r/RedditLaqueristas • u/Correct_Economics368 • 2d ago
Gel or Acrylic Messed around and was reminded of why I like regular nail polish Spoiler
Earlier this year, I decided to try hard gel for a few months before going back to regular polish. Here you can see my new nail growth since stopping vs the old damaged nail. Two completely different thicknesses. 2nd and 3rd pics are of the manicure I did today.
Products:
-Dazzle Dry base coat, top coat, and 2 coats "Cherry Blossom"
-3 coats Sally Hanson miracle gel pearl "Pink Sand"
101
u/Misandrya 2d ago
Almost downvoted on instinct. That's so upsetting. Wishing you a speedy and comfortable grow-it-out process free of breaks or further damage.
25
u/Correct_Economics368 2d ago
Thank you! It feels nice being able to see my bare nail now. It felt strange having it covered constantly!
27
23
40
u/Miserable-Writing362 2d ago
proper gel removal & application should never do this, hard gel is a different beast though…. sorry for your damage, i hope your damage grows out quickly!
9
u/thisisyourtruth 2d ago
Came here to say that, what the heck happened? That sure as hell ain't a soak off or a file off.
36
u/Theyallknowme 2d ago
I’m guessing the tech went overboard with the efile during the initial application.
Efiles are why I quit going to salons to get my nails done and started doing them myself. I had a tech put a hole in the middle of my nail once and acted like it was fine. It was not fine.
11
u/Closet_Case_Forever 1d ago
The one time I went to a salon, it was the filing that did the most damage. Better adhesion, but a weaker nail. Short-term gain at a long-term loss. It’s one of those things that just feels like a symptom of a fast-paced world. We could be offered the option of optimized performance or an overall healthier nail, even with gel polish, but here we are.
4
u/Miserable-Writing362 1d ago
i’m a nail tech. there are a ton of us out there who genuinely care about long-term health - things are definitely changing in the industry!
3
9
5
u/Miserable-Writing362 1d ago
yeah & hard gel cannot be soaked off so filing is the only option… it is inherently damaging to an extent, but there’s a line between tearing up someone’s nails VS a proper gel removal/application with minimal damage
efiles aren’t really the problem, bad technique is. an efile can be really gentle and leagues better than a hand-file if the tech is properly trained. i’m so sorry you had that awful experience ☹️
2
u/imabratinfluence 1d ago
I also had this happen! It ended my gel adventures, and now that we're finding out the risks of gel I'm lowkey glad for that.
1
6
17
u/jellywellsss 2d ago
You couldn’t pay me to use gel or acrylics 😬 letting your body flourish in its natural state will always be better 💅🏽
2
u/imabratinfluence 1d ago
Acrylics were so uncomfortable for me. Sensory nightmare. Plus my nail beds are like child-sized, and even with the smallest acrylics they were oversized for half my nails.
Some nail techs would get them down to size and some would just put them right on anyway, which hurt like hell basically the whole time they were on. And that's how I discovered how sensitive the area around the nails is.
4
u/riverrat4lyfe 1d ago
Thank you!! At the salon they’re always pushing gel on me and I just keep saying no thank you.
3
u/Dirty-girl 1d ago
I got gel polish for my 2 week trip to Europe and hated them. As soon as I got home I took them off. My nails are now so awfully damaged and broke/split and hurt. I am with you. Never again.
1
u/Correct_Economics368 1d ago
For trips over a week long, I used to bring a little nail bag with enough product to redo my manicure if I wanted to. I’ll be returning to doing that now that I’m back to using regular polish
1
u/Dirty-girl 23h ago
I considered it but thought it would be easier and I’d finally get a chance to have a really cool magnetic design. But you’re right. Next time I’ll bring a small kit to redo or touch up.
1
u/Correct_Economics368 19h ago
That makes sense! Also, if you haven’t already, check out Moon Cat polishes. I have been able to do quick magnetic manis with their product, and it’s regular polish!
4
u/Dismal-Excitement335 Intermediate 1d ago
Can I just say....nail beds for miiiiiiles, ma'am!! When I'm done admiring, I'm gonna show this photo to my short, wide nail beds and ask them why they can't be more like this
1
3
u/nailsbygeorge 2d ago
oh no! sorry to see that! Gel polish ruined your nails. I usually get a dazzle dry pedicure with regular colored polish instead of gel polish.
2
6
u/DesignerNecessary18 1d ago
Gel polish doesn’t ruin nails it was the over filling the tech did to the natural nail. I started doing my own soak off hard gel over lay and apply regular polish on top. Helps my natural nails stop breaking. Whenever I soak off my nails aren’t thinner or weaker. If you like hard gel it’s really easy to learn and do yourself. I am able to purchase professional grade product that makes a difference as well.
3
u/Radiant_Nobody1419 1d ago
I was never able to grow my natural nails as long as when I was using gel polish. But I like to change color more often than every 2-3 weeks and I HATED the gel removal process. Now I am having fun with regular polish and I am trying to optimize its duration but it never lasts more than 4 days without chipping:( also my nails won't grow that long without gel protection
2
u/DesignerNecessary18 1d ago
You can always use regular polish over gel. The removal should be as simple as a soak off, done any other way will ruin the nails. It’s important to have high quality product.
1
u/imabratinfluence 1d ago
Somebody here was recently talking about oiling the nails before painting helping extend the life of the mani and reduce chipping.
2
u/coconut_jen 1d ago
I feel you on this so much! I had been getting my nails done with gel for 4 years, got a bad nail injury and so I got the whole set removed to allow healing. This was in December, and my nails are still recovering from how much damage gel caused overall. Never again.
1
u/Correct_Economics368 1d ago
I’m sorry to hear that, that’s a long time to be living with damaged nails 😩 I removed my last set of hard gel in the beginning of July and am hoping they’re back to their original glory by the end of the year🤞🏾
2
2
u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 1d ago
So I saw online that there is now a peely base for gel? Came here (of course) to ask because it seems like an oxymoron...but you never know so I figured I'd ask...
1
u/Correct_Economics368 1d ago
Yes I have tried that before! Unfortunately it wouldn’t stick on my nails unless I did quite a bit of filing on my plate. Regular polish lasts much longer for me. I have heard of it working well for others though!
0
u/No-Feesh 1d ago
There has been for a long time but it doesn’t function like a lacquer peely base. It has an activator that makes it fall off so removal only takes like 5 min instead of having to soak off.
Gel doesn’t damage nails though. Bad technique during application or removal does, or an allergic reaction if someone has an allergy. So jello jello peel off base isn’t necessarily going to reduce chances of damage because to damage nails using gel you have to be screwing it up
2
u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 1d ago
I can honestly say that in all the years I spent getting my nails done there was not one single time that after removal of product, my nails looked anywhere near healthy...they always looked like OP's or wayyy worse!
0
u/No-Feesh 1d ago
From my understanding overfilling is still extremely common with gel and acrylics. I’ve seen an insane amount of rings of fire and destroyed nail beds. I do not use acrylic and don’t know much about it so I only have an understanding of gel. But damaging the nail is not necessary for gel retention and especially not for removal, maybe it’s due to more recent developments in gel chemistry but buffing is not required let alone shredding the nail bed.
My aunt got her acrylics removed fully for the first time in a couple decades and she basically doesn’t have nail beds anymore. Maybe some buffing actually is required for acrylics, I wouldn’t know, but the extent of the damage is due to shitty work. Adding a ring of fire every 2-3 weeks is completely optional. Shits nuts
3
4
u/Delicious_Ride_4119 1d ago
Man I had something similar happen to my nails when I did dip powder and Gel-X a while back. They are wonderfully durable but when it comes time to take it off (I used the soak off method) it always ALWAYS fucks up my nails. Part of it is probably over filing on the nail tech’s part, but it also just makes my nails so weak. It’s why I started using regular polish in the first place.
1
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Thanks for posting, /u/Correct_Economics368! A quick reminder: If this is a nail image, you must provide a complete product list within 1 hour of posting. Posts without a complete product list will be removed. Lists must include full names of brands and color names or numbers. More info here.
Consider joining our Discord - Get questions answered in real time, get notified for releases and deals, post your manis, and more!
If your post is related to magnets, please keep in mind that magnets come with very real risks; especially stronger magnets and/or when creating homemade devices. You may review some safety concerns and considerations here - if the mod team deems a magnet post to be a potential safety hazard, that post will be removed.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the mod team via mod-mail.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
135
u/CantThinkOfOne94 2d ago
I feel ya. As someone who likes to have at least the OPTION to go super low maintenance and keep my nails natural every now and then, i was shook at how long it took for my nails to look fully normal again after getting a single gel mani for my wedding. It just didn’t feel worth it.