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Having the perfect nails is considered to be a standard nowadays. Girls tend to organize their life in between the two appointments, knowing how hard it is to get a slot and find a good nail technician. But, after seeing how the process can be really invasive, many of us are concerned about whether it is good to polish the nails so often and without a break.
Polishing your nails is recommended if your natural nails are weak and prone to damage. Regular nail polish can protect your nails from everyday damage, while gel and acrylics offer protection in a form of reinforcement. Also, they can reshape the nails, thus changing the overall looks.
Bear in mind that using the right products and the correct technique will prevent your nails from being damaged in the process of removing the nail polish. Further in the text, you can learn how the water can damage natural nails and what role nail polish can play in the prevention of that
Here you can read about how to take care of your nails.
Table of Contents
Is It Good to Polish Your Nails?
The debate of whether nail polish is good for the nails or not has been going on for years now. Some nail technicians and experts recommend taking a break from doing your nails now and then. This is mostly because many women don’t pay attention to the products being used on their nails, so their nails end up looking dehydrated.
Using a bad product can damage the structure of the natural nail and cause it to layer off, chip or break. This is because the nail polish is just a chemical formula in the end, and if it was not mixed properly in the lab, it can leave some consequences on your nails.
Regular nail polish, for example, can cause non-permanent, but long-lasting, discoloration of the natural bed. If the formula is not good, after removing the nail polish you would get an unpleasant surprise. It is believed that is more likely to happen with the darker shades of nail polish, but it happened to me with a pink color once.
My natural nails embedded the pink color and as time passed by, the color of my nails changed to a light orange. There was no cure for this one, other than painting it over with more quality nail polish to hide the damage until the nails naturally grew out.
On the other hand, if the gel or acrylics are not applied correctly, they can weaken the natural nails and they would become more prone to breaking and layering. No technique would guarantee 100% your nails would remain vital and healthy.
But, even though there are some risks involved, you can benefit from polishing the nails. Even gel or acrylics can be beneficial to your nails if your nails tend to break and if you follow the correct steps during the process.
1. Nail Polish Prevents the Water from Soaking In
Painting just a regular nail polish can be beneficial because it would prevent water from soaking in it and thus weaken and damage the nail itself. Although it may seem unreal that water can do such damage, it really depends on your daily activities.
Women who tend to spend a lot of time with their hands under the water know what I am talking about. Soaking your hands for an extended period in water will not only damage the nails but the skin around them as well. Water would make nails and skin softer. This would create a solid ground for weakened nails prone to breaking or layering.
Dehydration of the skin and nails can be a serious condition that would take some time to cure. Creams and oils you can apply afterward would do the work if over-soaking happened once and is not something that happens to you regularly. In any other case, you would have to look for a different way of protection.
The nail polish would act as a barrier between the nails and the water. Although a regular nail polish won’t last long, meaning you would have to redo it every two or three days, considering the conditions, it is still a good line of defense.
Other techniques like gel or acrylics are more durable, so they should last at least 4 to 6 weeks, thus providing optimal protection for your nails.
2. Gel and Acrylics Prevent the Nails from Breaking
Having weak nails that are prone to breaking can be troubling (don’t ask me how I know it). If after using regular nail polish your nails are still breaking, it is a clear sign your nails need reinforcement in a form of gel or acrylics.
If your nails are not in such a bad condition, you should consider trying the Shellac. The Shellac is a hybrid between regular nail polish and gel. It can provide some level of strength to your nails. If your nails can endure full two weeks with the Shellac without breaking, you have found your go-to product.
On the other side, if the Shellac is not enough, gel and acrylics would solve the issue. They are applied in a specific manner, allowing each layer to set and thus harden the nail itself.
Indeed, some women end up with their nails weakened or broken after the gel or acrylics, but this is not because the formulation is wrong, it is because the removal process was not done correctly.
Removing gel or acrylics is a delicate process that needs to be done professionally to ensure the nails are not being damaged. The damage can occur if the nails were not dipped in the acetone long enough, meaning the acrylics are still holding onto the natural nail. When you try to forcefully remove it, of course, you would rip the natural nail as well.
To prevent this from happening, make sure you take extra time with your nails soaked in the acetone, and if you notice that the acrylics are not coming off easily, just dip them for a little bit more until they come off without any effort.
3. It Boosts Your Confidence
I agree this is not a conventional reason why you should polish your nails, but it is the most important. All ladies choose to polish their nails because the manicure would act as an accessory, completing the overall outfit.
Aesthetic reason is the number one reason why nail polishes and other techniques were invented in the first place. It all started with basic colors, and today we have a whole industry built around it, with endless possibilities! Some manicures can be a piece of art.
If your natural nails seem like they just can’t grow to the desired length – no issue, acrylics can solve it! If you don’t like the shape of your nails, again there is a solution – just use gel or acrylics to shape the nails the way you want them to be. All other advantages come to a second place compared to the boost of confidence a good manicure can give you.
More about acrylic nails you can read here.
Sources:
- Bustle: Nail Polish That’s Good For Your Nails
- Harvard Health Blog: Janelle Nassim, MD A look at the effects of nail polish on nail health and safety
- Today: Keep your healthy nails and get a break from nail polish
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