Very confused about whether this is possible to do with acrylic or gel nails??

[TropicalNails]

I just joined this forum. I'm so sorry I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post in this section? As I'm not a nail tech.

...but I used to get acrylic french nails which I LOVED because they looked so beautiful but it left my nails permanently damaged after having them for 7 years since, at the time, I'm embarrassed to admit I did not know that it is a HUGE no no when they popped and literally tore the old acrylic off rather than soaking them off. Since I HATE long nails (they must be kept short) I would go to the salon and they would pop my acrylics off  completely every two weeks (painfully prying them off with great force) and do a fresh set. It was VERY painful when they would literally tear the acrylic off! This damaged my nails so bad that after NOT having anything on my nails at all for the past 3 years they STILL have not recovered and have been left with permanent waves/ridges in my nails.

I don't like plain nails and would LOVE to get french acrylic or gel nails again but was wondering.... is is POSSIBLE for a nail tech to simply use a drill to "file" the old acrylic super thin (never touching my actual nail with the drill of course) and NOT actually have to FULLY remove 100% of the acrylic in order to give me a fresh set every two weeks? ... because I REALLY don't want to have to soak the acrylic of every two weeks as I'd rather not expose my skin to such frequent doses of acetone...

Thanks so much in advance for any advice/input!

[NailzOnLine]

OK, so I need to correct something. First of all, there is no way that your nails were permanently damaged. Even the most horrible damage will grow out in a couple months.  You had your nails for 7 years. Is anything on your body the same as it was 7 years ago? Things change over time, you just couldn't see it because you had nails on.

Secondly, there is zero reason to remove your nails every 2 weeks. Zero. And to pull them off?? Yikes. To properly maintain French nails you can thin them out and reapply a thin layer or you can use an electric file to just thin the tip and carve out the smile line and reapply the white at the tip and the pink at the cuticle and stress area.  This is called a French rebalance or a French fill or a backfill. 

I hope you can find a qualified nail tech. 

Jess

[TropicalNails]

OK, so I need to correct something. First of all, there is no way that your nails were permanently damaged. Even the most horrible damage will grow out in a couple months.  You had your nails for 7 years. Is anything on your body the same as it was 7 years ago? Things change over time, you just couldn't see it because you had nails on.

Secondly, there is zero reason to remove your nails every 2 weeks. Zero. And to pull them off?? Yikes. To properly maintain French nails you can thin them out and reapply a thin layer or you can use an electric file to just thin the tip and carve out the smile line and reapply the white at the tip and the pink at the cuticle and stress area.  This is called a French rebalance or a French fill or a backfill. 

I hope you can find a qualified nail tech. 

Jess

Thanks for your reply but I feel as though they have permanently damaged my nail bed. I NEVER had vertical ridges/waves on any of my nails before I got acrylics for the first time when I was 20 yrs old... I actually had them for 5 yrs, not 7 (apologies for wrong info earlier). I've read and have been told that can cause permanent damage to the nail bed and I firmly believe that is exactly what has happened to me. I used to go to different nails salons and they ALL would painfully pop off/tear off the acrylic every single time I would go back to get a "fill" every 2 weeks. These salons would also drill my natural nails and they would claim "they MUST do this in order to rough up the nails so that the acrylic would stick". I later found out that the natural nails should NEVER be drilled as such!!

I indeed have suffered permanent damage to my nails from all this. My nails are healthy now but they do indeed have permanent vertical waves/ridges in them due to the nail bed being damaged.

I recently discovered SNS power dipped french nails and am hoping to give that a try. HOPING that might be gentler on nails than acrylics...

PS: It is disappointing to see you claim it cannot cause permanent damage. Where are you getting your information from?? I'm sorry but that is FALSE and there is much documentation out there to support this and having been permanently damaged my own nails I'm living proof!

If fitted properly and the correct products are used, acrylic nails are usually not problematic. However long term use and poorly fitted nails can seriously damage the nail bed and hamper natural nail growth.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/articl...nails.html
'Long term use of acrylic nails can hamper natural nail growth, resulting in severely deformed fingernails. This may cause a number of defects including ridges, thickened, rough nails and discoloured nails.'

Horizontal ridging can be the result of trauma to the matrix. The white half moon at the base of the nail called the Lunula is actually the leading edge of the matrix (nail root). Repetitive trauma to the matrix can result in the horizontal ridging. Acrylics can indeed cause PERMANENT damage!!