October 28, 2019

Why I Stopped Getting Shellac Manicures

I take ingredients so seriously when it comes to food and skincare but I was totally ignoring them when it came to my nails. I was ignorant to the damage I was doing to my nails with shellac manicures until last month when I had a terrible experience. After choosing a color I liked, my manicurist applied the shellac like she normally does but after the 2nd coat it started bubbling because the nail polish was clearly too old! I had already been in the salon for over an hour by the time this happened and I didn’t have much more time to stick around…but I now had bubbly shellac stuck to my nails!! The aesthetician rushed to get it off and began using that nail sanding/buffer machine (which I hate) to make things go a bit faster. Unfortunately, she sanded down my pinky nail way too far and hit a nerve! I screamed and pulled my nail away but the damage had already been done and now my whole nail has been incredibly weak and painful for the last 3 weeks. After all this, I knew it was time to make a change…

Written By Kayla Seah

My first change was to let my nails just breath for the last few weeks without any polish on them. They felt so weak without anything on but I knew I needed to just go au naturale for a bit! I now have an event coming up and really needed to fix them up a bit, so I opted to switch to Bio Gel for the time being. Now I know this is still isn't the healthiest way, as it's still a gel treatment but it's definitely an improvement from shellac. Bio Gel doesn't damage your nail as much because there is minimal buffing and no primers or bonders are applied to dehydrate your nails, instead a vitamin drop should be applied to help strengthen. Following this, a base coat is applied to help strengthen your nail for the next few weeks. I think the best part about Bio Gel is that it's free from Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP, BHA, or Camphor and is Vegan Friendly and Cruelty-Free. After all, statics say that our body absorbs 60% of what we put on them so we might want to stay away from all the toxic ingredients wherever we can!