What is the Healthiest Way to Get Your Nails Done?
There are a lot of great options for getting your nails done now – so the question is which one is healthiest for you? We won’t make you wait until the end of the article to find out! The shortest answer is that when done properly, you can do just about any nail treatment and still have healthy nails. The most important part is to follow proper application and removal guidelines so that you don’t damage the nail while applying or removing the product, and if you do that your nails will stay healthy.
We’ll look at a few of the most popular Nail Treatments and the benefits of them, as well as look at the way that particular method can damage your nail if not done properly.
Dip Powder
The big benefit that a lot of women get from Dip Powder is how strong it is, which leads to their nails being healthier because even if their natural nail is a little weak, soft, or brittle, the strength of the Dip Powder allows them to grow their nails to a length they would normally never be able to reach, and to use their nails to do things that would normal cause them to break. The confidence that they feel from the strength allows them to do everyday tasks without worrying about breaking a nail in a way that their natural nails would not allow.
The fact that Dip Powder is almost as strong as acrylic *AND* can be soaked off is the big, healthy benefit of Dip Powder. You can file, or drill, the top layer of the Dip Powder, and then wrap the nails in acetone wraps and the Dip Powder can be removed with no damage to the nail. In fact, when removed properly, the nail should feel stronger and healthier than when the wrap was applied because of the strength and protection the Dip Powder manicure gave to the nails.
There are 2 pitfalls to avoid here – the first is picking at your manicure to remove it. Dip Powder doesn’t peel when applied properly so most women only start to pick after some time has gone by and the nail has grown, leaving some natural nail exposed. This gives a surface that can catch on things like hair and clothing or can be picked at and will eventually peel if you pick at it hard enough. This usually causes part of the top protective layer to peel off with the Dip Powder manicure, which can then leave the nail softer and weaker than it should be. This only happens because the Dip Powder Manicure layer was removed improperly and damages the nail as its peeled off and can be easily avoided by just using Acetone to soak off the Dip Powder manicure.
The 2nd pitfall is over-drilling or over-filing. The vast majority of the time this comes from nail technicians in a salon who are rushing too much. Soaking takes time, so the more the Nail Technician can drill off the manicure, the faster the soak off will be. The problem comes when the Nail Technician drills through the manicure and removes part of the top layer of the nail. It’s the same thing as the peeling we talked about above, but done with a drill instead of by peeling, but it’s the same result. The usual symptom from this is thin, weak, or bendy nails, and sometimes it causes soreness in the nailbed. It’s easy to see why this happens, a lot of salons are busy, and the Nail Technician can make more money if he or she gets an extra manicure or two done that day, so they want to speed up the process as much as possible. The vast, vast majority of Nail Technicians are trained extremely well and know not to do this, but there are some that will be in too much of a rush and will make a mistake and can accidentally cause some damage.
The other major healthy benefit of why Dip Powder is a healthy manicure option is that the application process doesn’t have any areas that can cause damage. When we look at the some of the other application methods below, we’ll see that uncured gel can cause issues, and acrylics can cause some issues as well, but Dip Powder doesn’t have that issue. Even if you don’t apply it right, it never leaves uncured product on your nail, that can cause softening.
Overall, Dip Powder Manicures are a great way to get a healthy manicure that will protect and strengthen your nails without causing any damage. Just like any nail treatment, you do have to make sure you properly remove it to keep your nails safe and healthy – Don’t pick at your manicure!
If you are interested in trying Dip Powder yourself, you can get a Starter Kit with everything you need to get starter here: https://www.revelnail.com/collections/getting-started/products/dip-powder-starter-kit
If you already have Dip Powder and want to make sure you safely remove it, youc an can order a Removal Kit here: https://www.revelnail.com/products/dip-gel-removal-kit
Gel Polish
A Gel Polish manicure is another option for a Nail Treatment that can protect and strengthen your nails and not damage them at all. It does require proper application in order to be healthy, and that is where a lot of women can have some trouble.
For some women, getting a Gel Polish manicure means their nails will be soft and weak afterwards. The main cause of this is uncured Gel Polish on the nail bed. What happens is the Gel Polish is applied and put under the light to cure – however, if the light is not strong enough, the hand is not under the light long enough, or the Gel Polish was applied in too thick of a coat, only the top will cure, and the bottom can still be uncured. Think of a pancake, when you pour the mix on the hot pan, the part touching the pan become solid pretty quickly, but the top of the pancake is still soft – the light acts like the heat that cooks the pancake for the Gel Polish, the UV light cures the polish and makes it hard, and the bottom part can still be soft when the top is already cured, so it feels like the Gel Polish is cured when not all of it is.
The uncured Gel Polish then can be absorbed by the nail bed and is not good for it. When the hard, cured gel is touching the nail bed it’s fine because it’s a solid and can’t be absorbed by the nail bed. When the Gel Polish is still an uncured liquid, it can be absorbed some, which is something that can cause softness in the nail bed.
However, when applied properly the Gel Polish won’t damage the nail bed at all. In fact, like Dip Powder but to a lesser degree because Gel Polish is not as strong as Dip Powder, it will provide a layer of protection for the nail bed. The nail has some extra reinforcement and is protected against breaking by the Gel Polish.
Gel Polish and Dip Powder are removed the same way – by soaking in Acetone – so the same caveats apply to Gel Polish removal as Dip Powder removal. You want to file or drill enough so that the “seal” of the topcoat is broken and then manicure soaks off easily, but you don’t want to drill too far and hit the actual nail and drill it away.
Also, you need to be careful about picking the manicure off, just like with Dip Powder. Since Gel is less durable than Dip Powder it is more likely to begin to lift, and when it does, many women begin to pick at it. This picking and peeling causes damage to the top of the natural nail. If you Gel Polish Manicure begins to peel, don’t pick at it! Use some acetone to soak it off!
If you are interested in doing Gel Polish at home you can get a Gel Polish Starter Kit here: https://www.revelnail.com/collections/kits/products/gel-polish-essential-starter-kit
If you already have some Gel Polish on your manicure and need help getting it off, you can get a Gel Polish Removal Kit here: https://www.revelnail.com/products/dip-gel-removal-kit
Nail Polish
Nail Polish is the easiest to apply of the Nail Treatment options, and really does the least amount to protect your nails and keep them healthy, but also has minimal downside as far as being able to damage your nail beds.
Nail Polish cures when it comes in contact with air, so when you apply it, it will eventually cure all the way through, even if you apply a thick layer to it.
It is relatively weak, so women with weak or soft nail beds won’t get much protection from it. You can still easily break or damage a nail with a Nail Polish.
Pro Tip: Nail Lacquer is the term people in the industry use to help separate it from Gel Polish. Usually Gel Polish will be referred to as “Gel” and Nail Polish will be referred to as “Lacquer” – so now you know!
Nail Polish only lasts a few days on most women and does tend to chip or peel pretty easily. Once again, you have to be very careful about how you remove it! If you peel it off yourself, you can damage the nail bed. However, because Nail Polish (Lacquer to a pro like you) doesn’t bond to the nail as strongly as Dip Powder or Gel Polish, it has less capacity to do damage than they do. When peeled off, it isn’t strong enough to take as much of the top layer of your nail off with it, for the most part. But it’s still not a great idea to peel it. Nail Polish comes off very easily with some Acetone, so just grab a cotton ball and get it with Acetone instead of peeling it, your nails will thank you for it!
If you are interested in kit that has everything you need to get started with Nail Polish at home you can get one here: https://www.revelnail.com/collections/kits/products/essential-nail-polish-starter-kit
Acrylics
Acrylics are the most controversial and have the most variation in what they can do to your nails. Because of the strength of Acrylics, you can have a nail length and shape that even the strongest natural nail could not achieve. A woman with weak, soft natural nails can have acrylic nails applied that can have an incredible length and not worry about them bending or breaking. So, for providing strength, acrylics have a lot to offer.
For damaging nails, once you have acrylics applied, they bond so well with your nails that it can cause damage to the nail when its removed. Since you can’t soak off acrylics, they are usually removed with a drill in the salon, and for many women that means that the top layer can get damaged during that removal and leave their nails feeling weaker after removal.
Ingredients
A final note about ingredients - One thing we didn't mention was the quality and safety of the ingredients you use. Just as important as what manicure treatment you decide to go with is making sure you choose a high quality product. There are a lot of brands - especially on places like Amazon, but even in the professional nail salon market - that are using low quality ingredients and manufacturing them in places where there are no regulations about what you can put in cosmetics. This leads to some ingredients that aren't great for you being used because they are cheaper - this is how you see nail polishes and dip powders for less than a dollar a container on Amazon. They are using filler ingredients that are low cost to cut down the costs of their products so they can sell cheap, but those fillers aren't good for you and they aren't something you want touching your skin and nails for a long period of time. The best way to be sure is to buy products where you know where they are made (all of Revel Nail's Dip Powder is made in the USA and follows FDA guidelines) and even better buy products that are registered for sale in the EU. The EU has very strict cosmetic regulations, even stricter than the US, and if a product can be sold there you know it is safe. You can read a little bit about what ingredients we are leaving out in this article here: https://www.revelnail.com/blogs/revel-nail-blog/blog5-7-9-even-10-free.
Hopefully this article gives you some insight into how to get a healthy manicure no matter what method you prefer - Dip Powder, Gel Polish, Acrylic or Lacquer. Just make sure you follow the proper precautions in applying the products and removing them!
