How to get used to extended nails, what not to do?

As the great Coco Chanel said, hands are a girl’s calling card. Therefore, representatives of the fair sex cannot do without a neat and beautiful manicure. And for this they are ready to do a lot. The most popular procedure among modern young ladies is nail extensions. Fast and beautiful! However, if you do it incorrectly, you risk being left with brittle and weak nails. And then you will have a long recovery of your nails after extensions. If you still have such a problem, then this article is for you. I will try to tell you in detail how to restore your nails to their former beauty and health.

Disadvantages of gel extensions

We already know how long gel nail extensions last. This is their huge advantage. But it's time to mention the shortcomings. Compared to acrylic coating, gel is more brittle and fragile. Even if an acrylic nail can be easily corrected or simply repaired, then if the gel plate breaks this issue disappears by itself, because it cannot be repaired. The broken nail will simply need to be removed and a new one made. The gel also cannot withstand very sudden changes in temperature conditions; it instantly begins to crack. Popularly, gel tip extensions are called reinforced concrete, which means it will be very difficult to remove such luxury. Only the filing procedure will help - long, tedious, and very careful so as not to damage the natural nail.

Basic recommendations for nail care after extensions

In order to revive your nails after extensions, you need an integrated approach to solving the problem. Use not only special baths and masks, but also follow some important recommendations. This will significantly speed up the recovery process.

In order to save time and money, many ladies remove artificial nails themselves. Under no circumstances should you do this. You can easily damage a weakened nail plate. Only a master can remove extended nails carefully and with minimal consequences.
It is worth paying attention to the length of the nail. It should not be more than 3 mm
There is no need to cut your nails after the extension procedure. This will only make their condition worse. But if you really need it, you can lightly file them with a Teflon-coated file.
We do not cover our nails with varnish. It doesn’t matter whether it’s medicinal or gentle. Still not possible. It’s better to rub special oil or nourishing cream into the plate

It is important to strengthen the nails not only from the outside, but also from the inside. Therefore, reconsider your diet and include more vegetables and fruits enriched with vitamins A, C, E. In addition, you should eat foods that contain a lot of calcium - yoghurt, milk, cottage cheese. This will not only have a positive effect on the condition of the nails, but will also benefit the body as a whole.
If you use any nail products, pay attention to the composition: it should not contain acetone or formaldehyde
Less contact with water. Therefore, it is better to do all housework with gloves.
Make sure to always keep your hands warm and avoid hypothermia
After washing your hands, you need to wipe them thoroughly with a soft towel to collect all the moisture. This will help prevent fungal infections on the plate.
After showering, wipe your nails with apple cider vinegar. This will also help prevent fungus from appearing.
Before applying the cream, lubricate your nails with lemon juice. This simple manipulation will allow the plate to better absorb nutrients.
It takes a lot of time to recover. Therefore, do not grow your nails for 3-4 months. Just periodically cut off the free edges
Apply iodine to your nails every day before going to bed. This simple remedy will also have a positive effect on the condition of your nails.

Of course, nail extensions are a good procedure. But the best manicure is simply healthy and neat nails. I helped as much as I could. I think the article is useful and interesting, so share it with your friends on social networks.

Causes of detachments

But not everyone’s nails last as long as stated. What nail extensions look like and how long they last can vary from one person to the next, even if they have the same artist perform the procedure. If you notice that your nails begin to peel off or crack and become dull within seven to ten days after extensions, then this can happen for several reasons.

Error or negligence of the master. Skipping any important stage and other simplifications (reducing the cost) of the technology always harm the appearance and sustainability of the manicure. However, the effect will be the same if any of the stages are performed poorly. For example, the plate is unevenly sanded, the bond, primer or gel is poorly applied, there are errors in calculating the nail architecture;
Various violations of the rules of operation on your part also affect how long you can wear extended nails. More details about the operating rules will be written below;
The presence of infectious or inflammatory diseases leads to the fact that the material begins to be perceived as foreign and is rejected by the body. As a result of this process, detachments and chips occur in the gel;
The presence of nail diseases, fungus, psoriasis or other deviations from the norm leads to the fact that the lifespan of the extension will be minimal. The same applies to brittle, thin, weakened and peeling plates. With such nails, extensions are not recommended at all;
Performing a manicure immediately before extensions can also cause early detachments or cracks. It is better to cut the cuticle and do similar procedures at least a day or two before extensions. During this time, the nail will have time to adapt and recover from the process;
Taking antibiotics and medications of certain pharmacological groups also leads to the fact that the nails peel off, or even completely, the gel completely comes away from the nail. In this case, the gel is also perceived as a foreign material and is rejected. Particular difficulties in this regard can be presented by drugs that accumulate in the nails;
How long you can wear extended nails also depends on your hormonal status, both during the extension and while wearing it. That is why many specialists do not recommend performing the procedure during menstruation, as well as in the early and late stages of pregnancy and immediately after childbirth. With sudden jumps in hormonal levels, a phenomenon similar to what occurs when taking antibiotics is observed.

Thus, there is no exact time limit for how long you can wear extended nails. The duration of this period depends on many factors. And sometimes, you yourself can become the reason for the short life of your manicure.

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Learning to restore nails at home

You can restore your nails not only in salons, but also at home.

Let's look at the basic techniques with which you can do this procedure at home:

Due to the fact that when removing the artificial component, nails require careful polishing, they become very vulnerable and defenseless. To help them, you need to soak your nails a little in warm olive oil every evening.
A mask made from sour berries is very popular. It can be either cranberries, lingonberries, or red currants. Just mix a small handful of these berries into the porridge, then apply to the plate and let the beneficial elements absorb for 15 minutes
For faster growth, thoroughly rub burdock or castor oil into the plate at night
If the claws begin to peel, then this mask will help. Mix a spoonful of olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice. Rub into the plate with massage movements for several minutes. Do not wash off the mixture, but leave it overnight. If you want to enhance the effect, you can wear knitted gloves
Sea salt can also help you. Take baths with sea salt for just 10 minutes, and your nails will quickly become strong and beautiful. It is not recommended to use this method more than a couple of times a week
Once a month, you can try applying a mixture of red pepper and rich cream to the plate. Leave it on for 15 minutes and rinse with warm water
Honey also helps a lot. You need to melt the beeswax, then mix it with a boiled egg and peach oil. This mask can be applied every day
Try restoring your nails with a decoction of medicinal herbs. Chamomile, St. John's wort or burdock are suitable. Pour boiling water over them and let it brew, then leave your nails on for 30 minutes. You can use this method only once a week
Essential oils are also worth including in your arsenal. Mix tea tree oil with grape seed oil in a ratio of 1 to 10. Then just rub the mixture in for a few minutes

Causes of premature detachment of extended nails

Sometimes the answer to the question of how long nail extensions last can be completely ambiguous. This can be purely individual. If you suddenly notice that peeling has appeared on your nails or their shine has completely faded, and very little time has passed since a fresh overlay, then sound the alarm and immediately visit your master.

Causes:

a mistake made by the master because he incorrectly calculated the architecture of the applied nail;
the tip is sanded unevenly or the coating is applied very carelessly;
inflammation of the skin, due to which the applied plate becomes foreign, and a process of rejection occurs;
fungal disease or the presence of other body disorders;
medications that interact poorly with foreign bodies;
your own manicure, which was performed before the extension procedure and was not removed properly;
hormonal status (nail extensions cannot be done during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and the early postpartum period).

Nail restoration in the salon

If you don’t want to do the restoration yourself and trust the specialists from the salon more, then here too you will have a huge selection of different procedures:

One of the popular methods in the salon is “sealing” the nails. Masters, using a special composition of honey and wax, will create a protective layer on your nails that will strengthen and restore them. After this procedure, you will not need to apply nail polish
“Paraffin baths” also help very well. Melt some paraffin in water and dip your fingertips into it. After half an hour they will be saturated with useful microelements and vitamins.
Also, in any salon you will be happy to be offered therapeutic massages, peelings and scrubs using high-quality cosmetics
A pleasant “hot” manicure involves dipping your nails into a warm, creamy liquid containing all the vitamins and substances they need.

It doesn’t matter which method you end up using, the main thing is to ensure quick restoration of nails damaged during nail extensions.

Is the experience of the master important?

Is it worth getting your nails done at once? It should be noted that there is nothing wrong with this procedure if an experienced and well-trained specialist takes on the matter. It is worth noting that the qualifications of a manicurist are actually of no small importance, because it is precisely due to the lack of one that most often causes irreparable damage to the nail plate, which leads to disastrous consequences.

In what ways can an inexperienced master ruin his feet? Let's look at the most striking mistakes that only a beginner can make:

lack of knowledge about contraindications for extensions;
excessive cutting of the plate;
use of low quality materials;
causing injury during the removal of insoluble materials;
incorrect modeling of nail geometry.

Reviews from fans of artificial nail lengthening often note that when choosing a nail technician, you should give preference to proven specialists in this field, who usually work in popular salons.

Vitamins for nails

Several ampoules of vitamin A and E . This is a very affordable product, it can be purchased at any pharmacy at a meager price, and it’s very easy to use: just break the ampoule and wipe your nails with the liquid. Vitamin E is the #1 remedy that helps grow nails quickly and safely.

vitamin B5 instead , this substance is simply designed to treat the damaged structure of the nail plate, and helps even in very advanced cases when the nail is already bent or broken at the root.

It wouldn’t hurt to take vitamins orally:

Get yourself a bottle of vitamin E with an oil base, it is recommended for pregnant women, but it will also be very useful for us. Drink a spoonful every morning and within a week you will notice the results on your nails and hair;
Take vitamin complexes while caring for your nails;
walk in the fresh air more often; during sunbathing, vitamin D is produced, which is responsible for the absorption of calcium;
purchased vitamins can be replaced with natural ones, for example, smear your nails not with E from an ampoule, but with fish oil or sunflower (olive) oil.

Features of acrylic extensions

In reviews of extension materials, you can often find the opinion that acrylic is safer than gel. In fact, this is true, because this substance contains fewer harmful components than the gel.

Acrylic is a material that has increased density and does not wear out for a long time. Moreover, masters often note in their own comments about acrylic nail extensions that it can quickly take the required shape and dry. That is why only experienced craftsmen can work with the coating in question.

Let us next consider the main advantages and disadvantages of acrylic nail extensions.

Progress of the acrygel application procedure

The acrygel nail extension procedure consists of several stages:

First, a manicure is performed in the usual way;
further, before starting work with acrylic, a brush with artificial or mixed with natural bristles is moistened in a cleanser (degreaser);
the nail plate is also treated with a degreaser and then covered with a primer in one layer;
the base coat is applied and the mold is attached;
Using a brush, a small amount of acrygel is evenly applied to the plate;
then the brush is moistened in a special solution, which will not allow it to stick to the acrygel (during the work, the brush must be moistened in a degreaser);
the desired shape of the nail is created, the area around the cuticle is especially carefully worked out in order to avoid peeling of the artificial nail;
after completion of the work, the nail is dried in a UV lamp;
Using a special nail file, the surface of the nail is polished and given its final shape.

Cons of acrylic extensions

Having considered the advantages, special attention should also be paid to the disadvantages of acrylic extensions, which also occur.

The first and most significant disadvantage of this material is that the procedure for lengthening the nail plate with its help takes about 3-4 hours. In addition, it is worth noting that nails covered with this material grow much faster than those covered with gel. As a result, frequent corrections are necessary.

One of the disadvantages of using acrylic for nail extensions is also the fact that after removing the material, the plate acquires a yellowish tint, which does not decorate it at all.

Features of shape correction based on the type of nail plate

Currently, depending on the materials used, there are two most popular and sought-after types of extensions – acrylic and gel. Each of them has a number of advantages and disadvantages, and, therefore, disputes between fans of one and the other technology do not subside. Most often, the choice is made based on the characteristics of the nail plate. For some, gel holds better, for others - acrylic. Read more about the features, advantages and disadvantages of each type of extension.

Acrylic coating

Gel coating

Gel coating, unlike acrylic, cannot harden on its own. For these purposes, it is necessary to use a special lamp. In addition, acrylic coating is much more resistant to external damage. At the same time, the gel does not have such a strong chemical smell as acrylic. These two areas have one thing in common: any build-up sooner or later requires correction.

The natural nail, on which the artificial material rests, grows at an approximate rate of 0.8-1 mm per week. Thus, by the 3rd week its base will differ from the general nail plate. In addition to the purely aesthetic side, untimely correction can cause significant harm in the form of cracks, loss of strength and brittleness of the nails. Therefore, how responsibly you approach this issue directly depends on their health, as well as the quality of your manicure as a whole.

The desire to be loved, desired and an object of admiration is natural for any representative of the fair sex. Of course, in achieving this goal, many believe that attractive appearance should play a significant role.

At the same time, there is hardly a single woman on earth whose natural characteristics would fully correspond to certain abstract “ideal” standards, replicated by the media and capturing the minds of women. Many women, looking at the covers of fashion magazines, from which impeccable (and thoroughly “photoshopped”) “beauty queens” bestow their slightly arrogant smiles on them, earn in this regard a real inferiority complex and uncertainty about the power of their charm. Sometimes they are ready to give everything in order to get even one iota closer to the ideal of beauty that, in their opinion, is infinitely far from them.

Where there is demand, there will be supply. The modern beauty industry declares its ability to correct the “unfortunate mistakes” of nature. The problem of small breasts or loose skin can be solved using plastic surgery methods, and faded hair color can be solved with suitable dye. . . In a word, where it is impossible to achieve anything with the ordinary use of special cosmetics, masking of external imperfections is used. In addition, it is always easier to go this way, because in this case “tuning” takes less time than using conservative methods.

One of these ways to solve problems with imperfect appearance is nail extensions. Brittle, dull, short nail plates after one or two hours in the manicure salon turn into beautiful, shiny, long, with slightly pointed ends - exactly the way a woman sees them in her own dreams. Moreover, hands with similar “claws” look much more elegant and neat.

However, buying into such a beautiful “cover”, a woman who wants to undergo such a procedure does not always think about what consequences this threatens her in the future. Not every master will warn you about what nails experience after extensions, what changes (in some cases irreversible) occur to them. Specialists working in beauty salons always assure their clients that such a procedure is safe - they say that if all technologies are followed, there will be no harm to the nail plates. However, in this case, they are very cunning and keep things back.

To begin with, it’s worth saying that any manipulation of this kind is a huge stress for the nails. In this regard, it is worth remembering at least that part of the procedure that immediately precedes the application of artificial material (acrylic or gel). Usually in such cases, the woman’s own nail plates are filed down. Although manicurists assure that cutting off a couple of keratin layers (there are about a hundred of them on each nail) will not cause significant harm, still too much depends on the qualifications of the specialist. There are often cases when, in this way, a lover of nail extensions actually lost her own.

One of the possible troubles in this case is dystrophy of the nail plate. This pathology occurs for many reasons, and rough mechanical impact and trauma to the keratin layers are far from the least on their list. As “aggravating circumstances” for the manifestation of this disease, it is worth adding the violation of natural hygiene, blood circulation and nutrition of the nails (which, by the way, causes them to thin out and become quite brittle).

The risk increases many times if, wanting to save money on nail extensions, a woman applied for such a service at the first salon she came across, without bothering to find out the qualifications of the specialists working there, to find out information about the quality of their work (at least from the reviews of other clients) and materials used for this. Many cheap compounds are extremely toxic, which can negatively affect not only the nails themselves, but also the health of the body as a whole. The price for the desire to have “beautiful” hands is too high!

Dystrophy has a destructive effect on the stratum corneum, and in severe cases of its manifestation, the lady risks losing the natural keratin “decoration” of her fingers. The disease itself will not go away; in the absence of adequate treatment, it only leads to a worsening of the situation. Therefore, when it appears (“alarm signal” should be longitudinal or transverse grooves on the horny plates), it is necessary to urgently seek medical help.

However, the possible harm from nail extensions is not limited to the risk of dystrophy. Allergies should be added to the list of such troubles. True, manicurists assure that it can be avoided if you do not allow the extension material to get on the skin or any other tissues of the body, with the exception of the nail plates themselves. You also need to remember that a self-respecting beauty salon must have a well-equipped ventilation system - thus, not only the professionals, but also their clients will have to inhale harmful fumes from the materials used in certain manipulations to a minimum.

When you decide to get nail extensions, you shouldn’t forget about the likelihood of fungal diseases appearing on them. If the technology of this procedure is not followed, a greenhouse effect is created under the artificial turf - a very favorable environment for the growth of fungi and mold. A nail affected by any of them begins to crumble, break, turn yellow or blacken. All this usually leads to its loss.

In any case, even before visiting a nail salon, you should first visit a dermatologist and get his recommendations regarding extensions. Often in such conversations, a woman learns that for a number of diseases such a procedure is extremely undesirable at all.

Even if there are no contraindications, nail extensions cannot be done constantly. At least once a year, you should give your natural horny plates a “break” for at least 3-4 weeks, all the while taking care of their nutrition and health.

Nail extensions will definitely cause allergies in both the artist and the client.

Nail extension materials can indeed cause an allergic reaction in humans. This primarily applies to hair extension specialists, since they have to work with these drugs day after day. It is very important to know the safety rules and strictly follow them. Unfortunately, not all training courses bother to teach future masters the basic rules of working with chemical compounds, which leads to most problems. A truly professional master will never have such an opportunity, since ensuring safety, both his personal and that of the client, will always come first. But as soon as one inexperienced master makes a mistake and exposes the client to allergic consequences of the procedure, a lot of rumors and speculation immediately appear about the extreme toxicity of nail extensions.

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