To be displeased with this BIAB removal?

[ALittleBitAlexa]

I never get my nails done, but I got BIAB (builder in a bottle?) and gel last month for a holiday. I had them done once again after that, then had them removed (in the same salon) at the weekend. My nails are wrecked! Is this normal? I've always had decent, healthy nails but after a month of BIAB they're flaky. I'm not convinced that the beauty therapist knew what she was doing - she used acetone and foil then a scraper thing, and then filed by hand (which I believe is right) but the surface of my nails are all scratched and my cuticles were bleeding. Is this inevitable with removal or did she not do her job properly?

Gels and anything of the sort always ruin my otherwise fine and healthy nails.

She didn't do it properly. That is the correct way but sounds like she filed it down too far.

No she sounds brutal and it should never leave your cuticles bleeding. At the end of the day when they remove any gel/BIAB/acrylic nails they are never as healthy as they were before the application. They will be softer. However, most of the time clients get new nails on top so it is always hidden. Even so there should not be the amount of damage that there is.

It sounds to me (non-pro just done my own nails for 20 years) like she didn't allow the gel to be completely soft and instead removed it whilst parts were still hard and firmly attached to the nail. I have linked a video below to start almost at the end to show you what the nails should look like. In the full video she does show where if the gel isn't completely softened by the acetone it can damage the nail.

Some damage to the surface of the nail is inevitable with gel nails, I think, but they shouldn't be as bad as what you've described, and you should certainly not have cuticles left bleeding. From what you've said it sounds like she went through the right steps, but did them badly - possibly the gel wasn't softened enough when she took the foils off, or she over-filed/scraped afterwards.

Thanks for all your replies. Yeah I think it's been a combination of not letting it soften enough (it definitely wasn't as soft as the video shows, more like you know when kids scrape crayon off a piece of paper?) and over-filing. Sigh. I take it the damage will grow out and the new nail that grows in will be back to normal? It looks like just surface damage, I don't think she's damaged the nail bed or anything.

I'm sorry I know this is old but that is not true about biab /gel nails making the nails not as healthy after removing it.

@Notamaterlistictypeofwoman are you a nail tech? A dermatologist? What is your definition of healthy? I was assuming that the salon she visited used acetone to remove the gel. When has soaking your nails in acetone ever been beneficial to the health of the nail bed or cuticles?

Also why name only me in any of this? There are 2 other posters on here who also claim their own nails were damaged afterwards. Why deliberately resurrect a zombie thread to make this point without offering any linked evidence to the contrary?

I provided a video from a professional nail tech, I was showing the correct way the nails should have been removed for the least amount of damage.

Some get impatient. Honestly iv found better to do at home as you can just chill while acetone does its job.

I use mylee gel remover for my gel nails, Iv found it very good. Just file surface and paint on and gel flakes in like 5mins.

Happy to say that three months later the nails have grown out and are now back to normal, so it wasn't permanent. I spoke to another girl in the salon when I was in for something else and she agreed it shouldn't have left them in that state. Lesson learned, avoid that specific beauty therapist. She's brutal when she does brows too so it's not really surprising.

Actually I am a nail tech, you claim it's a zombie thread but yet here you are ranting with me... It depends on the application and removal of the product and obviously if you are allergic to the product you test it out on one finger.. Google will help you if you want proof

@Notamaterlistictypeofwoman as you appear to be a relative newcomer I will explain that MN moves very, very fast, the only reason I even saw this is because if you @ anyone's username they get a red circle next to the account image at the top right of the page. MNHQ also email that person telling them they have been quoted or mentioned on a thread. You quoted me which means I get the alert and the email.

A zombie thread especially on a board like AIBU that has a huge amount of daily traffic, pages and pages in fact, is anything where the discussion has clearly ended and in this case 3 months ago. The OP has probably also been alerted by MN that someone posted on her thread that she opened.

Sometimes people who run a business trawl through MN posts to argue the other side if they see a negative comment about a service that they provide. Which in this case you did. The topic of BIAB has come up so many times over the years and especially during lockdown usually on the Style and Beauty board. I didn't say anything about an allergic reaction to acetone I stated that soaking nails in acetone is not beneficial to the nail bed or cuticle and this is usually the removal process for gel. I don't need to google anything, I have been having my nails done in both salons and at home for almost 30 years.

Also this isn't ranting, this is the tone for MN when you personally targeted me and yet didn't mention 2 other people on this thread who also backed up what I said.

@ALittleBitAlexa I am really glad your nails have recovered and that it hasn't put you off having your nails done in the future. I love doing mine.

That's a relief and definitely avoid that beauty therapist, clearly she doesn't know the correct method of removing the product on the nails