How to remove gel polish at home without special tools?

Gel polish for nails is becoming more and more popular: this coating has a bright saturated color, lasts up to three weeks, allows you to grow nails and not worry that the manicure will quickly deteriorate. Nevertheless, there are also disadvantages to the use of the gel - in particular, removal at home is problematic, since the coating adheres tightly to the nail plate, there is a risk of damaging the nail. But with due care and compliance with all the rules, you can remove gel polish at home even without special tools.

To remove the coating from your nails, you don't have to go to the salon: you can remove the gel polish at home without harm. In salons, it is removed in two ways: they cut it off with a machine or apply a remover, and then keep their fingers under the foil. At the same time, there are other options: you can remove the gel at home without an apparatus and without a special liquid. You can use the most common substances for such purposes - varnish, alcohol, acetone or a hard file for manicure.

Surely any modern woman has a colorless varnish in her apartment. Few people know that it can be used not only to strengthen nails, but also to remove any varnish layer. To do this, follow these steps.

• Wash your hands and degrease the nail surface with gel polish. It is important that the clearcoat adheres tightly to your current finish.
• Smear the clear polish over the top of the gel. It is necessary to make several rather dense layers. The thicker the coating, the easier it will be to remove.
• Now make a warm hand bath to steam your nails. The ideal solution would be water with the addition of baking soda. Keep your hands in a warm bath for 2-3 minutes.
• Take an orange stick and start slowly removing the polish with it, moving from the base of the nail plate to your fingertips. This method will help to remove the gel carefully and without damage.
• If on the first try it does not work to remove all the gel, remove what separates easily, and then repeat the procedure - if the gel was applied in several dense layers, it may take several attempts to get rid of it completely.

You can use rubbing alcohol or vodka to remove the gel safely and comfortably. This is a fairly safe option for nails, which will also help to get rid of the gel polish perfectly. The way to use them is as follows.

• Alcohol or vodka must be mixed with running water in a 1: 1 ratio.
• It is recommended to apply a generous amount of alcohol to each nail using cotton wool.
• You will have to keep the alcohol on your nails for at least 15 minutes. but for this procedure it is important that the nails are warm and that the alcohol itself does not evaporate. You can wrap each nail with regular food foil, as is done in the salon, and if the foil is not at hand, you can simply put on tight gloves or bags on your hands.
• After 15 minutes, try removing the nail polish with an orange stick on one of your fingers. If the coating comes off easily, you can move on to the rest of the nails. If you cannot get rid of the gel, it means that your nails need more time - perhaps the layers of gel polish were applied especially tightly. Leave the rubbing alcohol on your nails for another 5 minutes.
• It is not recommended to wait too long - 20 minutes should be enough to remove any coating. Clean the softened varnish methodically, moving away from the base of the plate. Movements should be vertical and fluid.

Many strippers contain acetone. It perfectly cleaves any synthetic coating - in particular, and gel polish. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that this is an extremely aggressive substance that is harmful to the structure of the nail: if used improperly, the nail will become soft and brittle. To prevent this from happening, acetone, like alcohol, must be diluted with water 1: 1, and keeping it on the nails costs as little as possible.

The method of using acetone is almost the same as using alcohol: you need to apply the liquid to the nails and exclude the possibility of evaporation using foil, gloves or bags. At the same time, acetone acts more strongly, so after 10 minutes you can carefully begin to peel off the coating - usually this time is quite enough. After using acetone, do not forget to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water to avoid aggressive chemical effects on the skin and nails.

If you need to remove the gel at home, you can simply cut it off. In the salons, an apparatus with a high rotation speed of the file is used for this, but at home this procedure will also succeed. It's good if you have an electric roller file designed for pedicure - it will go faster with it. If it is not there, the most common hard file will do.

You just need to take a file, lay it flat and methodically grind the coating off the nail. It is important to make movements in one direction. When peeling off the top layers of the cover, the movement should be vigorous and intense. As you approach the nail plate itself, it is worth working with a file very carefully. It is better to do the finishing touches with a soft file: it will allow you to competently process the surface of the nail, remove the remnants of the base and leave the nail perfectly smooth.

The coating with gel polish adheres tightly to the nail - it is due to this that the varnish has its phenomenal durability. Unfortunately, very often women spoil their own nails in an attempt to remove the coating on their own. In this regard, the procedure for removing gel polish is especially popular in salons. While home withdrawals are likely to be safe if popular mistakes are avoided.

The mistake many women make is that they begin to remove pieces of the coating by hand. After wearing it for a long time, the varnish can fall off by itself in some places, which gives the impression that it can be easily removed with one movement, but this is very deceptive. If in one place the gel leaves the nail, in another it can still remain tightly adhered. Trying to tear off the gel layer, you will tear off the top layer of the nail plate. It will not look very aesthetically pleasing, and it will also make the nail brittle, which will require a long recovery period.

Many people practice removing the gel with alcohol and acetone, while underestimating the need to cover their fingers after applying the liquid. Meanwhile, the use of gloves, foil or film is a prerequisite for the success of the entire procedure. The fact is that for a hard coating to disintegrate, it takes some time for a chemical reaction to occur. Alcohol and acetone tend to evaporate very quickly from the surface in the open air, so if the nails are not covered, then the desired effect cannot be achieved.

Some people think that you need to keep alcohol and acetone for as long as possible to get the effect, but this is also a serious mistake. These liquids have a detrimental effect on the condition of the nail plate, so keeping them on the nails for half an hour is strictly not recommended. Find the ideal minimum time to successfully dissolve the coating, but do not leave your nails with the liquid applied for too long.

Another mistake is often made when trying to remove the gel with a file - some people think that they will succeed better if their nails are steamed. This should not be done categorically. Steaming is useful when removing with a clear polish, when you move the coating with a soft wooden stick and there is no risk of damaging the nail. When you work with a file, it is contraindicated to additionally soften the nail plate - this way you can easily damage it.

Some people think that when working with a file, the direction of movement is not so important, so you can cut the varnish in any direction. This is not entirely true. It is imperative that you file in the same direction on one nail all the time. This will minimize trauma to the nail plate and keep the nail smooth. Otherwise, you will encounter cracks and irregularities on the surface of the nail, which will have to be cut down additionally, which will thin the nail and increase the risk of brittleness.

It is important to remember that even with careful removal, gel polish significantly weakens the nail. Firstly, the plate is thinned, since the master cuts off the top layer before applying the varnish. Secondly, the coating clogged the nail, depriving it of external nutrition. After removing the gel polish, the masters strongly do not recommend applying such a coating immediately.Take a break of one to two weeks, depending on the condition of your nails.

During the recovery period, special care is important. Soak nails with sea salt to strengthen them, rub special oil into the cuticles several times a week. If you feel that the plate is especially thin after removing the coating, select a colorless strengthening varnish that will resist brittleness.

For information on how to remove gel polish at home, see the next video.