Gel Manicures & Nail Health: Protecting Your Natural Nails

Question
have gotten 3 gel polish manicures (not gel nails) so far and like them--am concerned because they "rough up" my natural nails with a file before applying the gel polish and I'm afraid that will ruin my nails which are great--just can't keep regular polish on for longer than 2-3 days.  after the first gel polish manicure i decided to just have a regular manicure but once i took the regular polish off, my nails felt like they were scratched and rough--don't know if that's from the initial application or removal of the gel polish.  are they supposed to rough up my nails prior to application?

Answer
Hi Sue,

To answer your question yes over time the no chip manicure is very bad for your nails,
The tech needs to scrape off the old then file and apply the new. Each time you go in your nails end up thinner than before. I have been getting allot of complaints from tech that there clients are upset because there nails are so bad after just a few months.
If you want to keep polish on for a few weeks I would look into getting a gel overlay this way you would go in to the salon for a fill every 3 weeks or so get the area near the cuticle filled in with new product and gel polish applied.By doing this you aren't filing off product every week so your nails will have minimal damage even a few years down the road when you decide to remove them. I feel that this no chip gel polish is horrible for natural nails,it's very damaging and once you start the damage it will take up to 6 months for the healthy nail to fully grow out.
Some gels to ask for:
LCN
enVogue