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Thread: Removing Gel Nails?

  1. #1
    Cally
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    Removing Gel Nails?

    Anyone know a good way to remove gel nails? It seems anything I try completly destroys my nails and doesnt even take them off completly. I love the look of them but they are a complete pain. I usually take them off and let my nails kind of umm heal I guess before going to get new ones.. can I just go to the salon and have them remove the nails and put new ones on? Thanks.

  2. #2
    Senior Member skyy_blondie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    i'm pretty sure you can just go to the salon and they'll do all that for you...good luck!!

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    God/dess Emily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    you have to go to the salon and have them filed off

  4. #4
    Cally
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    Thanks guys... I feel so silly having to ask this lol. I've been getting them for about a year now and just never really thought about the proper way to remove them. Wow I feel silly.

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    Featured Member Paintbaby's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    Cally, as a professional nail tech who has put on 100's of gel sets in my day, I can tell you it is the type of gel you have on your nails that will determine removal procedure.

    If you have an acrylic-based gel, the only way to remove it is by soaking in acetone--a stinky, messy procedure. But the only way to remove without damage. Under no circumstances WHATSOEVER let the nail tech just pry the old product off your nails. Any nail tech that will do this is either being lazy, or does not have the proper training. Prying old product up off of the nail bed is EXTREMELY damaging--tears up layers of nail, leads to weakening and possible infection. Any tech that tells you this is the proper way is LYING to you---run, don't walk out of any hack salon that would try to do this. Places like that are only concerned with high turnover--they just want to get you in and get you out. And often, their standards for sanitation and hygeine are lacking.

    If you have a pure gel product on your nails (En Vogue or LCN) the only way to remove the product is by filing it off. I worked exclusively with En Vogue, and there is absolutely no product that will dissolve it, which was the whole idea. Great product. Any tech that knows his/her stuff will know to file off the old product.

    Bottom line---DO NOT let a nail tech ever rip old product off the nails.

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    Senior Member Jessica Lords's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    ^^^^ so true...

    I had someone rip them off and my nails were so damage that I couldn't even wash my hands...so painful!

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    God/dess VenusGoddess's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    Under no circumstances WHATSOEVER let the nail tech just pry the old product off your nails.

    Just thought I would re-state this.


  8. #8
    God/dess Bunny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    I had gel nails when I was in college. They were really long and I loved them. Then when I was writing a paper I got really pissed that they were catching on my keyboard when I typed and decided to get rid of them. I soaked them in nail polish remover and they softened and came off. What was underneath was a funky beat up looking nail on each finger. I haven't gotten them since. I'm tempted sometimes to get fake nails again but I don't want to have to go through that taking them off again. Does it alawys come out so bad when you take them off or is it just the kind that I had? Back then they just called them "gel" as opposed to "acrilic" and they were made with a little jar of goopy stuff.

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    Veteran Member sexystephani's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    Most salons will take them off for you - around where I live its abt $5 which is cheap esp when you consider how much damage you can do when you do it yourself! Ive ruined my nails 1 too many times the diy way!

  10. #10
    Featured Member Paintbaby's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    Here's the difference between pure gel and acrylic. Acrylic uses a primer, which is put on the nail to prep it. What primer does is basically eat little microscopic holes into the nail--etching it--to give the acrylic an anchor. The problem many people have with acrylic is that ,over time, nasty little organisms and dampness can enter through these microscopic holes, causing fungal infections to the nail bed---the fleshy part under the nail plate which supports the growth of the plate. Once you have damaged the nail bed, your nails won't ever grow the same again. Throw that into the mix with improper maintenance and a dirty salon, and you have a recipe for disaster.

    The gel I used was tops in the market. Very advanced system.It used an adhesive system prior to the application to the gel. This "connector" did not damage the nails in any way. I wore nails non-stop for years, as did my clients, and absolutely no damage was done to the nail bed. This is because the connector was not acid-based, and did not etch the nail---no holes in the nail plate, no pathway for moisture and organisms. Nail bed stayed intact, nails continued to grow normally, even after product was removed.

  11. #11
    God/dess NinaDaisy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Removing Gel Nails?

    There are places that specialize in removing fake nails and maintenance to help the new nail grow in nice and healthy. If you Google but can't find one in your area, I still recommend going the pro route (like everyone else has said, if they try to pry RUN!).

    For maintenance afterwards, Nailtiques has a kit just for people that are "recovering" from fake nails.
    "She has written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer...But this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers"

    Ernest Hemingway on writer, aviation pioneer and horse trainer Beryl Markham


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