How to Remove Uv Gel Nails – For anyone who has trouble making a normal manicure last more than three days, discovering the magic of gel nails (near flawless for three weeks?!) can be life changing. But the worst part about gel nails is that moment when you need to take them off and you just can’t.
The options are basically stab and scrape and peel your fingernails with various objects for what feels like hours or head back to the salon to pay someone else to take them off. With social distancing and self-quarantining for coronavirus, the latter isn’t even an option right now.
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Find a Well-Ventilated Space
Give yourself plenty of time for the removal process and most importantly, do it in a well-ventilated area so you’re not breathing in all that acetone, says nail expert Jenna Hipp. The process can’t really be done in a rush — you’ll need about 30 minutes. (Consider this a good time to catch up on your Netflix queue.)
Break Out the Nail File
Before you break out the nail polish remover, grab a coarse nail file (Saulsbery likes the Hand and Nail Harmony 180/180 File) and gently and slowly sand down the top layer of polish.ADVERTISEMENT
The point here is not to sand all the polish off. You’re really just roughing up the topcoat, so take it slow. “Avoid filing too far into the color. Basically, you just want to remove the shine,” says Hipp.
Protect Your Skin
Next, coat the skin surrounding your nails and fingertips with a cuticle oil or a thick cream. “This will provide protection from the acetone, which is very drying to your skin,” says celebrity manicurist Tracylee. We like CND Solar Oil Nail & Cuticle Conditioner (and, bonus, this formula smells like an almond cookie). Olive & June’s Cuticle Serum is another Allure favorite.
Soak Some Cotton Balls
The key to removing gel polish is to soak your fingertips in acetone. You can do this in a small bowl filled with acetone and a drop or two of cuticle oil, Saulsbery says, or you can use a soaked cotton ball on each nail.
Tracylee prefers cotton balls to pads because they’re closer to your nails’ size and shape. Plus, cotton balls are able to hold on to the acetone better as your nails soak. “Cotton pads can absorb the acetone and dry out too quickly,” she explains.
Saturate the cotton balls with acetone — more than you think you need. For the best results, Tracylee recommends steering clear of formulas with moisturizing ingredients (even though they’re tempting) since they tend to slow down the process, leaving your fingers soaking for a longer amount of time.
Wrap Your Fingertips with Aluminum Foil
Grab some Reynolds Wrap or any brand of foil and tear it into squares about three inches by three inches. (You can do this beforehand.) Then wrap your fingertips in the squares. “Place an acetone-soaked cotton ball on your pinkie nail and use the foil to secure the cotton ball in place,” says Tracylee. “Start with your non-dominant hand — it makes things easier.”
Repeat this on all 10 nails. (Warning: It will get a little tricky by the end of the process when most of your tips are covered in tin foil.) After 10 or 15 minutes, check your progress.
“The gel polish should look as if it is falling off the nail and lifted,” Saulsbery says. “The remaining polish should be able to be removed with little to no pressure — if not, go back to soaking for another five minutes and try again.”
Apply a Little Elbow Grease
Once all the gel nail polish has loosened, pull the foil off of each finger and apply slight pressure to the nail with the cotton ball. For any remaining spots gently use a nail stick, “working under the gel to lift it off the nail plate,” explains Hipp.
Pro tip: “Wooden tools can be a breeding ground for bacteria, so dispose of them after each use and don’t share with friends,” Hipp says.
If you don’t have a stick around and want to use something else, like this popular TikTok dental floss hack, be very, very careful, warns manicurist and owner of New York City’s Jinsoon Spas and Nail Lacquer Jin Soon Choi.
“The only time gel can be removed with dental floss is after the edges of the polish have lifted off the nail bed, but it must be done with great care,” she says. “The risk of using floss too vigorously is pulling off not only the gel polish but part of your actual nail as well.”
If the polish still isn’t lifting easily when you press your tool into it, you need more soaking. Rewrap the nail with a new cotton ball and try again in five minutes.
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
After a long acetone adventure, your nails will likely be a bit dry. Give them a reprieve. “Soak your nails in coconut oil for five to seven minutes, then apply a cuticle oil, such as Ciaté’s Marula Cuticle Oil, on your nail beds to rejuvenate and rehydrate them,” says Choi. To finish, she recommends a hand lotion like L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream.
It might seem like you’re using a lot of moisture-sucking acetone, but if you’re a fan of gel manis it’s much better than picking or peeling your polish, Saulsbury says. “Acetone removes oils from the nail, but it doesn’t actually damage the nail bed,” she explains. “That happens when the nail bed endures trauma from peeling and pushing the polish off,” which can leave you with brittle, broken nails.
Happy soaking!
Conclusion
If the polish isn’t easily sliding off, grab a fresh acetone-soaked cotton ball and place it on the nail for a few more minutes. Once all the polish is off, add moisture back to your nail beds with an oil like CND’s Solar Oil or Olive & June’s cuticle serum.