How to Remove Acrylic Nails

Acrylic nails look great and can be a life saver for those with weak nails or nails that just won’t grow well on their own. But like all things, even wearing acrylic nails must come to an end eventually. Follow these easy steps to safely and painlessly remove your acrylic nails.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plastic garbage bag
• Acetone polish remover
• Petroleum jelly
• Nail buffer
• Nail clippers
• Glass bowl

1. Find a good work area where you can sit down and be comfortable. A kitchen table works perfectly for this. Be sure to cover the surface of your table with a plastic garbage bags and a thick layer of newspaper to soak up spills and prevent damage to your table’s surface.

2. Get all your supplies ready at hand. You don’t want to be hunting for them mid nail removal. Have them all spread out in front of you on the table.

3. Using a pair of nail clippers, cut the acrylic nails down as short as possible to make the removal easier.

4. Fill a glass bowl with nail polish remover (the type with acetone in it). This will be used to soak your nails in and dissolve the nail glue which attached your acrylic nails to your natural ones.

5. Before dunking your nails apply a coating of petroleum jelly to the skin surrounding your nails. This will help prevent the skin from drying out while soaking in the polish remover. Just be sure you don’t get any on the nail or it will block the polish remover from loosening the glue.

6. Dip your fingers into the bowl of nail polish remover and continue to soak them for 15-20 minutes.

7. Remove your hands and try to gently peel the acrylic nails off. If you are met with resistance and any or all of the acrylic nails do not easily peel off, submerge your fingers in the polish remover again and soak for another five minutes. Never force a nail to come off if it’s not ready.

8. After re-soaking you should be able to remove any stubborn acrylic nails and will now be left with only your natural nails.

9. Thoroughly was your hands in order to remove any polish remover residue and the petroleum jelly.

10. If any of the nail glue remains on your nails, simply buff this off with a nail buffer. Be gentle and use a light touch to avoid damaging your natural nails.

11. Apply a moisturizing hand cream to your hands and massage in well. This will help replace any lost moisture from the acetone polish remover.

Tips & Warnings

• Never force an acrylic nail off of your natural one. You risk damaging your own nail, or worse, ripping off your natural nail with the acrylic one.

Who Can Help:

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[gsds]

on 5/15/2009 I love the Internet! I'm removing my nails this weekend and I am glad I researched this first. Great advice from all...Thank you!!

[paycheckdoll]

on 12/27/2008 I once had a set removed and the tech just took one of those cuticle trimmers and chopped away. It was so painful and my natural nails were purple for days. The only relief was to massage Vaseline into my nails, they were like tissue paper. I didn't know any better but now I would insist on soaking them off.

[iggysmama]

on 12/16/2008 I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that the 2 bowls should be stacked. The remover bowl on top on the water bowl. I'm sure you all got that but just as an FYI. I would hate any misrepresentation :) I also agree that many nail techs and so called "chop shops" do this task very poorly and most the time, improper removal is reportable. I guess you could call it "Nail Salon Law". Safety and Sanitation come first. Or, well, it should :)

[iggysmama]

on 12/16/2008 This is all great information but as a nail tech I would like to ad that when using nail polish remover, it is most effective to use 2 bowls. The bottom bowl should be deep enough to hold at least one full cup of boiling water. The top bowl should be just slightly smaller but deep enough for your hands as well as the nail polish remover. The heat from the boiling water creates a steam that aids in quicker softening of the acrylic and nail glue and provides much easier removal. I would also like to ad that attempting to pre-clip your acrylics before softening them is EXTREMELY dangerous and painful. You risk splitting the real nail in all it's vulnerability all the way down to your cuticle if cut incorrectly. You should always consider professional removal first. If they do not soak your nails first, get out of there!

[NihaoDragon]

on 10/24/2008 Actually, it wasn't painful at all when the 'tech' pried off the nail with a fake nail...then again, the acrylic nail was almost half-way up my nail bed. So the further up, the less pain?
I will try soaking it and etc...what a pain, don't think I'll ever use acrylic again!