Is nail polish bad for your nails?

[pussinboots61]

I have two friends who've stopped wearing nail polish as they say it ruins their nails. I've read on the Internet the same thing. I wear nail polish a lot, apart from times when I get a bit lazy about it. What do you think? Anyone here not paint their nails?

No it isn't bad for your nails if you take care of them.
Use big 3 free polish
Always use basecoat
Use a good quality remover. If you have dry nails then an acetone free remover.
Always use cuticle oil. Rub it into nails and cuticles daily.
Getting Regular manicures with hydrating treatments and cuticle work is very good too.

^^ exactly

I don't wear it because I can't be bothered (once in a while for special occasions) and my nails are 100% more healthy than when I used to have my nails painted most of the time. They never split or crack and they grow long without me noticing. Maybe I didn't take proper care of my nails but I have noticed a huge difference

See that's why I don't wear nail varnish
Apart from the faff of putting it on and taking it off you have all that faff to add if you want your nails to stay nice!

I wear polish 90% of the time but I deliberately leave my nails clean 10% of a time to let them 'breathe'.

I do this as a friend if a friend apparently wore nail varnish on her toes non stop for 5 years and her toenails went spongy. probably bull but stuck with me.

I do notice though if I have my nails professionally done with shellac instead of doing them myself they do become brittle and pitted so I avoid it now.

I have had nail polish on my toes permanently for the past years. I decided to leave it off last winter to see what happened. Nothing exciting happened so I have gone back to having them painted all the time! I have never had spongy nails or anything bad happen to them with constant nail varnish use.

Nope. Use a decent base coat (I use one by Nails Inc that I wear all the time even when I don't put anything on top and it had made my nails much stronger.) Use acetone free nail polish remover, never cut your cuticles and make sure they are moisturised, and the one I saw that made me go but does work is put hand cream onto your nails and massage it in, leave it for half an hour and then wipe off the excess (I use a baby wipe.) This helps protect your nails from your polish, as even the best nail polish has some really nasty stuff in it.

Spongy nails sounds like an infection to me, nowt to do with nail polish (though they can spread infection from your toes to you finger nails, yuck!) Nails don't need to breath either, though giving them a rest from shellac sounds wise to me, as things like that are absolutely brutal to your nails.

My job is horrible to my nails as I wash my hands constantly and they come into contact with this horrible stuff called D10 all the time, which means if I'm not wearing anything on my nails it dries them out to the point where they're a cracking, flaking mess.

Nails don't need to breathe. You can wear polish or gel polish constantly with not ill affects if it is applied and removed properly and got follow aftercare.
Spongy nails definitely sounds like a nail infection. Fungal nails can go soft and flaky.
Shellac and gel polish applied professionally and removed properly. Not picked off! Should not cause any damage. Regular use of cuticle oil is essential. Bad nail techs cause the damage not the gel/shellac.

I always wear (ordinary) nail polish and have done all my adult life.

My nails are strong and never break. I quite often pick it off if I am on a boring course at work, but even doing that doesn't affect them.

My friends that wear Shellac all complain that it has ruined their nails.

I think it's just down to luck - a bit like having loads of good hair or thin hair that won't grow.