Never had my nails done before - what to have done?

[ExhaustedPigwidgeon]

I have never been one for beauty salons or looking after my nails, so they’re brittle and I bite them. I want to go somewhere to get them done so they look nice but also easy to look after. What do I ask for in the salon? Gel nails? Is shellac still a thing? I want short and tidy and presentable. Help!

I would just get a regular nail polish, they'll still buff the the nail, shape them, do your cuticles etc. Everything else either seems to be a lot of up keep and/or damaging to the nail.

Builder gel would be great for you - I have builder with colour on top. Bit my nails for decades and they're long and healthy now!

if you want to grow then first it might be worth having acrylics for a month or two to let your natural nails grow.

Thank you both that’s a great starting point - as for buffing and shaping my nails and doing the cuticles properly I don’t even know how to do that! I’ll have a look at acrylics round here and build set gel and hopefully I’ll be able to get a good start to be able to carry them on myself

Shellac is a brand of gel polish. Don't go to a cheap salon as they'll remove it with a drill which will damage your nails further, find a salon that soaks them off and really pays attention to cuticle and nail health. You can ask about the process before your appointment:)

that’s really helpful thank you - the salon I just found advertises a soak service so probably a good one to start with! Hopefully they will be understanding with a complete newbie

I'd just have a regular french manicure - they look really tidy and presentable.

I have gel overlays (like acrylic but thinner so more natural looking) then gel polish on top. You have to get them infilled around every 3 weeks. It's not cheap but an affordable luxury for me

Don’t bother with gel - I had my first gel manicure and then soak off a couple of months ago thinking I was missing out, and it’s taken til now to grow out the damage.

I wouldn’t recommend gels of any kind on brittle nails. BIAB is often touted as the best thing but IME, it just makes any problem worse. It wrecked my nails, abd my poor sister is having horrendous problems with lifting now too. And whatever you do, DON’T buff! All you do when you buff nails is remove the harder (more protective) top layers of the nail plate leaving them prone to more damage.

I follow and recommend a lady on YouTube called The Salon Life..she has loads of free helpful info but I reckon she’d recommend you use warm oil soaks to help the brittleness. The helps the nails become strong and flexible. You don’t want hardener as that will make them even more brittle abd prone to snapping.

Builder in a Bottle (BIAB) is what you need. It will allow your nails to grow strong and look beautiful in the meantime. Look around to see if anywhere near you does it.