Allergic to gel nails - advice please

[Scarlettjade]

I’ve searched posts, but can’t find much info.

I seem to have developed an allergy to gel nail polish / acrylics. I stopped having acrylic nail extensions and bought the kit to do at home gel nails.

Every time I do gel nails on my hands, my finger tips itch like crazy in the nights. Why is it only at night? My guess is that it’s linked to body temperature?

Has anyone had a similar reaction and then found that it went away/ stopped having the allergy? I hate my nails being bare, I end up using gel on them and having to persevere with the itchy fingers for 3/4 nights, it then stops, but by day 10-14 I’m having to do them again so it feels quite regular that I’m awake in the night with incredibly itchy finger tips.

I’d be grateful if anyone could recommend anything to help stop the itchiness or alternatives to the gel nails, when I’ve trier good quality nail varnish it seems to chip after 3 days.

Thank you for any advice!

OP I'm gutted. I'm exactly the same.

Unfortunately there isn't a way around it, it'll just get worse the more you try.

When it first happened to me it was because I had bought an at home set which I used very regularly. I stopped and went back to a salon and had the same result.

I left it for years and tried again and it was an instant reaction. Very itchy, very sore...

Both Bio Sculpture and Glitterbelles are HEMA free. Many people are requesting these now.

Like a pp, my nails are shit without anything on and break so easily. Tried the CND/OPI/Sally Hansen stuff. Nothing works, I’ve always had shit nails even as a kid.

I didn’t know hema free gel nail polish was a thing, I’ll have a look into this - thank you!

A good diet ( I dont need to tell you ) will help but also some supplements are supposed to work

CND rescue is amazing, you can buy small sizes to try. I absolutely love the stuff and a little goes a long way

Seriously though, treat your nails with kid gloves. Dont be doing housework without the rubber gloves. Same as DIY and gardening - wear gloves and never use your nails as tools, I use a spoon handle to open a can for example

Keep the nails short, keep cuticles back ( use orange sticks ,nothing metal, and Sally Hansen does a good cuticle remover ) and buy different graded emery boards to keep the tips smooth to stop snags. You need to do this for a few months till the splits and weaknesses grow out, Now I wear my nails at press on "oval"size. thats my natural length before I start getting problems

Sally Hansen Double wear is a must in my book. If you are going bare your nails need protection and tbh, Ive used this since the 80's - back then it was just Hard as Nails and its not as good, but its less harmful chemicals

Done all that. Sorry, don’t want to sound dismissive but I honestly have! From being about 11/12 when I started getting interested in painting them. On their own they’re pretty much see through. I’ve tried the CND Rescue, felt nice but did nothing. Nail Envy and Save the Nail much the same.

Tried every gel system going (Shellac, ACG, Biosculpture, Gelish, Geleration, The Gel Bottle, Glitterbelles) with and without their associated strengthening treatments; Rubber Base, BIAB etc. Either my own nail would break underneath, ruining the gel or the gel would start to lift. Strangely, I’d have a treatment for the first time and it would be great but then my nails would start to either snap or the gel would lift.

Some of us just have shit nails! My DM has lovely nails, even normal polish lasts for ages and we had the same diet for 20-odd years. Only thing that works for me is acrylic.

Could someone tell me more about this allergy?

I understood it can happen when it hasn’t cured properly, and that tends to happen with at home products or when the salon mixes and matches cheap products with cheap curing machines, but judging by this thread, it sounds common.

Is it a risk with gel nails generally, or is it generally ok if shellac gel is used with the CND curing machine, etc.

My nails were fine for the last 40 years until the menopause when they started to weaken. Advised to have gel nails to strengthen the nail underneath. So went to a salon and the reaction was from that. Normal home polish gives no issue!

The product being applied too thickly or inconsistently can also lead to curing issues.

Using an LED machine rather than a UV one sometimes lead to incomplete curing.

I got gel nails regularly until I heard about people developing allergies to them over time. These allergies led some people to reject hip replacements and knee replacements because of some similarities between compounds in the artificial hip/knee and gel nails. If you are getting reactions to the gels now, stop immediately and listen to your body.