Removing gel polish from nails at home and with a professional in the salon

Gel polish is also called shellac and is also a long-lasting coating for nails. Its application requires unique skills and equipment, so the process is usually carried out in specialized salons. You can remove the resulting coating both in a manicure salon and at home, if you choose the right method and prepare high-quality tools and materials.

It is forbidden to rip off the coating or remove it by other mechanical means, as this leads to damage to the nail, so special liquids and suitable equipment are used.

How to remove gel polish

Removing shellac coating can be done in a salon or independently. Each option has both pros and cons.

If you decide to do the work yourself, it is recommended to buy only professional equipment and tools

Gel polish remover from a specialist or in a salon

Usually girls prefer to get their nails done and remove old coatings only in salons. This method has many advantages, but it is important to choose a professional technician.

To remove gel polish, use a remover, machine, steamer, milling cutter or impregnated wipes.

Remover

It is presented as a universal product sold in beauty salons. Designed to remove shellac coating, but this will take about 30 minutes. This procedure is often offered in salons, for which the master performs the following steps:

• the skin around the nails is lubricated with cream;
• cotton wool is moistened with a revumer and placed on the nails;
• to prevent the liquid from evaporating, wrap your fingers in foil;
• after 15 minutes the cotton wool is removed;
• the residues are removed with a wood stick (an orange stick, for example).

If it was not possible to obtain the desired result at one time, the procedure is repeated.

Impregnated napkins

A proven, convenient and effective product for removing old gel coating. Used both at home and by craftsmen. For the job, you buy special napkins with suitable impregnation, a sander, a spatula and nail oil.

Initially, the nails are treated with an abrasive stick. Next, the finger is wrapped in a napkin, and it is important to ensure that the napkin completely covers the nail. The napkin is fixed with adhesive tape, after which you need to wait 15 minutes. After this procedure, the gel polish comes off easily from the nails, but any solid residues are removed with a spatula.

The advantages of this method include safety and versatility, since napkins can be used several times and no unique skills are required. You don't need to use foil to wrap your fingers.

The device

In another way it is called a machine, and is also used to create and remove manicure. For each procedure, a suitable milling cutter is used. It is represented by a nozzle or drill inserted into the equipment.

The cutter gradually removes the coating from the nail while rotating. The procedure can be performed with a nail file, but this can cause destruction and weakening of the plate. The device operates carefully and painlessly.

Fraser

It is represented by a nozzle for the device, and in the salons ceramic products are used, which are characterized by high strength, durability and resistance to wear. During operation, the material does not heat up, and the gel polish is removed from the nails gently and quickly. There is no vibration, and girls do not experience pain.

Sometimes salons use metal cutters made from hard metals. They are equipped with special notches, which have a straight or cross-shaped shape. Reversible or regular metal nozzles are available. As a result of the operation of the equipment, the coating is removed by chips, but does not turn into dust. Therefore, such cutters are used to reduce the thickness of the coating or during correction.

Steamer

Using this equipment, you can remove remaining nail polish in just 10 minutes. The equipment is available in almost every beauty salon. At the same time as the steamer, nail polish remover, a manicure stick and a buff are prepared. The coating removal process is divided into stages:

• the equipment is connected to the network, after which 5 ml of liquid intended for removing shellac is added to it;
• the top is eliminated by a buff;
• Before using the device, the remaining dust is removed;
• hands are placed in the steamer for 10 minutes;
• Remains of gel polish are removed with a stick;
• if a little base remains, then they are removed with a buff in short movements.

At the end of the procedure, the hands are thoroughly washed and the nails are treated with nourishing oil.

How to remove gel polish at home

The services of manicure salons are considered expensive, so many women prefer to deal with the removal of gel polish on their own. For this, professional equipment or universal tools are used.

If a girl often uses the services of a professional manicurist, it is recommended to purchase equipment for removing nail polish and other coatings in advance.

Remover

The product is sold in beauty salons or specialized cosmetic stores. It has a reasonable price, but it will take about 30 minutes to remove the coating. The process is carried out in the same way as in the salon. To do this, cotton pads are moistened with remover and then fixed on the nails with adhesive tape or tape.

To increase efficiency, girls often wrap their nails with foil.

Impregnated napkins

They are a universal and reusable shellac coating remover. They are often used by women who prefer to do and adjust their manicures themselves. Impregnation does not harm the skin or nails. This prevents cracking or drying out.

Napkins are produced by different companies, but it is important to choose products from reliable companies.

Initially, the package is opened, after which the fingers are lowered into the resulting pocket. The napkin is fixed with the edges of the package, after which the pocket is removed using a scrolling motion. The fingers are left in this position for about 15 minutes, after which the remaining shellac can be easily removed using a wooden stick. It is advisable to apply moisturizing oil to the cuticle at the end of the procedure.

The device

It has a high cost, so it is advisable to buy it for the home only if the girl constantly uses gel polish. Using the device, the coating is created and removed.

Before work, a suitable cutter is purchased. The procedure is performed from right to left, and the process also begins from the place where the cuticle is located. Movements similar to regular stroking are used. The cutter should be touched carefully, without disturbing the integrity of the nail plate.

Layer-by-layer cutting

This method is considered risky, but is often used by women who do not want to spend money on professional products. You can file off the gel only to the base layer, using careful movements.

Sawing is done with a file or buff. But after filing the base coat, you need to stop so as not to damage the nail.

Varnish

Often girls use gel polish remover at home. Initially, regular varnish is applied on top of the coating, after which it is removed with a damp cloth until it dries completely. The procedure must be repeated several times to remove all residues. If even after this there is a little gel left, then it is pryed off with a wooden stick.

This method allows you to quickly remove gel polish, but is not considered very useful.

Vodka

If you don’t have professional products at hand, you can use regular vodka or alcohol. To do this, follow these steps:

• cotton wool is moistened in a small amount of vodka;
• it is applied to the nail, which is then covered with foil;
• fingers are left in this state for 20 minutes;
• After this period of time, the coating becomes soft, so it easily comes off the nail plate.

If necessary, the procedure is repeated.

Acetone-containing products

These also include liquid intended for nail polish remover. The process of removing the coating is quite simple, since it is enough to moisten the cotton wool in the selected liquid, after which it is transferred to the nail for 30 minutes. After this, the coating is removed with a nail file or spatula.

After completing the process, wellness procedures are performed to restore and care for the nails. Therefore, fatty cream or special oils are applied.

About myths about removing gel polish with a machine

When removing gel polish with a device, you can saw through the nail to the meat. In principle, you can leave a groove on the nail, but for this the master needs to “try” very hard. The fact is that when removing gel polish, the master tries to remove only the top coating - the gel polish itself. And under the gel polish there is also a “base”. It serves as an indicator for the master that it is time to stop. When we file away gel polish, we file it down exactly to the base layer, i.e. The cutter does not work on the nail, it only comes into contact with the artificial surface. Next, we polish the overgrown nail plate from the cuticle side and the “cushion” with a soft buff that does not reduce the thickness of the nail. And as you know, the nail consists of about 100 keratin plates. In this case, grinding with a 180 grit file removes 1-2 layers of plates. Consequently, in what condition it was in the original version, it remained so. In the case of soaking, we would have to polish the nail every time, which of course is not beneficial for it. It’s one thing to go through a buff once, or once every 2-4 weeks, taking into account the fact that a complete change of the nail plate takes up to 6 months, imagine how many times we will have to file an already exhausted nail. Removing gel polish is painful and there is a burning sensation. If your gel polish is removed by a normal technician, then this process is completely painless. When I just started and learned how to remove gel polish with a machine, in order to get a feel for what and how, I learned on myself. The main sensation you will have when removing gel polish is a tickling sensation. It's like someone is tickling your nail. It doesn't hurt at all. Many of my clients even like it? When I picked up a manicure machine for the first time, and the teacher told me to remove the gel polish, I was also afraid that I would saw through my nail, but I overcame my fear and made the first movement on the nail. Was it easier then?

To remove gel polish with a device and not injure your own nail, the technician needs to follow simple rules:

1. When removing gel polish, the elbow must be fixed, i.e. lie on the table so as not to make an awkward movement, and thereby not remove “extra”
2. Removing gel polish should be done using stroking movements, touching the nail and moving away from it. Our teeth are drilled in much the same way at the dental clinic. All this is done to ensure that the nail does not overheat and you do not have any unpleasant sensations.
3. Make movements only in the direction of movement of the cutter. The manicure device can rotate both left and right. Accordingly, the master must also choose the direction of movement of the cutter. Otherwise, the cutter will slip off the nail. Nothing bad will happen, but there is little good in it either.
4. It is important that for hardware manicure and gel polish removal with a device, DIFFERENT cutters must be used. If you do a hardware manicure with a cutter to remove gel polish, or vice versa, then nothing good will come of it.

Well, to make it even clearer, here is a short 30 second video that shows the process of removing gel polish using a machine and a cutter:

Notice how quickly and easily the gel polish comes off.

After removing the gel polish, the nail looks completely natural and healthy. And the main thing is that after removing the coating there is no inflamed cuticle, bruises, or painful sensations on the nail itself, which very often happens when cutting off gel polish with a nail file. And if we add to this the fact that now there is no need to “soak” your nails in acetone and scrape them with an iron spatula, then the result is absolutely beautiful