Gel nails and splitting

[2LittleMonkeysJumpingOnMyHead]

I've been doing my own gel nails since Christmas. After about 3 consecutive polishes I noticed they were splitting / peeling after removal. I painted on solar oil, trimmed short, and left a few weeks.
I tried again applying and removing and again they seem really split and horrible.
Am I doing something wrong? What can I do with them?
I'm using blue sky polishes and removing as gently as I can with acetone.

I think with gel you're always going to get some splitting/damage, no matter how carefully you remove it.

Just oil those badboys up as much as possible between applications.

Do you buff? Can we have a photo?.

How are you doing the acetone removal? I use cotton pads soaked in acetone, wrap around nail and secure with a strip of foil. Leave until it start to peel off. Use a cuticle stick to gently scrape loose bits off - repeat until all is removed

Wrapping the nails is far better than soaking. Use a small patch of acetone soaked cotton wool or pad and wrap with foil. Leave for around 15 minutes and the gel will flake off without your nails soaking up too much acetone.

You are doing it yourself and you are using bluesky.

I don't buff. I take it off exactly as you describe, Demented pixie.
Box, are you suggesting I'm now t doing it 'properly' and the product isn't great? If so some actual suggestions, would be good...

Don't scrape, the orange stick is to sweep it off. Damage from scraping is possibly what you're seeing. Nails aren't that tough, an orange stick can do a lot of damage.

Some of the kits have been withdrawn from boots recently after they were found to contain professional use only chemicals.

Buy a gel kit off boots & use as directed. Especially do not mix systems, each one has its own lamp. Dry doesn't = Full cure & uncured gel is highly allergenic which is why acrylic allergies are on the rise.

I tried to just push not scrape the last time but even after more soaking the ends just didn't seem to want to come off.
Here's a photo of the worst one. It's been really peeling off today and no polish on for weeks.

When a nail is subject to mechanical or strong chemical trauma eg methylated spirits the layers seperate. It's harder to get uv cured coatings off damaged nails. On a healthy nail it's smoother so they flake off I put shellac on mil & she took it off with meths, nails ruined & I had to IBX them to stop huge chunks falling off

It won't be the acetone, it's not actually damaging to nails. Everyone blames it but it's the orange stick that does the damage.

I'd leave them alone & let it grow out.

Try vinylux nail varnish, 7 day wear and no lamp needed.

my nails are wrecked from 4 yrs of permenant gel or shellac..never had a break...i know i really need to ..they grow so quickly but are thin and splitting constantly.
I hate no nail polish though, and i chip normal polish literally within a few hours..and am hopeless at doing it myself.
would need to go to nail bar every other day to have normal polish neatened up etc...i have neverheard of vinylux ? is it better and would my nails recover underneath this
plus is it true that shellac is worse for your nails than gel ?

If a product is correctly applied & removed it doesn't damage the nail. It's all safe in the right techs hands.

There's no need to have a break although some brands are exploiting the myth by making strengtheners to use on a break. Fear based marketing in action.

Shellac is less damaging because there's no buffing at all. Gel, acrylic & hard gel need buffing but only lightly. Never with a drill. Never enough to damage the nail.

Vinylux is CND nail polish, it's up to 7 days chip free but you need the matching top coat. The colours match CND shellac. CND rescue Rx is there nail strengthener for damaged nails. You can apply it underneath.

IBX is a salon treatment to repair damage from nails caused by incorrectly applied/removed products. It's cured under a uv lamp. I will find there website, the before and after photos are sent in by techs from around the world & not photoshopped.

www.instagram.com/famous_names/

professionalbeauty.co.uk/site/IndustryNewsDetails/home-use-gel-nail-kits-lead-to-increase-in-allergic-reactions

famousnamesproducts.com/before-after/

Is it still possible to get what was called 'silk wrap'? I used to get mine done that way, and loved it. A piece of fabric placed on the nail, and acrylic over the top, then cured. Looked great, so natural. Anyone remember it?

Mine did this when I had back to back polishes and shellac. They only thing that was effective was cutting short, leaving them alone and using a good hand & nail cream.
In Feb this year every single ones of my nails was peeling or split, now they are long and naturally shiny.
I just don't believe that gel polishes can be good long term for your nails sorry

Ive had vinylux too I found it wasn't really comparable to the salon shellac I'm afraid.

Which bit do you think is bad? Genuine question

I have mine done professionally and I've never been able to do more than two rounds before having to leave them clear to recover for a couple of months.

Vinylux is polish don't forget, nothing that isn't uv cured will be completely chip resistant because polish never dries.

Gel polish & shellac, shellacs not a gel don't forget, are completely dry when dried under the correct lamp.

So if you're techs using shellac under a non branded lamp or a lamp from a different brand like gellux it won't be fully dried & you will be exposed to uncured acrylic leaving you open for allergies.

thank you for links...my nails are definitely different to how they were before i started having shellac etc on them and have vertical ridges and are very thin at least four split vertically as well.
But i now realise this may be due to the fact i go to the very cheap vietemese nail bar in my home town and have no idea what stuff they are putting on and they seem to have one unbranded lamp ...didnt realise that UV lamps are not the same..genuine question though..surely uv light is uv light...there cannot be a difference ???
isnt that just marketing ?
anyway i like the look of the ibx treatment and wonder if anyone knows if you can put polish on top while having it ?

You can wear polish over IBX. You can't even see it after curing.

It's not just the range of uv, which is limited, it's the distance between the nail & the lamp.

There's a forum for nail techs and whenever you get someone complaining their product isn't working it's often because they aren't prepping properly or their using a lamp for a different system to save money. It all gets a bit bun fighty.

Some lamps even advertise as curing all products which is untrue.

thanks again..ibx even reccommended by good house keeping so must be good :)