: Harpaint beat me to it with the Biotin comment. Glad to see I am not the only woman to recommend it.
Last edited by Lodestar 77; 04-20-2017 at 09:33 PM..
Reason: Another post "beat me to the punch". LOL
I guess I'm an exception. I've been doing my own gel nails for a couple of years now. I do them every other week--I use CND basecoat & topcoat. I soak them off using acetone, and have never had a problem.
I had acrylics for years--from the late 80s to about 2002 or 2003. It's so nice not to have to hit the nail salon every two weeks. When I soak my gel off at home every two weeks, my nails are fine. Unlike how they were with acrylics.
I wonder why there are so many problems with the salon gel manicures . . .
I had my first gel manicure a couple weeks ago, as part of a "girls' day out" prior to my son's wedding. Now, 15 days later, this French manicure still looks gorgeous!
I'm not loving what I'm reading here, though, about how bad gel is for the nails. I didn't even realize when I got this gel mani done, that it would take any special effort to remove it. Guess I'll pick up some acetone at the store and try the foil method, whenever it starts to look bad. But so far...wow!! Lovely!
I used to use the ridge filler because my nails had deep ridges. I always thought it was hereditary as my mother has the same problem. However my nail polish would still keep chipping off and it was such a procedure to do the manicure, apply two coats of ridge filler, a clear top coat, 2 coats of regular polish (not gel), then a quick dry top coat. All that to have the polish chip in a few days.
I started back with acrylics about 8 months ago so now I go in every other week, I do my cuticles the night before then I spend 30-45 minutes in my tech's chair and I'm good to go without any chips for 2 weeks. If my nails didn't grow so fast I could probably go every 3 weeks but I have very noticeable new growth.
When I do remove acrylics I just removed the polish, trimmed them very short, buff the top, use ridge filler and kept repeating this process until they were all grown out without having to resort to drastic measures at the salon. However with acrylics my nails are hard as rocks even though I do them very thin so they look more natural. I don't have to worry about them splitting or breaking.
I remember hearing they should be completely removed and redone every once in a while but I have never done that. Of course I don't think I've ever had them on for more than a year straight.
I had my first gel manicure a couple weeks ago, as part of a "girls' day out" prior to my son's wedding. Now, 15 days later, this French manicure still looks gorgeous!
I'm not loving what I'm reading here, though, about how bad gel is for the nails. I didn't even realize when I got this gel mani done, that it would take any special effort to remove it. Guess I'll pick up some acetone at the store and try the foil method, whenever it starts to look bad. But so far...wow!! Lovely!
They haven't really hurt my nail but mine are super strong. I just feel like they need a break from constant gel polish and removal with acetone.
Enjoy your French manicure! You might get another 15 days out of it.
I like the gels because they last--you get what, three days tops out of a regular mani if you type and wash dishes.
But they do wreak havoc on the nails, and that's another thing--you are a hostage to the salon. Peeling off the polish seems to take a layer of nail off, too, and while somebody said use pure acetone, that's not much better. It's very hard to remove.
I think as some others have said that I am going to get this last Easter (light blue, very pretty) round of gel off in a couple of weeks and then my nails be natural for a while or just put clear polish on them.
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