5 year old gel nails - is just once ok?

[ChronicallyOnLime]

God I don’t want to sound like an awful mother because I know gels can weaken nails.. but will one time be ok?

We’re off to Disneyland next week as a surprise for DD and she is utterly obsessed with having her nails done, we always use regular polish for her but they never last more than a day or two. I do my own gels at home for special occasions and I’m wondering whether I could do it on DD just for our trip?

I can avoid filing her nails surface as it’s not necessarily being done for that much longevity as you would an adult. But I’m just wondering if it’s still a terrible idea?

Even at the age of 2, my daughter was starting to have opinions on what she wanted to wear and how she wanted to present herself. I have a video of her standing in front of the mirror, putting on a pair of sunglasses and saying, "I look FANTASTIC."

Gobsmacking.

@MrsSunshine2b I remember dd1 at the age of 2 insisting she wanted to wear her red coat with pink corduroy dungarees instead of her blue and pink coat - and exdh refusing to go out with her unless she put the blue and pink coat on!

What would this pp have you do? Cancel the holiday and lock dd in her room until she’s old enough to definitely remember things and so is worth spending time and money on? Because until then it’s a waste? I always find this suuuch an odd comment to make.

I’ve seen little nail stickers for kids.
I bet she’d love those because they look more like nail art .

I've explained it.
Dressing up/fun v adult type beauty treatment.
Just an opinion.

There are some great nail wraps. There was a thread on style and beauty about lily and fox. I would not do gels but get those they come off easily with oil but will last well enough for holidays

Yep, honestly it's a hard 'no' from me. It's unnecessary and kids nails are soft, how the heck will you get them off?

Just, no!

Gel nails are massively damaging. I had mine done before Christmas and the damaged bits are still growing out.

I like this suggestion a lot 😁

My little girl is 7 and we've been getting our gel nails done together as a treat since she was about 5 (xmas, halloween, birthdays etc). There's been no damage and she loves it! I think it's fine. They're only nails! Lol. No one's ever batted an eyelid either and I live in quite a middle class (slightly stuck up) area! Lol. It's just seen exactly as exactly what it is - a bit of fun! We get really bright matching colours!

She's five!!!!!!!

A salon was regularly doing gel nails on your 5 year old daughter, @SharpFox ?

Its not just the filing and the fact that the top layer of her young nail bed may be affected once removed it's the gel lamp her young skin will be exposed to, not enough tests have been carried out to explore links between cancers and skin on hands or nail beds. I am a qualified nail tech and would never apply gel nails below the age of 16 without the parents consent and I would still be informing them of the risks. Nail wraps are a brilliant idea and they do gorgeous Disney ones on temu. If you do go ahead with gel please apply factor 50+ sunscreen on her hands x

Yes

They're not massively damaging at all! I can peel them off quite easily.

Why not just paint her nails and get some decorative Disney themed stickers?

My DD(6) has had them a couple of times for fun. My nail lady is comfortable doing them infrequently on a special occasion for younger kids, although they don’t last anywhere near as long as on an adult, they just sort of peel off. Whereas if I tried to remove mine without them being filed and properly removed, my nails would be a wreck!

Neither of us are ‘girly’ (not that being girly is anything bad in the first place) but we do find it fun having bright nails. DD1 loves bright nails but not much interest in anything else like that. It’s the bright, costume aspect she enjoys, same with me really. My nails are always bright colours, nail art, just fun stuff that makes me smile when I glance at them.

Yes me too! I’m very square about a lot things. No ears being pierced till secondary school, DDs don’t really have any exposure to make-up or anything like that other than dressing-up type stuff like glitter, but nails to me are dress-up, fun, colourful, costume stuff. But I will join you in bad parent corner

There is absolutely no "hate" on here. Posting a disagreement isn't "hate".

Please don't use nail wraps on her, the ones I used destroyed my nails!

Hard no from me

Who the heck professional studios puts get nails on 5 year olds????

Tell me where because surely it's not professional

I think OP is having a rough ride here. She asked a question, didn’t say she was going to do something regardless.

I wouldn’t do gel personally as I think it would be harmful to such young nails. My DC (both boys) ask for polish occasionally, usually in response to me having the occasional gel mani or pedi and I have kids polish which peels off easily.

I understand what you mean OP that the desire to be mini adults often comes from children. Hard balance to know when to say yes and no. I’m sorry so many were unkind when you reached out for guidance

People are likely being polite ... in case you didn't get the memo getting gel nails regularly on a 5 year old is 100% tacky.

Here in this "middle class" (😂lol) area school would address it - as gel nails on children would not be tolerated. As well as the implicit messaging re: inappropriate, completely unacceptable from a health and safety perspective.......

Nail technicians insurance doesn't cover under 16s for a reason. Their nails are more delicate and at risk of damage. You're also putting her at a higher risk of developing an allergic reaction in the future. Just stick to regular polish.