Help! Nails.

[ProfessorRizz]

I have very raggedy nails. I nibble them (I’m a skin picker) and I’m also a musician, so they get scuffs and dents from strings.

I am going to the nearest town to get a flu jab tomorrow and thought I might treat myself to a nail appointment. I am embarrassingly clueless about nails. What do I even ask for? Should I get BIAB? Acrylics? I want to keep them short and neat.

Regular gels - I like to keep my nails short so just get plain Biosculpture gel every 3 weeks. BIAB is really only for if you want to grow them out and commit to regular appointments. Acrylics are awful for your nails and again are more for length.

thank you! So if I ask for biosculpture gels, they’ll just do a standard manicure with gel polish?

If you’re always nibbling and scuffing, I’d be careful about gels as they don’t always last long. I tried them and they never really lasted more than one round of doing the dishes. I have acrylics. You could get acrylic gel on your natural nail. A lady next to me had that last time I got mine done. Short and solid. Yes they’re not great for your nail but neither is nibbling them 😂

I love my acrylics and don’t really care about my nails health. They’ve always been absolutely fine.

A nail buffer, a crystal nail file, maybe some Dior crème abricot. Don’t get stuck in the rut of having your nails done all the time. Especially if you are a musician (I play guitar and cello - and am not sure what the point of gel nails are to be honest? Who has time to keep getting nails done all the time?!)

@ProfessorRizzme, I get mine done every 4weeks.
different strokes for different folks 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP I’d go with BIAB. Gel polish isn’t particularly durable. I used to pick that off at the first sign of a chip. I get BIAB now and not only does it not lift or chip it’s pretty much indestructible.
acrylic ruined my nail so I’d avoid that.

I get gel nail polish occasionally. It's like regular polish but very hard wearing - good for a couple of weeks. The only drawback is it can take an evening to get it off if I do it myself.

Your natural nails look nice and healthy. Perhaps just a regular manicure with plain old nail polish.

I’m so baffled 😅 it’s weird because I really like makeup and always have balayage but I’m just 🤷‍♀️ when it comes to nails

I get biab done every three weeks, it’s the only thing that stopped me biting and made my nails look decent. Now I always have lovely nails and that’s worth the investment for me

BIAB is gel

Most places will be fully booked up or extremely busy if they take walk-ins this weekend as it's peak party season, I had mine done last weekend (booked some time ago) and the technician said they were booked solid from this weekend onwards. Possibly not a good time to go for the first time.

I'd spend the money on some decent nail polish, topcoat and cuticle oil stuff, I like essie, but I don't mind painting my nails and if I do a 2 layers and a topcoat it lasts well, plus you could get a couple of colours.

Yes, DIY is your best bet.

I wouldn’t risk any sort of nail intervention if I were a musician. Have you read some of the grim and ghastly tails of intractable nail infections and nail loss that appear in threads here every week?

Don’t allow a manicurist to do anything artificial, not cutting your cuticles, or taking power tools to your nails.

And, btw, your vaccine won’t be effective for a couple of weeks. Do you really want to be sitting that close to someone who’s attending to countless people all day long?

<Wanders away muttering gloomily>

Biab is just nail polish and when it is taken off your nails are still crap underneath. It hasn’t helped mine at all so I’ve stopped getting them done.
I'm trying to remember to uses cuticle oil daily and it seems to be helping.

I will buy some cuticle oil and dig out my manicure set from…wherever it is

Im a guitarist and I swear by BIAB over regular gel

Id love beautiful nails but we aren't allowed long nails or nail varnish in the NHS. I just wear stick ons for special occasions.

I’ve actually just bought some ombré stick-ons and I’m going to go with that instead. I might pluck up the courage to ask for BIAB in the NY.