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Anyone have any tips for removing acrylic nails without going in to have them taken off. i have not had them filled for 3-4 weeks and they have started to lift. i have cut them down but really want them off. I dont want to have to go in to have it done as i have a 19 month old who i'd have to take so it would be lots of work iykwim, and the smell of the nails been done makes me feel sick. :)
Yup nail polish remover. Soak them in it.
Soak some cotton balls in acetone based nail polish remover and wrap around your nails. I think I used aluminum foil over the cotton to keep it in place.
normal nail polish remover will do nothing... only remove nail polish :lol:
You need 100% pure acetone... which is sometimes difficult to get. Bunnings sell it. Sometimes 'acetone nail polish remover' is watered down and might not be very effective.
It is classified as a 'hazardous chemical' as it is really strong stuff... so not many nail places or supermarkets/chemists will sell pure acetone.
You need to put them in small glass bowls and soak your nails for over half an hour. And try not to lift them out of the bowls, as the acrylic sets hard again.
Do NOT put them in plastic bowls as they plastic may melt.
If you have a metal file or wooden stick... scrape off the sticky acrylic as it 'melts'. Do this while they are still soaking (ie: don't lift the nails out of the acetone). For this reason, you need to do one hand at a time... or have someone help you to scrape off the excess.
You will need a really strong nail file - ideally 100 grit - to remove the excess thick/lumpy acrylic.
And you will need a really soft block buff file to smoothe out your nails after most of the acrylic is off.
You will need to get a good quality nail hardner and apply that at least every second day... if not daily... as your nails will be very weak after removing acrylics.
Rather then soaking them off completely... you could use the file & buff and leave a thin layer of acrylic (good for strength)... and just keep filing the edges (gently) as they lift. This will do less damage to your nails then removing them totally.
I used to remove mine with one of the actual acrylic nails i had already removed... iykwim?
I'd soak them in acetone first, then get one of the bigger nails off that had already kind of lifted and then use it underneath the other lifted nails it to *shift* them off... it always worked really easily, as long as i had soaked them first. Then just file and buff them and put on some of that recovery nail polish specifically for acrylic damaged nails...
HTH :D
thanks everyone i have put DD to bed and tidied up so finally have an hour to myself to do this. I sent DH to get some 100% acetone so will start soaking them when i can drag myself away from BB :)
Jodie thankyou for been so clear i will follow what you have said you sund like you know what you are doing :)
Yeah... I own a beauty salon.
I'm a trained nail technician.
So... I do know what I'm talking about ;)
There are some good brands of polish around. One of the best is Nail Tek which is specially formulated for people who have removed acrylic nails.
But anything is better then nothing. So after removing your acrylic... ensure you coat your nails in something to protect them. And use non-acetone polish remover to remove any nailpolish.