Have you noticed how kids copy adults? Do they repeat their words, intonations, actions? Young fashionistas want to wear heels, paint their lips, and get their nails done. Trying on their mother's images, girls feel like princesses. Don’t forbid them to do this, remember yourself as a child.
The main thing is to choose safe means and methods. When it comes to manicure, many questions immediately arise. Can children paint their nails? Which polish should I choose? At what age is it allowed to apply gel polish and do extensions?
General recommendations
Manicure and pedicure are a set of cosmetic procedures for the care of nails, skin of hands and feet. It includes massage, baths, polishing, decoration, nail plate extension.
Until the age of 9–10 years, pediatricians and manicurists advise limiting yourself to regular hygienic treatment: shortening the length of the nail plate, cleaning from dirt, removing burrs. This will be enough for boys. But girls have a different opinion. At the age of 4–5 years, they already come to their mothers and demand to paint their nails. And at 11-12 years old, children want gel polish on their nails for a long-lasting manicure. What should parents do?
Teach your child to regularly care for their nails and treat them with care and precision. Until the age of 14–16 years, the nail plate is still developing. It is thinner and softer than that of adults. Any aggressive impact can cause its deformation, disruption of structure, delamination, and fragility.
When getting a children's manicure, you cannot:
- cut the cuticle;
- use adult varnishes;
- apply a decorative coating without preliminary hygienic treatment, a safe choice for children up to 14–15 years old is a dry European manicure;
- grind, polish the surface of the nail plate;
- leave a large length (no more than 3 mm of free edge is allowed), babies are very active and careless. Long nails will get in the way when playing or changing clothes, clinging, bending, breaking off;
- make a pointed shape. Only round or square with rounded corners are suitable.
What is manicure for teenagers and at what age should one start?
Of course, a manicure for teenagers is very different from an adult, and the reason lies not only in the difference in fashion trends, but also in its correct application on delicate children's nails. Thus, modern girls who are already trying to attract attention to themselves are characterized by the following features of covering their nails with decorative and protective compounds:
Manicure for teenagers
- First of all, a good master, as a rule, does not take on the nails of girls under 12 years old, because their delicate composition is easily damaged by the chemicals that make up the gel and shellac.
- Mechanical processing of children's nail plates is carried out exclusively with a soft abrasive, because when processed with a file or milling cutter, they are injured, or the cuticle is damaged and burrs are formed.
- As a rule, a manicure for children 12 years old should not cause conflict situations with teachers at school, so the master usually offers girls nude colors, transparent varnish, or the color should match the shades of the school uniform.
- If a girl wants to paint her nails brightly in order to go to a party or disco, then a varnish is applied, which can be easily removed with a regular remover that same evening.
Important! Quite often, a manicurist has a special catalog with photographs of exactly those colors that are suitable for teenagers, in accordance with fashion trends for the current season. This means that, just like adults, teenage manicure also differs depending on the time of year.
Lucky
A safe coating for a child’s nails is a children’s varnish that:
- is made on a water basis;
- washes off with warm water and soap, and not with acetone and other chemical solvents;
- does not contain or contains a minimum of harmful components (formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate) that can cause irritation or allergies.
Children's polishes are produced in plastic tubes with a dispenser or in the form of a sippy bottle. You can buy sets of nail polishes for children in different colors along with stickers, glitter, and decals.
When are children allowed to paint their nails? The packaging for the varnish usually indicates the age at which it is allowed to be used. When buying, it is important for mom to pay attention to this.
Baby polish is considered safe. With its help, young ladies can do a manicure themselves, but under the supervision of their mother, turning the process into a game. The coating helps to cope with the habit of biting nails, which affects up to 30% of children under 10 years of age and up to 40% of adolescents from 12 to 18 years of age. In medicine, this disorder is called onychophagia.
Girls of high school age can use adult varnishes with a gentle composition, but they should not often get carried away with them. Before using them, it is recommended to apply a protective medicinal coating as the first layer. To remove such varnish, you need products without acetone.
What is required for the procedure at home?
To do a children's manicure on short nails at home at the age of 11 for school, you will need the following tools and materials:
- special antiseptic or hydrogen peroxide;
- baby soap;
- baby cream;
- cream or oil to soften cuticles;
- nippers, tweezers and a nail file, preferably with a natural abrasive;
- orange cuticle sticks;
- medium hard brush.
In addition to this set, you will need a convenient container for warm water and a soft towel.
Fake nails
False nail plates are available not only for adults, but also for children. They stick easily to your nails and can be easily removed. Due to the water-based glue, to remove them, just put your hands in a bath of warm water for 10 minutes. You can buy false nails for children in toy stores, in the children's departments of adult cosmetic stores.
Despite the safety of such decor, you should not leave them for a long time and use them frequently. Too thin, sensitive nail plates will experience stress, which can cause complications.
Children's false nails are suitable for short-term use. For example, for a matinee, a visit, a children's party. When you give your children false nails, don’t forget to tell them to be careful to avoid injury. Long nails are unsafe. In addition, with them the little girl’s hand looks unnatural and inharmonious.
It is forbidden
When caring for your nails, it is worth remembering that you do not need to cut them immediately after swimming. The steamed nail plate is too tender and prone to delamination.
There is also a chance that you will cut your child’s nail to look like meat, since the edges of the nails are blurred and the area that needs to be cut is difficult to see. It is worth trimming your nails carefully, respecting the anatomical shape.
Use only special tools that are purchased from appropriate stores. It is better to choose a file special for the child.
Treat nails with special tenderness and caution so as not to delaminate the surface. The main thing is to accustom your child to caring for nails from an early age.
Treat cuticles carefully. Under 15 years of age, it is not recommended to carry out complex manipulations with the cuticle, since it acts as a protective layer at the base of the nail. But here everything depends on the individual characteristics of the child’s structure.
A special approach is sought for each child. If the skin is very thin, then special products are used to have a gentle effect on the cuticle. If it’s thicker, you can use an orange stick and carefully push it away.
After this, it can be trimmed with nail scissors. It is always recommended to have such tools at home to perform basic nail care yourself.
Gel polish
Gel polish is the most popular coating among women. His beauty and durability attract the attention of teenagers. From the age of 11 to 12, after watching beautiful photos of gel polish on their nails, children wonder when they will be allowed to have it done?
The opinion of experts on this matter is clear. Children can paint their nails with gel polish no earlier than 16 years of age, when puberty ends, hormonal levels stabilize, and the nail plate is finally formed.
The danger of gel polish is that its components partially change the structure of a child’s delicate nail plate. This is fraught with cracking, deformation, and detachment. It can also cause allergic reactions.
To convince her daughter about gel polish, her mother needs to tell her about its shortcomings and possible complications. As an argument, say that children's nails grow faster than adults'. This means that the effect will not be so long-lasting. In terms of time, it will be comparable to three paintings with high-quality varnish. And it will be three manicures with different designs, colors, and not the same one for three weeks. In addition, the lower growing edge will not be visible.
Sometimes gel polish is used for medicinal purposes to correct abnormal growth of the nail plate and combat onychophagia. In this case, the coating is applied to the child for a month, and as it grows, it is cut off.
Summer manicure
In the summer, when there is no need to go to school, a children's manicure on short nails for 11 years old can be bright. Marigolds can be decorated with designs of berries, fruits, butterflies, ladybugs, clouds, stars or rainbows. Also place cute little animals or characters from your favorite cartoons on each finger. A variety of floral patterns and intricate patterns will create a great summer mood. If it is not possible to create designs on your nails manually, you can use various stickers, of which there are a great variety on sale.
Currently, there are many varnishes with different effects. For example, neon has bright, rich colors during the day and glows in the dark at night. This manicure looks great on the beach and at a children's disco.
Chameleon varnishes change color depending on the ambient temperature and are very popular with young fashionistas. A special “sugar” varnish forms a rough matte surface on the nail, as if coated with sugar. This effect, combined with bright colors, makes the marigolds look like jelly beans.
Modern capabilities combined with creative imagination will help you create real masterpieces of manicure art in the hands of your little princess.
Building up
At what age can children get nail extensions? For teenagers, extensions are even more prohibited than gel polish. Mothers know this, so they make concessions to their daughters and agree to gel polish as a safer alternative to extensions. Choose the lesser of two evils.
Why aren't nail extensions done for children?
- Until the age of 14–16 years, nails are not yet fully formed. They are quite soft and flexible, so the modeled elongated nail plate will not hold well.
- The coating for extensions is applied in a thick layer, putting pressure on the native nail.
- When applying extensions, the smooth surface of the nail plate is filed down and made rough. This is necessary for better adhesion of the nail to the polymer material. This mechanical impact causes serious harm.
- First of all, you need to be able to wear long nails. You will have to forget about ball games and sudden movements. Even writing with a pen at school is difficult with them.
- If moved carelessly, the extended nail plate can peel off along with part of the keratin of the native nail, undermine it, disrupt contact with the nail bed, and lead to wounds and bruises.
The best way to grow your child’s nails is to take care of their health, then they will be strong and quickly grow to the desired length. If your nails grow slowly, peel, or break off, consult a doctor. Perhaps the body simply does not have enough vitamins or minerals.
Children's manicure in Moscow
CHILDREN'S MANICURE: PROS AND CONS
Despite the prejudices that children's hand skin does not require regular care, children's manicure services are becoming increasingly in demand.
Children's manicure fosters the habit of regular care. For little princesses, this is an imitation of an adult mother who regularly visits beauty salons, and they can show off their bright fairy-tale nail art to their girlfriends. For boys, a children's manicure is an opportunity to keep their nails aesthetically pleasing - without dirt under the nails, bitten nail plates, etc. There are age restrictions on caring for cuticles in childhood. From 6-8 years old, children can only have an unedged, European manicure. Cutting the cuticle at this age is not recommended. But already from adolescence (14-16 years old) you can do classic edged and other types of manicure.
CHILDREN'S MANICURE: TECHNIQUE
Children's manicure is divided into two types:
- HYGIENIC - a procedure for maintaining the aesthetic appearance of children's nails (removing dirt, biting off hangnails, trimming the overgrown edge of the nails, etc.). It is important to accustom not only girls to such a manicure, but also boys. The procedure should be performed once every 2 weeks. It is better to make this a kind of ritual to reinforce the habit.
- MANICURE WITH NAIL ART – decorative design of the nail plate.
The technique for performing children's manicure is based on the same principle as the algorithm for adult care, but when working with children's fingers, the master must have special safety precautions. We must remember that a child is unpredictable, and one awkward movement can injure a child’s delicate skin.
1. Preparation - the hands are treated with an antiseptic, the dirt under the nails is removed. The cuticle is carefully pushed back with an orange stick, and the nail plate is given the desired shape. If the sensation from the nail file is unpleasant, you can “bite off” the nails with special tweezers, removing unnecessary length.
2. You can apply a professional product to soften the cuticle, or simply treat it with oil, rubbing it in with light massage movements.
3. The nail plate is degreased and a decorative coating is applied. It is preferable if it is made with varnish from the children's series.
4. Handles are lubricated with cream (either for children or from a professional line) for massage;
RULES - IMPORTANT!
When working with children's hands, there are a number of rules that are unshakable for a reputable professional specialist. The client should also know about them:
- The cuticle of children under 14-16 years old cannot be cut, since the nails are thin and fragile, and the nail plate itself is just being formed. If the master does not calculate the force and presses excessively on the surface of the nail, he can damage its structure, and this will lead to unevenness of the nail plate for life;
- Not all herbs and cosmetics can be used in children's manicure procedures. To avoid allergic reactions, it is better to give preference to hypoallergenic drugs or use a special children's series;
- Burrs can and should be carefully cut off with tweezers or removed with children's scissors, but it is better to do this on steamed skin and not “to the very root”;
- The length of the nail should not be excessively short. It is necessary to leave the length at least 1-1.5 mm, otherwise you can provoke the problem of ingrown nails;
- A file for children's manicure should be gentle, preferably special and soft. You can file only the nails along the outer edge of the nail plate, without in any way touching the plate or polishing it;
CHILDREN'S NAIL ART
Children's nail art is distinguished by children's drawings - these can be hearts, stars, animals, cartoon characters, princesses and so on. For special occasions, you can use decorations: sparkles, rhinestones, stones or feathers (for teenagers over 12 years old). Decals (sliders) and stickers are ideal for children's manicure.
All products that are preferred during a children's manicure must be children's. For example, there is a special water-based varnish that can be washed off under running water. For medical and preventive purposes, in order to wean children from putting their hands in their mouths, a special varnish with a bitter taste is sometimes used.
It is very important to remember that nail extensions, even the most harmless method of gluing artificial nail plates, are not recommended for children, at least until puberty - 14-16 years.
It’s easy to use the services of our professionals and give your child a children’s manicure. Sign up for a session online. You can come with your daughter. This will form in the girl the correct ideas about how a woman should take care of herself. A children's manicure without coating will only take 30-40 minutes!
