Nail damage :(

This is what happens after pulling/chipping off nail enhancements with a nipper. Nail damage!!

I was getting anxious to have the acrylics off so instead of soaking them off like a smart person, I chipped them off with nippers.  The tech who originally put them on used an electric drill to "buff" the natural nail and create more adhesion with the acrylic.  This is bad! What it really did was file off too many layers of my nails.  Now you can see where the normal outgrowth from the cuticle drops off into the valley of too-thin.  

...the weak natural nail tore from my nail bed creating this nasty and painful dent :(

Lessons to be learned from my mistake:
1)  Do not allow your natural nails to be filed with an electric file! ouch!
2)  Always soak or gently file off nail enhancements - never chip or pull them off









So I'm trying out Nutra Nails to help protect my damaged nails until they grow out.  The damaged parts will never fix themselves; there's no amount of anything you can apply to make the nail repair itself.  Your nails are dead like your hair.  What you can do is protect the nail from further damage and keep the cuticles healthy.

I am trying 2 coats of Thickener to add some layers back on the thin nails, then a coat or 2 of Strengthener to keep the nails from breaking.  I'm also keeping the nails very short so the damaged parts will not catch and split up further on the nail bed.

So far, the Nutra Nails has been awesome! It's easy to find (Walmart) and inexpensive ($4), plus it really does the job.  With it applied, my nails are flexible enough not to snap, but still thicker and strong enough to protect the weak natural nail underneath.





Some polish and design, then Speed Dry Top Coat! (I love this stuff - it dries quickly so you don't have to worry about smudging)





Black n Yellow, black n yellow... Rawr!

Poor nails.  I may have to apply soak off gel so I can keep changing paint while the damage grows out.  While nails are still dead, I'm afraid that changing polish too often will dry them out and make them worse. With a gel overlay, the acetone cannot penetrate the gel so I can keep changing polish :) And the nail surface will be smooth and even - no more of this weird drop-off into bad nail valley.

Shynk!