Nail Tech ruined my nails. Need advice.

[hyacinthwannabe]

I have been having gel nails done now for approx 3 months. The girl I go to has started a home business she was the manager of the salon I used to go to.

She uses a mechanical spinning file thing to remove the polish and I have noticed my nails are in terrible condition underneath. They have started breaking below the quick! The nail bed throbs at times and they are very sensitive.

Could anyone give me some advice on

1. How to remove the polish that's on at the minute as I am never going back to her!
2. Recommend some products to repair my nails now please.

Thanks.

[SloanePeterson]

I think gel nail polishes are well known to wreck your nails. I had them done once and never again, I was horrified at having the actual nails filed, and when they were removed they were in shocking condition underneath. I bought Opi Nail Envy which was expensive but did sort out the damage. I'd really not recommend you try and remove them yourself though, I did mine partly by myself and that did a lot of the damage

[taybert]

Nah, you don't need a drill to remove gel and pre application buffing only needs to be gentle too. Removal should be buffing the top coat (just removing the shine with a normal file) then acetone/foil and it just lifts itself off. Yours sound really sore and fragile though so I guess even that is going to hurt. Hopefully someone will be along with some good advice soon.

[Ifonlyiweretaller]

Those 'sander' things are awful for your nails. Someone used one on mine in once and it really hurt and knackered them for ages. All the conveyor belt type nail salons (all they do is nails, all day every day, never talk to you just get on with it) seem to use them - no wonder the staff wear face masks all the time, the amount of dust it must create.
I have my nails done with Shellac every 2-3 weeks. They don't even need the top coat buffing off, the acetone and foil process works perfectly. And as the nails are treated with oils etc they are absolutely fine.
I also dislike those having to dunk my nails in little finger baths full of acetone which has happened at a couple of places (probably easier for them than the faff of foils) as it seems to dry out the skin and my fingers feel horrible.
When you find someone good, you tend to stick with them! Mine's been doing me for nearly 10 years now!

[TheDisreputableDog]

Foils to lift them if you want to do it yourself, alternatively you might want to try another salon. Nailitiques Formula 2 is excellent for damaged nails, I would recommend that once the gel is off and then give them a break for a bit to allow them to repair. I used to have extensions and mine were so sore and thin when they were removed but they soon recovered.
Good luck

[JustGettingStarted]

Let them grow out. It will take a while. Perhaps you can paint over with regular polish to hide the gap.

If you soak the nails in warm remover, gel can be removed without filing.

[dementedpixie]

I remove my own using cotton wool pads cut into smaller pieces, pure acetone and strips of tinfoil. Lightly buff the polish with an emery board to let the acetone penetrate. Wet the cotton wool pad pieces with acetone and place over each nail. Wrap a strip of tinfoil round each nail to hold the pad in place. Leave on for 15/20 minutes and check to see if it's starting to peel. I lightly scrape the polish once it's peeling with my nail or one of those things for pushing back cuticles. Wipe the last bits of polish with the acetone pad.

Moisturise well afterwards

[OverAndAbove]

What they all said! The spinny thing will have thinned your nails, whereas it's only the top coat that needs breaking into to let the acetone work. I love gel and never have a problem with my nails

[FrizzBombDelight]

Buy pure acetone (from pound shop), buff the gel to take the shine off, soak a quarter of a cotton pad in the acetone and wrap the finger loosely in tin foil. Time will be dependant on brand, do you know what it is? If you are doing it yourself do one nail at a time. In future if you see an electric file run a mile.

[FrizzBombDelight]

One hand at a time, I meant to say.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Drills are only meant to be used for thinning the free edge of acrylics down, never ever on a natural nail.

Find a local salon retailing CND rescue rx, it'll help rebuild the nail plate but you will need to wait for the damaged areas to grow out which will take about 3 months.

[hyacinthwannabe]

I'm so cross! Why do they use these files?? I wish I'd had a bit of wit and stopped going before now.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It's quicker. One of our educators reckons you can do the same with a hand file of low grit but again that's for acrylics/hard gel extensions.

There's plenty of good nail techs around who push for improving the health of the natural nail.

If your nails are very thin they might not hold product well until the nails have grown out.

In the meantime use CND rescue or OPI do one I've heard good things about.

[Maraki]

What the others said. If you want minimal scrapping and easy gentle removal, leave the foils on for at least 20-25 mins. If the polish doesn't come of easily or there are bits still stuck on, soak the pads in fresh acetone and do the foil wraps again for 15 mins. Do one hand at a time and don't rush. Heavy hand cream and nail oil afterwards

[Nemesia]

Once you have them off (sorry don't know how to do that) rub almond oil into your nails, cuticles and the finger to the top knuckle two or three times a day. You will see a huge improvement.