What Are the Benefits of Gel Nails?

Gel nails provide an eye-catching and long-wearing alternative to traditional nail polish. Although some people may worry that gel manicures could damage their nails, this depends on how frequently and professionally your service provider performs them.

Be sure to meet with an experienced nail technician regularly and practice proper maintenance, including using cuticle oil, wearing gloves and avoiding harsh cleaning chemicals. Doing this will help limit damage and keep your nails in top condition.

Long-Lasting

Gel manicures offer long-term beauty solutions without chipping or dulling; making them the ideal solution if your nails need to remain strong for work purposes or you simply lack time for frequent polish changes.

To extend the longevity of your gels, it’s essential that you take special care with both natural nails and cuticles. Nguyen suggests using a cuticle oil like Paume All-in-One Cuticle & Nail Cream daily while wearing gloves when washing dishes or repotting plants.

Gibson-Tuttle recommends filing off the polish to break up the topcoat seal before placing cotton balls soaked with pure acetone for 10-15 minutes over your nails to remove your gel manicures. She further advises rehydrating your nails and cuticles post removal using moisturizer to avoid brittleness; taking breaks between gel manicures will extend their duration; it is advised to wait two weeks between visits for another gel manicure appointment.

Easy to Apply

Applying gel polish to nails is a quick and straightforward process. Gel nail color contains monomers as well as photoinitiators that reacts with UV light to form polymer chains from its constituent monomers resulting in hardened nail polish finishes.

Gel Nails can last up to two weeks when applied correctly and feature natural-looking results. However, proper care must be taken when wearing them by applying hand lotion daily and moisturizing cuticles as required.

If you’re interested in getting a gel manicure, be sure to visit a salon that uses high-quality products and UV lights. In addition, wear sunscreen around your nails as ultraviolet lights used during curing may contribute to skin cancer or premature aging of surrounding tissues. Also avoid picking at or using other nails to remove gel nail polish as this could harm natural nails.

No Chips

Gel nail polish requires UV or LED lighting in order to set its color onto your nails, eliminating smudging, chipping or peeling issues that plague traditional polishes.

As soon as monomers in nail polish come into contact with light, they undergo polymerization – a chemical reaction which turns them into solid form. Two key ingredients – photoinitiators and plasticizers – combine to give that hard-shell finish on your fingertips.

Dr. Ranasinghe advises maintaining healthy and moisturized nails for extended wear from gel manicures. Rehydrating them daily with products like petroleum jelly or cuticle oil may help ensure this happens, according to Ranasinghe.

Be careful to use your nails only as tools, which could damage and crack under pressure. Furthermore, ensure you remove your gel polish in an appropriate manner to avoid harming the natural nail underneath.

Easy to Remove

An expert manicure requires both art and science to achieve, which makes it essential that it be done by someone with proper tools who knows exactly what she’s doing while possessing plenty of patience. When selecting your salon professional, ensure they have access to proper tools as well as patience!

But, if time is of the essence and you can’t make it to the salon before your gel polish chips, there are steps that you can take to safely remove it without risking damage to your nails or prompting panic from a nail tech. Start by saturating a cotton ball with acetone and placing it directly on your nail.

Wrap a cotton ball and nail in a strip of aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes, gently pressing and twisting off before using a cuticle stick to remove any remaining gel polish from your nails. After your nails have been thoroughly cleansed, use cotton balls dipped in rubbing alcohol for light surface cleansing before applying cuticle oil for extra hydration and protection.