You have weak nails and have been searching for different nail strengtheners to make your nails stronger so they do not break without success. Good news! Your search is over. Gel polish can be your last nail strengthener that you have to buy.
Gel nail polish does not make natural nails structurally stronger or thicker because it is just a topical artificial polish layer that serves as a nail decoration that also makes natural nails tougher when it is applied. Removing gel nail polish will also take this added strength away from the natural nails.
Does gel polish make your nails stronger?
Gel polish is a great invention that can last on natural nails for up to two weeks or more compared to a few days with regular nail polish.
When cured by a UV light source, liquid gel polish plasticizes and forms a stronger, thicker layer that has the flexibility to conform to the natural nails’ bending.
This helps strengthens the natural nails while the gel polish is on the nails. So gel polish does make nails stronger when it is applied and acts as an extra protective layer.
Is gel polish good for weak nails?
Gel polish is a very good nail strengthener compared to other regular nail strengtheners. If you apply gel polish on your weak nails, your nails will be thicker and stronger and you do not have to apply any additional coats for up to two weeks.
Gel polish helps prevents weak nails from splitting, peeling, or breaking from the normal, daily uses of hands and fingers.
How can you strengthen your nails with gel polish?
If you just want natural, healthy look nails, you only need to apply a gel polish base coat and topcoat. Do follow the nail preparation closely because if you do it properly, the gel polish will last up to two weeks or more and keeping this tougher layer on your weak nails the whole time.
And you just have to cure each layer using a UV light source.
After you are done curing the gel top coat, the gel polish is dry to the touch and it only takes about 45 seconds to achieve that.
If you use a regular nail strengthener, you have to wait for at least 20 minutes for it to dry.
Furthermore, it is recommended that you have to apply a regular nail strengthener on your nails every other day, remove the whole thing after one week and repeat the process all over again.
You do not have to do anything for two weeks if you strengthen your nails with gel polish.
You can see now that you will save a lot of time using gel polish as a nail strengthener.
Will gel polish keep your nail from breaking?
If you have thin, weak natural nails and they always break on you, the gel polish will keep your nails from breaking so easily.
The added durable thickness from gel polish will make your nails stronger so you can perform your daily manual tasks without having to worry that they might break your weak nails.
Peeling, splitting, or tearing of your weak nails can also be avoided together with possible bleeding caused by these mishaps.
Why does gel polish weaken nails?
Even the greatest products can be bad if they are not used or handled properly. The same thing can be said to this great gel polish.
If you use gel polish as a nail strengthener, there are a few things you should know so you will not damage your weak nails and make them last as long as they are supposed to.
Too much buffing will weaken your nails
Many people who do nails at home make this mistake and nail technicians do have their fair share: over buffing nail surface before gel polish application.
The one main reason that people do this is they do not know when to stop and how much buffing is enough.
Only the shine of the nail surface needs to be removed. This means it takes only a few light passes of a clean, fine buffer on the nail surface, You can use one corner of your buffer block to go around your cuticle lines.
That is how I prepare my customer’s nail surface for any type of polishes or artificial nail enhancement.
Bad nail prep will not make gel polish last
Not following or skipping a nail preparation before gel polish will cause it to come off the nails much sooner.
If this happens, you can either peel the rest of the gel polish, taking some of your nails with it, or you have to buff the old gel polish to put on new layers sooner than expected.
Peeling gel polish off will thin out nails
Many people have a bad habit of peeling off old gel polish without going through the right way of taking gel polish off. If you are trying to peel gel polish off your nails, you will also peel layers of your nails.
In severe cases, you can make your nails bleed if you peel it way down to the nail bed.
If you do not do the above things to your nails while you are using gel polish as a nail strengthener, you will not damage your nails.
How to remove gel polish as a nail strengthener
The best way to take off gel polish is by soaking in acetone. My favorite method is using finger cots to remove gel polish. At home, however, you can remove gel polish without acetone naturally and quickly.
Make sure you follow one method that you like best. This way, your nails will not be ruined by any other bad removal process or doing it carelessly.
How to make your nails stronger with gel polish
No matter how much you like gel polish as a nail strengthener, it is just a temporary solution to make your nails stronger. Your nails will be what they are after you remove gel polish off them.
The only way you can make your nails stronger is from within. I only mention this briefly because there are many articles written on this subject already.
Take your vitamins daily if you think they will help your nails grow stronger.
Improve your diet to include more calcium or other necessary nutrients for stronger nails.
It might take up to four months for the nails to grow out for you to see the difference.
So be patient.
The best gel polish brand to make nails stronger
For all my years as a nail tech and salon owner, I always use Gelish gel base coat and topcoat.
Gelish is the first brand of gel polish that started the gel polish craze in 2009.
I tried many other brands, but I always had to go back to Gelish gel base coat and topcoat.
It is still the best. Not only it works for a wide range of temperatures from summer to winter, but Gelish base coat also lasted the longest on my customers’ nails, and its topcoat shined through a long time with minimal scratching.
For home use, the best kit is Gelish’s Fantastic Four. It consists of:
PH Bond: it dehydrates and PH balances the nail surface prior to applying gel base coat to maximize adhesion.
Foundation: it is a name for base coat.
Top It Off: top coat.
Nourish: good cuticle oil.
These bottles will last you a year or two if you doing your nails at home because you only use them twice a month.
If you do not have a LED nail lamp, you can buy one for less than $25
. I wrote an article about UV LED nail lamps just in case you want to know more about them.
You can get them on Amazon.
Happy gelling.
