Acrylic nails - removing the product 2

| January 8, 2012 |

If you don’t have time to constantly monitor your client and wipe down her nails, you want to create an environment for the nails that will speed up the process. Put some cotton in pure acetone remover. You can use either cotton balls or cotton in long strips (the kind used for chemical processes on the hair).

Don’t use squares or lint-free wipes, they won’t work as well. Take a large piece of foil and put the soaked cotton in it, it needs to be wet but you don’t want to have acetone leaking all over the place. Do one for each hand so your client is more comfortable.

Place your clients nails in between the cotton, so both the front and back of the nails are in acetone. I do recommend removing the polish ahead of time, this process is messy enough and you’ll be able to see the nail better as well. Wrap the nails up in the foil as tight as possible. If you can, wrap each hand in a towel and put it in a warming mitt. Heating up the acetone makes it work better.

If you don’t have the warming mitts try warming a damp towel in the microwave or use hot water and wrap them around the foil to create heat. Just make sure nothing is too hot, you don’t want to burn your client or make her uncomfortable.

Let your client soak for a good 20 minutes before you even take a peek at how the product is dissolving. It’s just like cooking and every time you open the foil heat gets out and slows the process. I have little patience so I usually check them, wipe off the dissolved product then wrap them back up. If you can change the towels so they are constantly warm that will help the process as well.

Hopefully once the product is removed there will be very little damage. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Use extra caution if you are removing product that another nail technician applied. You have no idea what their technique is, or what they do to prep the nail before applying product. Once the product is removed the most tedious part is done, but you still have a lot of work to do.

I almost never apply product on nails when a different product has just been removed. I usually make them wait at least a week. The only way I even consider reapplying it is if I’m dealing with a client I know and her natural nails are in great shape. Even if you gently remove the product, as I’ve explained to you here, the nail plate & bed will be very sensitive and you must proceed with care.