Does gel damage your nails?
The short answer is no. The long answer explains what really damages nails, and how we avoid it.
It is the question we hear most in the studio, and it is a fair one: almost everyone knows someone whose nails were thin and soft after gel. But it is almost never the gel itself that damages nails. It is three things done around it.
1. Peeling
When you peel or pick off gel, it takes the top layers of the natural nail with it. That is the most common reason for thin, bendy nails, and the reason never to peel them yourself, even when an edge lifts. Call us instead: repairing a single nail is quick and inexpensive.
2. Rough removal
Prying, forcing or scraping takes off layers of nail that take months to grow back. That is why we always remove the material ourselves, carefully, down to a natural nail that stays intact.
3. Over-filing during preparation
Good adhesion does not need a thinner nail. We only buff and dehydrate the surface; the wear comes from careful preparation and material that cures fully, not from how much nail is filed away.
What about “nails need to breathe”?
They cannot: the nail plate is not alive, and the matrix gets oxygen and nutrients from the blood, not the air. So a break between sets is not needed for “breathing”. It makes sense only when nails have been thinned or split by poor removal.
The visible nail, made of keratin. Once it grows out from under the skin it is no longer living, which is why gel cannot "suffocate" it.
When your nails are already thin
If you come in with nails thinned by peeling or a bad removal, you are not the exception and it is no obstacle. BIAB strengthens and supports the natural nail while healthy nail grows all the way out, which takes a few months. At every appointment you can see the healthy part moving towards the tip. More on the gel polish and BIAB page.
Allergy is a different question
The one thing about gel that truly deserves attention is an allergy to acrylates. We prevent it with HEMA-free gels, material that never touches the skin and layers cured all the way through. All of it is explained under safety and allergies.
Keeping nails healthy between appointments
- A drop of cuticle oil morning and evening.
- Gloves for cleaning and washing up.
- Nails are not tools: no opening cans or scraping labels.
- An infill every three to four weeks, before the nail’s balance shifts too far forward.
The details are under nail care.
Zelo natancna in zato so nohti vedno popolni in zelo obstojni zaradi natancne preparacije nohta pred podaljsanjem☺️