How To Successfully Remove Acrylic Nails—What You Need To Know

No one can lie: acrylic nails look amazing. They are sexy, glamorous, and really make you look put together. A lot of women love wearing them, and a lot of men love seeing them. They can be kept long or short, and the design on top can be simple or more intricate. Acrylic nails can be adapted to anyone’s preference.

Sometimes, though, you might have the desire to give your natural nails a break, or the build up starts looking too thick, or you just want to try a different kind of fake nail. Whatever the reason, you now need to know how to safely remove your acrylic nails. This can be difficult because the acrylics are glued fast to your natural nail bed. If not done correctly, removing them can be extremely painful and dangerous to the health of your real nails.

Here we will take a look at the various methods to take off acrylic nails, mainly by filing them down, using dental floss, or soaking them in acetone.

File Them Away

What you’ll need: nail clippers, a nail file, a fine grade and course buffer, a cuticle stick, cuticle scissors, some moisturizer

Here’s the process-

1. Clip. Start off by clipping the tips of your acrylic nails off. Trim them as short as you can. This may prove difficult if the nail is thick and if that is the case, then use the file to file them down (either to make them thinner to clip, or to file them short).
2. File. Now the real filing begins. Using the course (sided) buffer, start filing down the acrylic on each nail. You should stop when there is a very thin layer of acrylic left. Try to file as much as you can away. They should look almost acrylic free by the time you are done. Don’t remove all of the acrylic if you don’t want to damage your natural nail (which you shouldn’t want to!). You can leave your nails like this and what until they grow out to official have to traces of acrylic, but if you rather be rid of it all, take a look at the next step.
3. Remove the rest. Using the cuticle stick, slowly pry up the edge of the acrylic nail that is left. Then take the cuticle scissors and cut away what has been previously lifted. Continue lifting and cutting until it’s all gone. Don’t pry off too much at a time, otherwise you will damage your natural nail.
4. Buff. Buff away the very last traces and it will smooth out your nails in the process. Shape them accordingly, then apply some lotion or other type of moisturizer.

Dental Floss to the Rescue

What you’ll need: a partner, dental floss, a cuticle stick, a nail file, a fine grade buffer, some moisturizer

Here’s the process-

1. Pry the edges. Using the cuticle stick, start by gently lifting up the bottom edges of the acrylic nail.
2. Floss. Have your partner face you. He or she should then slip the string of dental floss under the lifted edge of the nail, holding each end of the floss in each hand.
3. Saw. Tell your partner to move the floss back and forth under the acrylic nail in a sawing motion. It will slowly come loose as the floss works upwards. Continue until the acrylic nail is all the way off. If your partner does this too quickly, it might pull your natural nail with the fake.
4. Buff. Once all the acrylics of the nails are off, buff and shape your nails to how you want them. They will probably be a little damaged. For the last step, put some moisturizer on.

Soak In Acetone

What you’ll need: nail clippers, a nail file, acetone (nail polish remover), a glass bowl, petroleum jelly, foil, cotton balls, a fine grade buffer, some moisturizer

Here’s the process-

1. Clip. Start off by clipping the tips of your acrylic nails off. Trim them as short as you can. This may prove difficult if the nail is thick and if that is the case, then use the file to file them down (either to make them thinner to clip, or to file them short).
2. File. File a decent amount of the acrylic nails off. Use vertical strokes.
3. Prep. Pour the acetone in the glass bowl, filing it up halfway. Keep in mind that acetone is extremely flammable. Then cut 10 foil strips to wrap around your fingertips later. After that, put the petroleum jelly all around each nail (on the skin, not on the nail itself). This is crucial. Acetone is very damaging and irritating to skin, and the jelly will protect it.
4. Apply the acetone. Place one cotton ball per nail into the bowl of acetone so that the cotton ball is completely saturated. Put the cotton ball directly on the nail. Wrap a strip of foil tightly and securely around the fingertip, holding the cotton ball in place. Once all your fingers are wrapped, let them sit for 30 minutes. Another option is to simply stick your fingers in the bowl of acetone for 30 minutes. Do this only if you don’t have sensitive skin.
5. Scrape off the rest. When you remover the foil and cotton balls, you should notice that the acrylic is soft, and therefore will come off very easily. Scrape the rest off with a nail buffer. If it hardens again, use a cotton ball with acetone on it to soften it again.
6. Finish. Shape your nails to your liking with nail clippers, a file, and your buffer. File in one direction only to avoid damaging the now sensitive natural nails.

Acrylic nails are glued fast to your natural nail and it is nearly impossible to remove all of the acrylic without taking the top layers of some of your natural nails off. Your nails will be thin and sensitive, but with time they will go back to their original state. Take special care of them in the meantime!