Children's manicure for short nails: photos of beautiful designs

Remembering with nostalgia how in her childhood she made herself “false nails” from flower petals, the mother of a young fashionista will look with bewilderment and a little apprehension at the price list of the beauty salon in which she is presented. Should a child have a manicure and at what age? Can it be cut, filed, sanded? What is safe to cover your nails with? There are many questions. Let's find out!

The pros and cons of children's manicure

Imitating a mother or older sister and trying to test “adult” cosmetics is a natural desire of a growing girl. Experts say there is nothing wrong with this. Moreover, a girl’s desire to look beautiful should be encouraged. But the primary task of an adult is to teach the child neatness and neatness.

When considering whether to get a children's manicure or not, we recommend weighing the pros and cons. The advantages include:

• instilling in the child the habit of keeping hands clean and tidy;
• increasing the level of child hygiene;
• weaning the girl from the habit of biting her nails, which helps prevent deformation of the nail plates, the formation of wounds on the skin around the nails, and infection;
• visually demonstrating to the child the concept of female beauty, instilling good taste;
• teaching a child to take care of himself;
• bringing mother and daughter closer together while doing something together - getting a manicure or going to a beauty salon:
• Girls with beautiful nails and well-groomed hands increase their self-esteem and gain self-confidence. You can show off a beautiful manicure to your friends and stand out among your peers. From a psychological point of view, a beautiful children's manicure is no less important than from a hygiene point of view.

If you do a children's manicure correctly, there are no disadvantages to the procedure. The main thing is to choose safe coatings and follow the right technology.

Choosing children's nail polish

• Under no circumstances should your baby use adult products. It will only harm the fragile nail plate.
• It is recommended to buy special children's varnishes. They will not contain acetone or other chemicals.
• It is best to take a product that contains nail strengthening additives, such as calcium.
• Many nail polishes for children are made with scents. Therefore, it is very important to check before purchasing whether the baby is allergic to this smell.

Bright gradient manicure with designs on ring fingers

How is it different from an adult manicure?

You can get a children's manicure, just like an adult's, in a beauty salon or at home. It is not necessary to take your child to a professional; any mother can cope with a simple task. Moreover, from the first days of her daughter’s life, the mother carries out this procedure in a more simplified form - trims overgrown nails, makes sure her hands are clean, removes hangnails that appear, and moisturizes the skin with a nourishing cream. The older the girl gets, the more extensive the list of permitted manipulations becomes.

The main task of manicure is not to create a spectacular design, but to give nails and hands a generally neat appearance. Manicure is, first of all, a hygienic procedure.

The structure of children's nails differs from adults:

• Children's nails are more elastic due to their higher water content;
• the matrix of children's nails is not long enough, so the plates are thinner and more porous;
• Children's nails grow much faster than adults';
• the skin on children’s fingers is thin and delicate, so hangnails form more intensively;
• White spots often appear on children's nails - false leukonychia.

Due to differences in the structure of nails, regardless of where the procedure is performed, performing a children's manicure has its own characteristics. Moreover, we are not talking about design, but about the treatment of nail plates and cuticles, as well as the materials used.

When can you start giving your child a manicure?

Many girls, looking at their mother’s nails, also wish for a beautiful manicure. It is worth noting that experts do not recommend resorting to this procedure at a very early age.

Manicures for children's nails can begin at about 6-8 years of age, depending on the structure of the girl's nails and only a European manicure. When your child turns 13-15 years old, you can start doing a classic manicure with professional tools.

Important Rules

Under 14 years of age, trimmed manicure is prohibited. Until this age, it is recommended not to touch the cuticle at all. By the way, unedged technology is more suitable not only for children, but also for adult women. It is safer and less traumatic. When performing a trim manicure on a child, there is a risk of damaging the nail plate. In addition, the cuticle grows even more intensely after cutting.

If the skin in the cuticle area has become rough, hangnails have appeared, it needs to be treated. But in childhood, it is enough to trim hangnails with tweezers and soften the skin with oil or cream. Girls' nails should not be cut to the very root. It is optimal to leave a free edge 2 mm long. When cutting nails to the very root, the nail plates can form an unsightly shape. If you leave the free edge longer, dirt may accumulate under the nails and your hands will look unkempt.

Building up

At what age can children get nail extensions? For teenagers, extensions are even more prohibited than gel polish. Mothers know this, so they make concessions to their daughters and agree to gel polish as a safer alternative to extensions. Choose the lesser of two evils.

Why aren't nail extensions done for children?

1. Until the age of 14–16 years, nails are not yet fully formed. They are quite soft and flexible, so the modeled elongated nail plate will not hold well.
2. The coating for extensions is applied in a thick layer, putting pressure on the native nail.
3. When applying extensions, the smooth surface of the nail plate is filed down and made rough. This is necessary for better adhesion of the nail to the polymer material. This mechanical impact causes serious harm.
4. First of all, you need to be able to wear long nails. You will have to forget about ball games and sudden movements. Even writing with a pen at school is difficult with them.
5. If moved carelessly, the extended nail plate can peel off along with part of the keratin of the native nail, undermine it, disrupt contact with the nail bed, and lead to wounds and bruises.

The best way to grow your child’s nails is to take care of their health, then they will be strong and quickly grow to the desired length. If your nails grow slowly, peel, or break off, consult a doctor. Perhaps the body simply does not have enough vitamins or minerals.

What varnishes can I use?

It is very important to pay attention to the choice of coating. “Adult” polishes and gel polishes cannot be used for children. A good specialist will not offer a child’s manicure with gel polish, at least until the girl is 13 years old, because it contains toxic substances that have the ability to penetrate the nail plate and can cause health problems:

• dibutyl phthalate - causes disruptions in the reproductive system;
• triphenylphosphate – disrupts the endocrine system;
• toluene – a solvent – ​​causes kidney failure, damages the liver and bile ducts;
• formaldehyde is a toxic allergic substance.

Gel polishes and polishes may contain substances that cause allergies, and children are more susceptible to them than adults. It is believed that nail polishes and gel polishes interfere with the breathing of the nail plates, which leads to a slowdown in their growth.

For girls, it is recommended to do a manicure with water-based children's varnishes. They can be washed off with water while washing your hands or bathing. Such varnishes are safe for very young fashionistas. For design, you can use stickers with pictures.

If the goal of a manicure is to wean yourself from the bad habit of biting your nails, mothers should pay attention to special varnishes, such as “Non-bite” and “I don’t want to chew.” They contain fruit resins, which give the coating a bitter, unpleasant taste. By the way, colorless coatings can be used to wean not only girls, but also boys from bad habits.

Older girls, 10-12 years old, can paint their nails with decorative coatings with fine shimmer or a transparent base. For children, it is better to choose bio-varnishes and varnishes from well-known manufacturers who are responsible for product quality. A good choice would be El Corazon and China Glaze brand varnishes. El Corazon bio-gels have a healing effect; when applied, they restore the nail plate and thicken it.

More photos and publications: Fashionable manicure: originality in design

Simple and spectacular designs

How to create a manicure for short nails and choose the optimal length? Now there are many different designs and options that have a pleasant aesthetic appearance and are perfect for little ones.

Manicure for very young ladies

The simplest and most obvious option would be to use transfer stickers. They can depict plants, animals, birds, stars. Designers offer other solutions. You can choose options with famous comic or cartoon characters. And you can decorate just one nail or all of them.

One of the simple and attractive ideas is drawing with a toothpick. This way you can create a unique and inimitable design with your own hands.

You can use a sponge and apply an unusual gradient in a space style. These simple and uncomplicated options will help diversify the life of a young fashionista and make you feel like an adult.

Nail design for teenage girl

Starting from the age of 13, you can already select more adult options that are not devoid of childish fervor. Bright pictures should reflect the character and personality of the girl.

It is better to use transparent coatings or pastel-colored varnishes as a base. For school, it is recommended to choose natural shades that will not stand out too much from the work atmosphere.

For school, a classic jacket that can be decorated with floral patterns will be beautiful and effective. Various stickers in the form of blots or paintings will look good.

You can make seasonal pictures in the form of snowflakes, the sun, falling leaves. You don't have to be a master to do this. A similar manicure can be done at home, giving your child bright emotions.

It will be very beautiful if the manicure is combined with the school uniform. Scottish designs in the form of a cage or a chessboard have become very popular. But this option is more suitable as a holiday one.

How does age affect?

A girl’s manicure, carefully trimming her nails, should be done from the first weeks of her life. After one year of age, a child’s nails become denser, and to shorten them you can use a file rather than scissors.

As a rule, girls show interest in bright coatings and manicures “like their mother’s” at the age of 4–5 years. During this period, you can give a young fashionista a set of water-based varnishes and sometimes play “beauty salon” with her.

At 7, 8, 9 years old, you can slowly teach a girl to keep her hands clean and tidy. You need to carefully file your nails, take care of the skin of your hands, and trim hangnails in a timely manner so that wounds do not appear on your fingers. This may well be home care.

At the age of 8-10, you should only get a European manicure. Never cut your child's cuticles. If necessary, you can use special preparations to soften the cuticle. After applying the cuticle dissolver, clean it off with an orange stick. But cuticle treatment is not carried out on a regular basis at this age.

At the age of 12 - 13 years, a girl can already independently take care of her hands and put them in order, creating a simple children's design. By this age, due to hormonal changes, girls' nail plates become thicker and denser, making them easier to file.

Experts recommend performing a “light” variation of manicure for children up to at least 12 years of age. It is enough to shorten the nails by carefully filing them. After 14 years, when the skin becomes less thin and delicate, you can trim the cuticle if necessary.

When the process of nail formation is completed, you can already use “adult” coatings. But there's no need to rush. The later a girl starts painting her nails with gel polishes, the better for her health. The process of formation of nail plates is finally completed at the age of 18 years.

Jelly beans

The manicure is suitable for an 11-year-old girl, especially for one who simply loves sweets. It's called sugar design. There are several options for creating it.

• Special sugar varnish is sold in any cosmetics store. When coated, a rough matte surface is formed on the nail, which is very reminiscent of sugar. Bright colors combined with an unusual coating attract attention.
• Special diamond dust for manicure is sprinkled onto a single-color coating, which forms a rough, shiny surface. The second method is more expensive, but in this case you can combine colors. Using several shades at once, you get a beautiful marmalade manicure on your nails.

Technique for performing sugar nail design.

Manicure ideas for children

On the Internet you can find interesting manicure ideas for young fashionistas. As a rule, the “children’s” category includes multi-colored, motley designs. Bright combinations of coatings and funny designs on short nails are the “calling card” of children's designs. A wide variety of topics are chosen for drawings. If this is a seasonal design, for example, an autumn design, you can draw raindrops, leaves, or a funny hedgehog on your nails. For winter design, patterns of snowflakes, red-nosed deer, and Christmas trees are usually used.

Options for older girls are simple, neat and moderate. This is especially true for school-age girls, because a manicure for school should not be flashy, but calm.

Fruits

Juicy oranges or watermelons, a smiling banana, strawberries in cream - what girl would refuse to decorate her nails like this? If the design is performed by a professional manicurist, the designs can be painted with special paints. At home, children's manicure can be done using special stickers. They can decorate all your fingers, or just a few of them.

Simple drawings of a strawberry, a watermelon slice, an apple, a raspberry or half a kiwi can be made with toothpicks and colored varnish. Interesting ideas for your own implementation can be seen below.

cartoon

Both a very little girl and a teenage girl can afford a manicure depicting their favorite cartoon characters. These designs look cool and attract attention.

Of course, in adolescence there are certain restrictions associated with the school dress code. A bright cartoon manicure with funny minions or Disney Mickey Mouse is suitable for the summer or during the school holidays.

Using stickers and decorative varnishes, you can make a funny design with cartoon drawings for one evening, for example, for going to the cinema with friends or for a friend’s birthday. Below is a photo of a funny children's manicure on short nails.

With animals and insects

Butterflies on a pink background for a little girl are like a classic French jacket for a stylish woman - a popular and unmistakable solution. You can add sparkles to the design or decorate some nails with flowers. This children's design is suitable for the summer.

For teenage girls, you can use animalistic drawings in design, but it is better to move from realistic images of animals and insects to silhouette, graphic ones. The outline of a cat, zebra stripes, and the silhouette of a butterfly, made with thin lines on a colored surface, look more mature and restrained.

Everyday manicure

Older girls can get a gentle manicure in calm shades for everyday wear. Girls' "favorites" include all shades of pink and lilac. As an “every day” option for teenagers, a pink manicure, a simple design in beige, nude, and pastel colors, is suitable. Soft blue, light lilac, bleached pistachio, vanilla, marshmallow - all these shades are suitable for manicure for children. With their help you can create a single-color manicure, gradient design, or lunar nail art. These options look discreet and do not attract undue attention, which means they can be chosen as an option for a school manicure.

A matte top in combination with nude shades will help “kill two birds with one stone” at once. Firstly, it creates a fashionable effect, and secondly, a nude matte manicure looks natural and natural, as if the nails are not covered with anything.

Summer manicure 2021

A neat, beautiful manicure for teenage girls is a kind of way of self-expression. During school hours, you won’t be able to afford a bright design, but the summer holidays are a “green light” for experiments in manicure. Among the interesting ideas that are relevant for girls, it is worth highlighting:

• rainbow nails covered with multi-colored polishes;
• white design with inscriptions;
• sparkles of different colors;
• kamifubuki;
• drawings (hearts, snowflakes, flowers, funny animal faces, cat paw prints, berries, emoticons);
• simple prints (polka dots, stripes, checkerboard);
• abstractions.

"Advice!" To create a design with an abstract pattern, you can use the water nail art technique. The process is interesting in itself and gives an unusual result. To create interesting stains, drop varnish into a glass of water, then dip your finger into the water so that the film of varnish ends up on the nail. After the varnish has dried, it is covered with a transparent top.

Photos of fashionable manicure in 2022 - 2022 can be seen below.

More photos and publications: Red and black design: techniques for creating a fashionable manicure

False nails for children

On the eve of a holiday, for example, a child's birthday, mothers and daughters try to think through the image of a young fashionista down to the smallest detail. False nails can help create a festive look. This is an easy way to create a stunning manicure for a teenage girl.

False nails look like thin plastic plates that imitate the shape of a nail. As a rule, they have a beautiful design that is difficult to do on your own. But many mothers are concerned about the question of whether it is possible to use such fashionable beauty things at a young age.

Experts warn that it is often unsafe for children to glue false nails. They disrupt the nutrition of the nail plates, which can lead to problems with nails in adulthood. If you use false nails 1-2 times, on a special occasion, nothing bad will happen. The main thing is to choose high-quality products from well-established manufacturers, such as El Corazon, TNL. Then you won’t have to worry about the harmlessness of the glue and materials from which the artificial plates are made.

Using artificial nails is very easy:

• remove old nail polish, if any;
• artificial plates are pre-filed so that they match natural nails in size and shape;
• the artificial nail is applied to the natural one and pressed;
• after wearing, immerse the fingers in warm water for 10 - 15 minutes so that the glue dissolves;
• False nails are carefully removed from natural nails by prying the edge.

"Advice!" False nails with bright designs are best used no earlier than adolescence. Children's manicure on short nails at the age of 11 and younger girls looks much more attractive than false nails. A bright, provocative manicure, such as a red manicure, will look especially ridiculous on young hands.

Color

What color should you paint your child's nails? The best thing to do is ask him about it. Maybe the child wants to choose a specific shade. It is recommended to use white or clear varnish for the base and under the stickers. And manicures for fashionable girls can come in different shades.

All pastel colors

• light pink;
• mint;
• turquoise;
• lilac;
• pale yellow.

All rich shades

• red;
• orange;
• yellow;
• green;
• violet;
• blue;
• blue.

Execution technique

As we have already said, trimmed manicures are not recommended for girls under 14 years of age. This is fraught with problems with nails in adulthood. It is important to prepare all the tools and coatings necessary for the procedure.

What is needed for the procedure?

For children's manicure you need to use special tools. They should be safe, preferably reserved only for the child.

For girls of primary school age, it is better to choose a file with an abrasiveness of 240 grit; teenage girls can choose a higher abrasiveness, up to 360 grit. It is better to try to file your nails as little as possible to avoid splitting and cracking. To shorten the length, you can use scissors or nippers; to trim hangnails, use round scissors.

For children's manicure, you need to use a disinfectant solution. Before performing a manicure, they need to treat the skin of the child’s hands. You can use antiseptic solutions MultiDez, Teflex, Septotsid, etc. They treat the skin of your hands and instruments. These products contain substances that kill germs and viruses and ensure the hygiene of the manicure procedure.

To remove the cuticle, you need to purchase a special gel or cream that softens it. When doing a manicure on children's nails, you can use Gena Cuticle Off cream, CND Cuticle Eraser, and Fruit Silk gel from the Rio Profi brand.

Orange sticks are used to push back the cuticle. They are in the line of any brand of nail products.

After the procedure, it is recommended to apply emollient oil to the cuticle area. You can give preference to oils from the brands Irisk, El Corazon, TNL, Uno. They give the hands a well-groomed appearance, soften and nourish the skin around the nails.

How to do it correctly?

Every mother should know how to do a manicure correctly in order to pass on this knowledge and skills to her daughter:

• Before starting the procedure, hands are washed with soap and treated with a disinfectant solution;
• use a nail file to give the nails a neat shape, leaving 1 - 2 mm of free edge;
• hangnails are trimmed with pliers or scissors with round ends;
• if the cuticle needs to be processed, a softener is applied to it;
• then it is carefully pushed away with an orange stick, without putting unnecessary pressure on the nail;
• After using the cuticle remover, you need to wash your hands with soap;
• cuticle oil is applied to the skin around the nail;
• Nourishing cream is applied to the hands.

If you perform a manicure with nail coating, apply cuticle oil and hand cream after the polish has dried. If cream or oil was applied earlier, the nail plates are treated with a degreaser, otherwise the varnish will “strip” and dry poorly.

Patterns

Any mother can do such a simple manicure for an 11-year-old girl. The technique is very simple. On a plain surface, the color of which the child chooses, patterns are drawn with a toothpick. How to do it:

• Cover your nails with varnish.
• Place small dots over the entire area of ​​the painted nail.
• Then, using a toothpick, use light wave-like movements to connect these points. Beautiful curls will form on the nail.
• Cover with clear varnish.

Nail care tips

To ensure proper care of children's nails, follow these simple recommendations:

• little girls do not have their cuticle cut, and in no case do they treat it with machine cutters or other sharp instruments, as this can lead to damage to the nail matrix;
• to treat the cuticle of teenage girls, a wooden stick is used to gently push back the cuticle, without strong pressure; it is not safe to use metal tools;
• To make it easier to process the cuticle, you must first steam your hands in a warm bath with herbs or use a special softening agent;
• Under no circumstances should you polish your nails, as they are too thin in childhood;
• file the free edge and give the nails a neat shape using fine abrasive files;
• It is better to remove the excess length with nail scissors, and only then carefully file the free edge;
• Before starting a manicure, be sure to wash your hands and treat them with a disinfectant to avoid infection.

Children's manicure is not a fashion, but a necessity. It's not just beautiful, but hygienic. It is important for a girl to understand from an early age that her hands should be clean and well-groomed.