Best tips for mani/pedi at home

curlypearl

Help! I need to save money by doing this at home and I swear I have the cuticles of an elephant. What are your best tips for how to manage that aspect? I'm quite OK putting polish on but the cuticles are horrible. Do you cut them or just push them back? They don't stay back! They are huge! :pale: What is your best advice for at home manis/pedis - how often, what do you use, techniques, etc.

Firefox7275

What are you using to cleanse your hair, hands and body: any sulphates or other anionic surfactants, alkaline soaps? My nails and cuticles improved immeasurably when I quit washing my hands with sulphates and started religiously wearing rubber gloves when using dish soap (yes even quickly for one item). Feet get soaked in foaming cleansing products in the shower which can really dry them out.

Medical grade lanolin is amazing for nails and cuticles - it supplies many of the lipids found in a healthy skin barrier. Urea and lactic acid are the skin's natural moisturisers and exfoliants, but they are keratolytic (break down main protein in skin hair and nails) so don't leave higher concentrations on nails.

curlypearl

Oh this is a great reply! I've been using Amlactin to moisturize my hands at night and it contains lactic acid so that may be one reason why my nails have been so dry and cracking.

Thanks a lot - I have been reading up on this and looking at youtube, but your advice about sulfates wasn't in anything I read. It makes sense though. Although I sometimes swear off sulfate shampoo for months at a time, I am using a sulfate shampoo twice a week now; I'll wear plastic gloves when I do that.

Firefox7275

Sulphates are proven to thin and dehydrate even healthy skin, BUT some people will always be more sensitive than others. I have an inherited tendency to dermatitis (inflammatory) and xerosis (simple dry skin). I suspect both my parents are sulphate sensitive so I had no chance!

Amlactin is a nice exfoliating and hydrating product for the body, but it may well be too potent for nails. You might pop a lanolin rich cuticle/ nail cream on before the Amlactin? Or switch to a dedicated hand cream? Lactic acid is not lipid soluble so should not 'eat through' an occlusive cuticle cream. Salicylic acid could however.

hellokurly

Sally Hansen French tip kit with the strips. Took me two times to get it perfectly also q tips to remove polish that got outside the nail. Always use a top coat too. The trick is drying them and being patient. My advise is basic and there is a lot of cool nail stuff out now, like equipment for drying and gel manicures.

hellokurly

Idk If anyone else said this but gently push back the cuticle with a cuticle stick and don't remove them just trim them with one of those cuticle thingys. They have them at the 99 in the nail kits. Do the warm water bowl they do at the nail salon first and use a cuticle softener or olive oil.

curlypearl

Thanks Hellokurly! I'm doing home manis and pedis but I'm not that good at it yet. I just feel clumsy, but I'm improving with practice. Glad you chimed in. :happy7:

hellokurly

Your welcome and yeah practice will make perfect! Also try to be quick when painting and go with your hand, don't try to adjust the brush or start another stroke when you already landed the brush on your nail. Just follow through each stroke of polish and if any gets on the edges of the nail use a toothpick or qtip. Don't poke your finger with a toothpick though use it sort of like how the ladies at the salon do when they fix the edge of your nail with their nail lol. Hope that makes sense.

Fifi.G

Practice makes perfect, CP! Soaking your nails first is key. That or applying a cuticle oil/softener and pushing them back as soon as you get out of the shower.

I've never tried it, and I know some have objections to it, but I have always heard one of the best things to soak your nails in is gelatin. Just the regular, plain powder mixed with warm water. That is a very old trick. You can also find packets of different nail soaks at Sally's if you ever want to try something new. Not sure about the ingredients in all though. Some will whiten the nails, some moisturize, etc. Speaking of, moisture is key. Always put on a good hand cream too and massage your hands well. Take time and enjoy it. It helps.

I have never cut my cuticles. I bought Sally's 1 min cuticle remover after reading rave reviews about it. I decided to watch a few video reviews on YouTube and never used it. They were talking about it damaging or eating your skin if you left it on more than a couple of minutes or did not get it washed off well. No thank you!!

Fifi.G

Oops, I forgot to mention oil soaks. Warm olive oil and soak your nails in it for 10-15 minutes. There are a billion nail soak recipes, and a lot of mixed advice. Some say never soak your nails in water. It's horrible, it will dry your hands out. Well, it's not very different from taking a shower or bath and as long as you are only doing it once a week or every 2 weeks, I think you'll be fine. That really makes no sense. You should not soak every day anyway. I have not had my nails done in a salon many times, but everyone I have been to uses water with dish washing liquid in it. They only soak each hand foe a few and I think the soap is an extra cleanliness measure. Some say don't do the gelatin because it does not strengthen your nails. No idea about that. Nothing will strengthen them in 10 minutes. It's just supposedly a good soak and helps you push back with ease. You can use lemon to whiten, lavender, coconut & flax seed oil, etc. I say use what you have on hand.

naturalhaircare

Make sure that you do not cut your cuticles, instead you want to push them back and only trim your hangnails. Trust me, that is something that took me a lot of pain and effort to realize. You also want to exfoliate your skin to remove any dead skin and use a hydrating cream to moisturize afterwards.