Has this been asked ( sorry, couldn't find anything) - what are you doing with your acrylic nails as they grow out?

[JesmondDene]

Mine actually hurt as they begin to grow out, as the 'weight' i suppose is on my own nails
I did try at one time to remove them at home....it didn't work? What are you planning to do?

Velocity - Op, maybe read up about how awful those nail bars are. The staff are dreadfully exploited and the products they use, well I wouldn't want them near my skin!

I'm with you - but you can't get an appointment here with a reputable salon -they are fully booked so long ahead.
I fact I had these put on by a reputable salon - for an event - but the salon couldn't book me in to have them removed - they would have had huge gaps by the time they could - so I ended up having them filled...and refilled. I should have been more organised - so difficult when working long hours.
When this is all over - anyone want to open a nail salon?

It took me 3 hours to get my gel (shellac) nails off yesterday. 3 hours of soaking in acetone, filing, soaking, filing ....

3 hours. And my nails are wrecked.

I'm never having anything other than natural nails again. Jesus.

MrsSpencer you must have been doing something very wrong if it took you 3 hours to remove shellac. Are you sure it was just shellac nail polish? No builder gel? (can come in a nail polish bottle)

I have done my own acrylic/shellac/gel nails for decades. The easiest way to remove acrylic or gel is to file, file, file them until you are almost at your natural nail and then soak them in acetone. I use an electric nail file with a crystalum bit so that if you touch your skin with it, it won't shred it.

Shellac should come off with a 10 minute soak in acetone. I used to leave 1 minute between applying the acetone and foil to each nail so that I had 1 minute to work on each exposed nail after the 10 minutes. If the acetone dries out, ie you remove all the foils at the same time, shellac starts to reharden. Or it did for me, about 5 years ago.

Here is the lovely Kirsty, an incredible nail artist, removing acrylic nails safely.

@MontysOarlock I know right?! Believe me, I have had extensive conversations with my nail lady and I have watched numerous YouTube videos. The bloody stuff just wouldn't come off. I still have the glue or whatever it is (builder gel? - I will google it) on my nails but after three hours I just cannot be bothered to do any more.

Yes I filed off the top layer of shellac first. Nail tech did say she'd used an extra strong gel so maybe that is what caused the problem. Normally she uses one of those electric machines to remove it. She told me that a 15-minute soak in acetone would be all that was necessary. Honestly, it was ridiculous!

@MrsSpencerGregson I'd have to guess she used polygel? It's a hybrid between gel and acrylic. That has to be filed to about 1mm to enable acetone to work. Either that or hard gel.

15 minutes my arse

@MontysOarlock I think you're right. She hasn't used the word "polygel" but she is from another European country and her English isn't great. She refers to "extra strong gel." She didn't tell me that. needed to file the gel right down - I assumed I just had to file off the top shiny layer. It all makes sense now!

How do I get the remaining glue off my nails please?!

Dip powder is also a hard to remove product because of the layers of glue that you build (been there, done that, binned that)

Fill a glass bowl (one big enough to fit your hand in) and fill it with lovely warm water.

Hopefully you have a large bottle of acetone, get a ziplock bag, put some folded kitchen towel into the bottom and wet it with acetone. Put your hand in the ziplock bag so your nails are resting against the kitchen towel which you will move your fingers against to aid the process. With you hand in the bag put the bag into the warm water.

The heat from the water helps to remove anything left on your nails. Polygel is just a brand name, usually comes in a tube and is a great product but is never meant to be repeatedly removed from nails, just infilled. Builder gel used to just come in pots but now comes in bottles making it easier to apply and is what I use. There are hard gels too to build strength.

I only know all this because I have never been able to grow my nails. I have taken supplements etc, put on every product there is but they just do not respond. I started having acrylic nails 25 years ago. The cost just got too much so I learned to do my own.

Managed to find the video of using the ziplock method

She is the lady I followed to do my own gel nails at home. Here is that video, although I am fairly sure most people don't want the faff and would rather go to a salon. I am introvert so this works well for me

Brilliant nail tech Susie from Nail Career Education has been a wealth of information on nail health, products etc, she is pretty much an acrylic lady

www.youtube.com/channel/UCTldDNXS4GeChcmwm55mXYQ

Right. Everything on my nails comes in a bottle which looks like a nail varnish bottle, and is applied with a nail varnish brush. So I think it must be builder gel. I shall have another go at removing the glue tomorrow!

I've had dip powder once. Never again. It took 30 minutes of soaking and that was done by the nail tech. Life is too short!

Ooh thank you!! Brilliant video!!!

It is hard doing your dominant hand with any kind of gel or acrylic which is why it is so much easier to go to a nail bar. Plus they can work on the other hand whilst one is curing in the lamp.

There has been an increase in gel that used to just be in pots being sold in nail varnish type jars (or the pottle which is both a pot and a bottle depending which bit you unscrew) I think there has been a gel polish explosion even for the home market as you can take your time perfecting the layer and it doesn't set until you want it to.

Several people I know have started to do their own gel polish nails at home, no builder gel base, just polish.

Next time you are back at the nail bar, take a photo of the products being used on you. Just so you know what you are having on your nails. Your natural nails should still look good but will be weakened from having any type of product on your nails.

Mine are powder nails with a shellac coating. I usually have them done every 3 weeks as they are bomb proof, but this also means i won't be able to get them off myself.
I've just used DHs heavy duty nail clippers to cut them down short. I'll continue to clip them until either they're all grown out or we are out of lockdown. I've tried removing them myself once and it ruined my nails. The new nail coming through is healthy so I'll just live with the two tone nails!

You're halfway there @Freshfaced

Some great help, especially the ziplock and warm water. Thanks.

The only way to remove acrylics is pure acetone. File off any polish and either fill a bowl with pure acetone and place that bowl in another bowl full of boiling water (obviously being careful), and cover with a towel. Or soak cotton pads in acetone, put on nails and wrap in foil. My previous nail lady used foils on acrylics so it does work. The bowl is quicker but I prefer foils as it smells less. My current nail lady uses the bowl though.

I'm not planning on doing anything with mine unless I absolutely have to. My last appointment was Thursday 5th March. I usually go every two weeks but my birthday was the 1st April and then my wedding anniversary is the 9th April. So I stretched my appointment out to make it 3 weeks, so would have been Thursday 26th March for my birthday nails (I didn't want them being 2 weeks old and due to be done the day after my birthday). Then two weeks later on Thursday 9th for my anniversary nails.
Obviously I was unable to go due to lockdown. My current nails have been on 4 and a half weeks so far, well since the 5th of March. Hardly any lifting at all, I'm very pleased. I know it's not really the done thing but my nail lady has said in an emergency I can use a bit of nail glue to glue them. When I need to I'll do that. Want them to stay on as long as possible, certainty until after this Thursday 9th (our wedding anniversary). I'll only take them off if I absolutely have to. Length isn't a problem for me at all, I always wear them long anyway (almost an inch from the end of my finger), so no need to shorten the length as I'm loving how long they are.