Nails
Is Your Manicure Ruining Your Nails?
The answer: Unfortunately, yes. The good news: These manicure tips should solve your nail problems
You're getting gel manicures
During my manicure phase, I only tried a gel manicure once. While I loved the long-lasting aspect, I hated how my nails felt after I had the polish removed. They were more brittle than ever. Spielfogel is adamantly opposed to gel: "I can't see how it's a good idea at all," he says. "The polish is so tightly adhered to the nail for a long time, and it's full of chemicals. Even putting your hands under that UV light -- why would you want to expose yourself to that?"However, Marcy Parco, spa director at Haven Spa in New York City, disagrees -- she loves gel manicures. Of course she works in a spa that offers the service (so I'm not going to pretend that her opinion isn't slightly biased), but she makes a good point: "I have naturally thin nails, and I bite them," she says. "Gel manicures have saved my nails because they don't break and I leave them alone." She says that when she removes the gel, her nails actually look better because they've been growing (without her gnawing on them) for two weeks.
If you do go for a gel mani, be sure the technician uses the proper technique to take off the polish. "There are a lot of salons where they file the polish off," says Parco. "That would be far more damaging than the manicure itself. They should use an acetone-based remover and wrap the nails in foil." If you're not sure whether the service will hurt or help your nails, try it once and carefully monitor the effects.
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