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Sometimes you don’t feel like going to the nail salon. I get it. Especially if you aren’t looking for any new services other than removing your nail enhancements. After spending years performing many kinds of nail enhancement removals in the salon, I can show you how to remove dip nails, acrylic nails, and gel nails at home in the most efficient way possible.
Most nail enhancements are removed with acetone. Some take longer than others, and some can’t be removed with acetone at all. The key is patience. If you try to pull them or rip them off, the results can be disastrous. Layers of your nail will be stuck to the enhancement and you will be left with paper thin nails.
Certain methods can be used to speed up removal time. This is important because you want to avoid soaking your nails and skin in acetone for too long, as it is very drying and damaging to the skin and nails. Once you remove the nails, you should do a treatment to restore the moisture in your natural nails.
How to Remove Dip Powder Nails
Powder dipped nails are not too hard to remove, but it may take some patience. Before doing this, find something to watch or listen to before starting because you will have to sit for a little bit.
Supplies needed
- Acetone
- Cotton balls
- 1 x 1 sheet of aluminum foil
- Nail file
- Scissors
Steps:
- Cut the aluminum foil into strips big enough to wrap around your fingertips comfortably while covering the nails.
- Cut the cotton balls into thirds. You need these to only be big enough to cover your nail plates.
- File the surface of your nails until you remove the top coat. You will know you have done this when the shine is gone.
- Dip a piece of a cotton ball into a generous amount of acetone. Place it onto the nail, being sure to cover the entire surface. Wrap with aluminum foil.
- Sit for about 15 minutes. Check one nail. You will know when the dip powder is ready to come off when it is melted enough to just slide off of your nails. If not, re-wrap the finger you checked and wait until it’s ready.
- Once it’s ready, squeeze your fingertips while pulling the aluminum foil off, and it should come right off with the cotton and tin foil.
Tips:
- It would be helpful to use a 180-grit file. If you use a file that is too weak, it will take longer.
- If you don’t want your fingers in acetone for too long and would like to cut down on the soaking time, you can file the surface of the nail until there is only a thin layer of the powder dip left. Soak the rest, but check nails after 10 minutes instead of 15 because it doesn’t take as long to melt a thin layer. This may save you time while preventing extra dryness of your cuticles and nails.
- Make sure you are using good acetone. I don’t know why, but I have definitely had some brands of acetone that didn’t cut through things the way it’s supposed to, which is frustrating because then it feels like it takes all day.
- Follow up with the moisture restoration tips listed at the end of this article.
How to Remove Acrylic Nails
Acrylic is removed in the same way you remove dip powder nails, except it is much tougher to get off. The soak time in the acetone is way longer. If you’ve ever tried to soak off your acrylic nails, you know what I’m talking about. It takes foreeeeeever.
You definitely don’t want to try to just soak them off without a little prep or you will be there for an hour and a day. Prep the nails to cut down on time before attempting to soak them off using the following steps:
- The first thing you will want to do is cut as much of the free edge of the nail off as possible. A large nail clipper will work for this if you don’t have tip cutters. The less acrylic the acetone has to cut through, the better.
- Next, file down the acrylic and much as you can. You will want to get them as thin as you can without actually filing the natural nail. Be very careful not to file the natural nail as this can take off layers and weaken them significantly.
- Once you have a thin layer of acrylic left, then you can soak them in acetone. You can either do this in a glass bowl that you don’t plan to eat out of (ever!), or you can soak cotton balls in acetone and use tin foil to secure them to your nails just as you would do with the powder dip nails. 15 minutes probably won’t cut it on this one, but I would check the nails every 15 minutes and scrape off whatever melted and soak again until it is all removed.
Tip: The tin foil method is faster than soaking nails in a bowl because it traps body heat and heats up the acetone, which makes it break down the acrylic faster. If you are using a bowl, find a larger bowl you can fill with hot water and place the smaller bowl of acetone in it to warm it up. It will speed up the process. And DO NOT EVER heat acetone in the microwave or on the stove because it is flammable.
Acrylic nails are one of the hardest nail enhancements to remove, but if you rip it off, it can take multiple layers of your nail with it. It can hurt and even bleed, so please be careful! This may require some patience.
How to Remove Gel Polish and Gel Nails
This one is going to depend on what type of gel is on your nails.
If you have gel polish over your natural nails, you can also remove it using the tin foil method or the bowl method.
Some brands soak off quicker than others. I love the brands that come off more easily because it is less wear and tear on the nails with less soak time needed. In some cases, you may have to file off the top coat before soaking because it won’t break down easily in the acetone.
This will only take about 15 minutes or less, depending on which brand you use. Keep soaking until all of it comes off. Do not scrape at any leftovers unless it is completely softened, as this scraping can damage your natural nails.
If you have hard gel, this is a tricky one. Acetone will not break through it, so you will have to file it all off.
Cringe!
I know.
Go slow, be careful, and pay attention to where your natural nail is. Try not to even let the file touch any areas of the top of your natural nails.
Once you have thinned it down to almost natural, you should probably switch to a buffer instead of a file and gently buff them until the gel is gone and they are smooth.
Luckily for us, there are brands coming out with soak-off hard gel these days. Yay! Finally. I have yet to try it though.
Restore after Removal
Once your nail enhancements are removed, it would help lots to massage some cuticle oil into your nails. Acetone is really drying and you will want to add some moisture back to them.
I like to use a very fine buffer to massage the oil into the nail to smooth out any imperfections without removing layers of the nail. Be very gentle with this so you do not strip additional layers from the nail.
You can either leave them alone at this point, or you can polish them. Just make sure you wash your hands first because the polish will not adhere if there is too much oil on the nails.
That’s it! This can be an annoying process, but try to remove your enhancements properly without ripping them off. Your nails will thank you!
