QuestionMy natural nails were LONG, STRONG, and BEAUTIFUL for 30 years. But as mayor of our city and working full time, I had zero time to spend (usually 2-3 hours a week) with cuticle removal, repairing breaks, and doing my own French. So I tried acrylics. I LOVED the carefree change, but now, 8 months later, they acrylics from girl #4 were lifting all the way around. When she clipped the edges, I could tell my natural nail underneath was SO THIN, it made me nauseous when she slid the nippers under the acrylic to clip, putting pressure on my VERY thin nails. Can I have acrylics without my nails getting paper thin? Why were my nails lifting to much (after 2-3 days!!) around the edges - especially the thumbs. Right now my nails are bald (I took everything off) and my once beautiful hands look like "man hands"! And SOOOOOOOOOO thin. Yuck.
AnswerMaryann,
Nail condition does change as we age our nails age as well and this can cause thinner nails, ridged nails, weak or brittle nails along with many other possibilities. However, it sounds more like your nails have atrophied due to constant use of acrylics.
The answer as to wether or not you can have acrylic nails without the nails thinning is two fold, yes and no! Yes, there are products that allow for use of artificial nails without thinning, to my experience, acrylic is not one of them. Capping the nail (with any kind of product) allows for the body to sort of take a break from building nail strength. Think of it as an arm in a cast ...the longer a broken arm is casted the more the muscles atrophy from lack of use but the arm is protected from damage as it heals. Having artificial nails is kind of the same; the results are beautiful, protected, carefree nails, but this does allow the nail to atrophy some. Now if the product that is used is acrylic there is usually a harsh chemical acid primer that is applied prior to acrylic application. The nail is first etched (scratched up) with a file and then a primer is applied, this primer chemically etches the nail, drilling microscopic holes for the acrylic to sink into and attach to the nail bed. Now this is bad enough and maybe would not do enough damage alone, but then you get breaking or lifting between fill appointments and you now have to remove the lifted acrylic and re-expose the previously etched and primed spot to be etched and primed again. Over time it starts to take its toll on your natural nail thinning it even more.
If you could find a technician that was exceptional at her job and could lessen the lifting and breaking then you would have less atrophy (thinning) of the nail.
The most ideal situation is to find a product that does not use methacrylate in the acrylic or an acid based primer. There are only two that I am aware of and they are both polycarbonate based products with protein based primers and are applied like a gel nail (FYI: The nail is made up of mostly protein). The names of these two products are Quintessence and Angel Love Nails. I have used both but prefer the later.
Also, be aware that when a nail tech is using nippers to pry under the lifted edge and break or clip it off she is doing more damage by causing lifting and trauma to the nail bed, (this is a shortcut). What she should really be doing is filing the lifted area very thin prior to trying to remove it (this takes longer and many nail technicians have begun skipping this step). FYI: If you are getting "fill lines" every time you get your nails done this is for the same reason, the tech is not spending enough time filing the lifted edge or blending the artificial into the natural prior to filling your nails.
Lastly, there are MANY, MANY reasons that nails lift; some are... product applied to close to the cuticle, wrong powder liquid ratio, product running into the cuticle, tech using to much force to remove lifted edge causes deeper lifting, bad product, inexperienced technician, wrong brand of product for your nails, client uses nails as tools, these are just a few of the more common reasons... but usually it is a nail technician error that causes lifting. Occasionally, I have run into some clients that no matter how careful I am or what I do I cannot eliminate lifting completely. Also leave the removal of nails to a professional, it can be tricky and you can cause further damage and thinning by prying or clipping the nails off yourself. I hope this helps.
