Clockwise from the top: Lauren B beauty Polishing Handscrub ($20, 2 oz.), SpaNature Hand and Body lotion ($11.55, 28 oz.), Ciate London mini nail treatment in Knight in Shining Armour and nail gym ($10.50, 0.17 oz.), and nail Magic Hardener and Conditioner ($6.50, 0.25 oz.)
As some of you might remember, not too long ago, I wrote a short piece about trying to quit gel manicures. Well, shortly after, I did it! I took them off myself at home…and it was terrible, and I don’t mean terrible in terms of how my nails were feeling before I took them off. I mean terrible in terms of “My nails actually hurt for several days afterward, and it has taken over a month for them to show any visible signs of improvement.”
To recap, here’s a (rather bad, admittedly) photo of what my nails looked like immediately after I removed my gels about a month ago.
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Be warned, it isn’t pretty.
A picture from the same night I removed my gel nails; I was left with brittle, paper thin, aching nails.
Since that fateful night, I’ve tried to take good care of my nails to help them recover. I was in Sally beauty supply just after removing the gels and asked an employee to recommend a product to rehab nails after removing gels, and she recommended nail Magic Hardener and Conditioner.
She told me to use it for two full weeks with nothing else on my nails, and then after that to keep using it as a base coat, which I’ve done.
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After the initial two weeks, my nails weren’t feeling all that much better, so I also added some other products to my gel manicure repair arsenal, including these mini treatments from Ciate London below…
Ciate London Knight in Shining Armour (left), Ciate London nail gym (right), and nail Magic Hardener and Conditioner (top)
The Ciate minis have helped the most, I think. I’ve been using nail gym and Knight In Shining Armour. nail gym works like a personal trainer for weak nails, while Knight in Shining Armour is enriched with marula oil for brighter, more hydrated nails.
As well as using the Ciate London treatments, I’ve been taking special care to keep my hands and cuticles well hydrated.
My current fave lotion has been the olive-scented one above from SpaNature, which I received as a Christmas gift from the salon I went to when I was still getting manicures.
The olive oil base is the perfect hydrator, and the olive scent isn’t too overpowering. It’s a great lotion to put on after using the Lauren B. beauty Hand Polishing Scrub, which has been another new addition to my collection.
The super-fine beads make for an excellent hand massage…
The Lauren B. beauty scrub contains a blend of fine oil beads, amino acids, Vitamin E, and sunflower and aloe oils, and I usually give my hands a good scrub with it after my shower because it restores a good amount of moisture.
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My nails still have a long way to go before they’re where I want them to be (meaning, back to not peeling and without the awful rivets in them), but for reference, here’s what my nails look like today.
My nails today: still discolored and with some grooves in them, but they’re getting better! — and they’ve started to grow again.
They’ve made progress, but I’m afraid they’re still a bit discolored and weak. but at least they aren’t breaking off at the drop of a hat anymore!
Do you guys have any suggestions for products or things to do to rahabilitate your nails after wearing acrylics/gels for a long time? Any holy grail nail treatments? Please let me know if you do!