How To Take Off Acrylic Gel Nails At Home

Need to get your acrylic nails off, but don't have the time or patience to go to the salon? We have been there — merely information technology pays to remove that manicure correctly instead of, say, prying them from your natural nails (ouch!) or mindlessly biting them off while absorbed in a binge TV-watching session.

Removing acrylics forcefully means removing some of the many layers of your natural nail plate, likewise, according to Savannah Walker, a professional nail artist and owner of Manifest Boom in New York City. "Commonly this results in thin, flimsy, damaged nails, which final for months until they grow out," she says. And that's the all-time possible scenario! So, if you opt for acrylics, nosotros suggest keeping this handy tool kit at home for a damage-free removal:

100-dust nail file
100% pure acetone nail polish remover
Cotton balls
Aluminum foil
Small bowl
Orange sticks or cuticle pusher
Foam blast buffer

Tools You'll Need to Safely Remove Acrylic Nails

100% Pure Acetone Smash Smooth Remover

EC Labs amazon.com

$12.99

Cotton wool Assurance

Sky Organics amazon.com

$v.99

Wrap Aluminum Foil

Reynolds amazon.com

$17.56

Modest Basin

Youngever amazon.com

$fifteen.99

Orange Sticks Wooden Cuticle Sticks

Keep in heed, even if you follow these steps, you may be left with somewhat compromised natural nails, depending on how the technician applied them the acrylics in the start identify and how carefully yous execute the removal. However, "if the acrylic process is done patiently, it tin be nearly damage-complimentary," Walker says. Now, follow these unproblematic steps from smash pros to easily take acrylic nails off at dwelling fast without damage:

i. File off every bit much of the acrylic nail as possible

Instead of filing your nails in the usual way (along the top edge of the boom), you'll need to sparse out the entire surface area the acrylic covers. "Using a coarse dust file , file off as much of the acrylic product as possible," Walker says. "You demand a really adept file for this; an emery board would be useless." Look for a 100-grit nail file, which is fibroid enough to file downwardly the surface of the acrylics, or a nail drill.

Pro prophylactic tip: "Be careful non to cut the skin around the nails with the edges of the file," she advises. "Always 'flavour' a new file by using another file over the edges to soften them."

2. Soak off any remaining acrylic smash

Close up of woman's hand in bowl of soapy water

altrendo images Getty Images

Once the acrylic has been filed down much as possible, Walker recommends soaking the nails in 100% acetone smash polish remover for as long as it takes to deliquesce the product.

There are two ways to exercise this. One method is to place an acet0ne-soaked piece of cotton over each boom, and so wrap each fingertip in foil, Walker advises. "This is the superior technique," she says. Otherwise, you can endeavour soaking fingers in a bowl of acetone. It'due south simpler, but "the bowl technique is very harsh on your skin and takes longer," Walker notes.

If yous practice go this route, "merely dip your nail tips in the bowl to avoid drying out the skin on your fingers and hands," says Good Housekeeping Establish Beauty Lab Director Birnur Aral, Ph.D. "Be sure to just utilise acetone in a well-ventilated area, because information technology is very volatile and can hands irritate your respiratory system."

3. Gently scrape or buff off the final bits of acrylic

After soaking in acetone, check nails "every 20 minutes or so to scrape off the softened acrylic using an orange stick or cuticle pusher, repeating this process until all the production has been dissolved," Walker says.

There may be a few small areas of acrylic that remain, but don't get crude with them! "If there are any little $.25 of acrylic that won't budge, a soft cream blast buffer can be used to buff those little stubborn $.25 smooth," she says.

5. Protect your nails from futurity acrylic harm

Acrylic isn't necessarily bad for nails, but it can take a toll on natural nails. For acrylics devotees, try to take a weeklong break from them every month so your nails' health doesn't completely dwindle. During that fourth dimension, brush on one coat of a strengthening nail treatment every day to preclude breakage, like this moisturizing oil created past nail creative person Deborah Lippmann.

Deborah Lippmann Cuticle Oil

To requite them an even more intensive handling, "cover your nails with cuticle oil and cuticle cream, then wrap each paw in a warm washcloth for five minutes," says manicurist Deborah Lippmann, founder of Deborah Lippmann nail collection. The result: shinier, stronger nails in no time.

How to remove acrylics without acetone

You can remove acrylic nails without acetone using an acetone-free nail polish remover every bit a soak-off solution. But know that "if you wish to avoid acetone, information technology will take longer to remove acrylics," says Anastasia Totty, a LeChat Nails Educator in Saint Johns, Florida. Hither's how:

Outset by trimming the extra length of the enhancement using blast clippers to cutting down on the soaking time, she advises.
Use a 100-grit nail file to remove equally much product as possible without filing into the natural nail. "This will remove any top glaze, gel polish or nail art making it easier for the solution to penetrate the enhancement," Totty explains.
Soak a slice of cotton in the remover and wrap your fingertip in a piece of foil about two inches long, with the slice of cotton fiber in direct contact with the acrylic, repeating on each finger. Look 15 to 20 minutes, and so remove the foil and cotton and gently push the soaked product abroad from the cuticle using an orange forest stick or cuticle pusher. "Be patient and don't scrape or peel any of it if information technology's not soaked enough," she says.
If you take acrylic left on nails, wrap them again using more of the remover.
Use the file to shape nails, gently buff if necessary, and wash easily to remove any remaining solution.