Getting your nails done does not ruin them. Doing it badly does.
If your nails are thin, bendy or peeling after a manicure, something went wrong in the chair. Almost always it was the file, the removal, or both. The product itself is rarely the culprit.
Over-filing
Your nail plate is built in layers. An e-file in careful hands takes off product and tidies the skin around the nail. Used heavily, it takes nail with it.
You will not feel this happening. There is no pain and no obvious mark. You notice it a fortnight later, when the nail bends where it never used to, or catches the light in thin white patches.
This is why we work with an e-file and traditional method together rather than choosing one. Some parts of a manicure want the speed. Others want a hand and a file.
The removal, more than the application
Gel that is scraped, prised or levered off brings the top layers of nail with it. More damage is done taking a set off than putting one on.
Picking at a lifting edge yourself does the same thing. The satisfying part is the sound of it coming away, and what comes away is nail.
If you have builder gel or hard gel on, come back to us to take it off. Hard gel in particular has to be filed off and cannot be soaked, so it is worth the trip.
What actually protects the nail
Builder gel adds a flexible layer over your own nail. It moves rather than cracks, which is why it suits nails that peel or break, and nails you are growing out. It is designed to be rebalanced every three to four weeks rather than stripped off and started again. That rhythm matters more than the product.
An IBX treatment goes under gel polish and works into the nail plate itself. We offer it as an add-on for nails that need the help.
Dip powder systems ask more of the nail. Repeated application and removal thins it over time, which is one reason we do not offer SNS.
How to tell you are in good hands
Anyone can say they care about your nails. A few things are checkable.
They should look at your nails before they touch them, and say so if something needs attention. Removal should be unhurried. And you should be able to ask what happens to the tools between clients.
Ours are scrubbed, sealed in pouches and sterilised in an Enbio Class autoclave, the same medical-grade steam dentists use. Each pouch carries a colour indicator that confirms the cycle ran. Ask your salon what they use. The answer tells you a lot.
Between appointments
Most of what keeps a manicure on your nails is what happens away from the studio.
Cuticle oil daily does more than anything else on this list. Wear gloves for cleaning and washing up, because prolonged water is what loosens an edge. Try not to use your nails as tools. And resist picking, however tempting a lifted corner is.
Lighter shades can pick up colour from fake tan and makeup, which is worth knowing before you choose one.
If yours are already damaged
They grow out. The nail plate replaces itself, and the job in the meantime is to protect what is there while the new growth comes through.
That is what builder gel is for. It suits nails that are weak, damaged or bitten, and it puts a firm surface where a ragged edge used to be. Clients come to us with short, bitten and brittle nails and grow them out underneath it.
Bitten nails take the longest, because the habit and the nail work against each other. A ragged edge is usually what starts a bite, so covering it helps on both counts.
None of this is quick. Builder gel is rebalanced every three to four weeks and the nail underneath grows at its own pace. Anyone offering you a fast fix is selling you something else.