All About Manicures

Is it Mani Monday Yet?

So when it comes to beauty services such as getting my hair done, facials, eyebrow waxing, manis and pedis, you should know my MAIN priority is my nails.

Not that I don’t get the other services listed above, I do, but for me the most important one is my nails (very closely followed by my hair). For some reason I am extremely fastidious about my nails. That being said, I have tried every type of nail polish, service, and trend.

So I want to share with you my current manicure routine including the service I use, the products, and the colors! I also want to share with you things to look out for when choosing your nail salon and nail technician!

services - why i only do dip now

So, there are several different types of manicures you can get and I will quickly cover them before sharing the one I use and why it is not the ONLY service I will use.

the basic manicure

First and foremost is a basic manicure with normal polish (my favorite brands are OPI and Essie). This is literally just a standard manicure where you get your nails cut, filed and shaped, cuticles cut, and nails polished (yes you have to sit and wait for it to dry). This is obviously also the cheapest option for getting your nails done.

gel (aka no chip) manicures

Next is a very popular option that SO many people use, and I did for along time, and that is gel manicures (AKA No Chip). This basically the same as a regular manicure in terms of the process EXCEPT the polish is GEL. Now for those of you who don’t know what that means, it is simply a special type of polish (there are many brands — My favorite are CND, OPI, Essie, and Gleish) that requires the use of a UV or LED light and it dries instantly! Also, one of the main reasons people choose to use this service is because it is thicker/stronger than regular polish and therefore does not chip as easily, lasting up to 14 days.

Sounds pretty legit, right? And it is, BUT I will tell you the reason I no longer do gel (no chip) manicures… I am very prone to skin cancer and I do NOT like putting my hand under the UV light every 2 weeks. You may think this is silly, but after doing them for an extended period of time, I noticed new freckles on my hands and that was very concerning to me. The other reason I don’t like gel manicures is the removal process. Since it is meant not to chip, it is more difficult to remove and after soaking in acetone it still requires the technician to scrape the remaining polish off, which removes the top layer of your nail (eeeek)!

dip powder manicures

So since I no longer wanted to do no chip, but I still wanted my manicures to last longer without chipping, I chose to find a nail salon that offered dip manicures. Dip manicures follow pretty much the same process as gel manicures with a few exceptions. First, it does require the nail technician to use a drill (for both removal and during the manicure). However, the use of the drill does not damage your nails (this is why it is important to find a nail technician who knows what they are doing). To remove the previous polish the drill is used to get the top layer of the polish off and then acetone is used to soak of the rest without damaging the nail. During the manicure the drill is used to buff the nail and make sure the powder that has been applied is done so evenly. The other main difference is “polish” is not used, instead it is in the form of a powder. A special base coat polish is used first and your nail is then dipped into the powder (which sticks to it) and this process is repeated 2 or 3 times depending on the sheerness of the color. Then, an “activation” polish is used to bond the powder (then it is buffed out with the drill so its not too thick and is even across all nails) and finally a top coat is applied. The top coat does need a few minutes to dry, but once it does you are good to go!

Now this was obviously a very brief overview of the dip manicure process, but you can watch this video to get a better idea of how exactly it works.

So, the main reasons I now do the dip manicure instead of the no chip is that it does not require a UV light, the removal process is less damaging to your nails, it lasts just as long (if not longer IMO), and it makes my actual nails stronger (again this is my opinion and also may be different for other people).

what to consider when getting any type of manicure

Again, this is just my experience and opinion that I am sharing, but regardless of what type of manicure you get there are a few things you MUST take into consideration and that is the salon you go to.

A few very important things that are a MUST include most importantly, going to a salon that uses an Autoclave to sterilize their tools. There are currently only 2 states that require nail salons to use this very expensive sterilization machine, but I highly recommend doing research and making sure the salon you go to uses this machine to sterilize their tools, as it is the only way to ensure the tools being used on your nails are completely sterilized (believe it or not, you can get some pretty nasty things from tools that have not been properly sterilized).

The second thing I will mention in regards to sterilization and cleanliness is making sure that the station is cleaned after each customer and that your nail technician should be either washing their hands in between each customer or using latex gloves (which are changed for each customer).

Finally, whatever salon you go to, you also want to ensure that your nail technician is qualified and knows what they are doing (especially if they are using an electric drill). An example of a sign that your nail technician does not know what they are doing is when they are cleaning up your cuticles (especially during a pedicure on your big toe) and they rip a long piece of your cuticle (which honestly at that point I consider a hangnail) instead of trimming it down properly. This has happened to me and it actually ended up getting infected, which you better believe I found a new salon after that!

Hopefully you found this informative and helpful!