Acrylic nails are the perfect shortcut to strong and long nails that you didn’t even have to grow yourself, and the feeling of walking out of a salon after having them applied is one of the best – it’s such a great way to freshen up and let someone take care of you for a short while, giving you time to rest and relax. However, there’s nothing more annoying that one of your acrylic nails braking almost immediately, and this is something that many people experience, so how can you make them last longer? Here are all the answers you need!
How long do acrylic nails normally last?
One thing that is good to know before looking at how to keep your acrylic nails on for longer is how long they should normally stay on. This way, you will have a good idea of what to expect, and you’ll know if you’re somehow losing them faster than you usually should. Remember, however, that acrylic nails can last for a longer or shorter time depending on how you take care of them (but we will be talking about that later) as well as other factors, such as how strong your nails were to begin with or how well your nail technician has applied them.
In most cases, acrylic tips should last for around six to eight weeks before the glue becomes too weak and they can no longer stay on any longer. Some people, as mentioned, will find they last for either a longer or shorter time than this, but generally, six to eight weeks is a rough average. During this time, however, you will need to visit the salon every two to three weeks to get infills, which are essentially a top-up of the acrylic coating on your entire nails and a new application of polish, and this is to fill in the gap between the polish and your cuticle which is created by your nail’s growth. When you go to get infills applied, you will not need new acrylic tips, so it’s a much faster process, and it also costs quite a bit less.
1: Wear gloves
If you wash the dishes regularly or are responsible for deep cleaning your house when it needs it, the water can actually do a lot of damage to your acrylic nails. They are bound to your real nails using a glue which does, eventually have to be soaked off, so, while it is very strong, it’s only going to be able to withstand a certain amount of wear and tear before starting to break down.
House jobs like washing the dishes, cleaning and other things that involve your fingers getting wet can break the glue’s bond to your nails. Over time, it will wear them down and the tips will no longer stay on your fingers. The best way to avoid this and prevent any cleaning-related nail issues is by wearing rubber gloves when doing any household jobs like this, and it will protect your nails from the water and other liquids.
2: Moisturise your cuticles
Although you may not have thought about it before, taking good care of your actual nails themselves can also help your acrylic nails to stay on. There are many different reasons for this, and one of them is that taking care of your nails leaves them stronger than they would otherwise be, which reduces the risk of any breakage or snapping (yes, broken nails are the worst – acrylics or not!). The same applies to when you are wearing acrylic tips, and the stronger your nail is, the more likely your nail is to hold together.
One of the ways you can take good care of your nails like this is by moisturising your cuticles every day, as this will keep them nice and nourished. You can use a regular moisturiser, or the better option is to actually invest in either a cuticle cream or oil that is designed specifically for this purpose, as it will probably be much more effective. Moisturising your cuticles will also moisturise your whole nail, which prevents it from getting too brittle.
3: Type with the pad of your finger
When you’ve got long nails, the temptation is to type and do various things using your nails itself, but you should refrain from doing this as it can cause the glue bonds to weaken between your nails and the acrylic tips over time. Of course, this will eventually lead to the nail extension breaking off, and sometimes it will also bring some of the real nail itself with it.
The biggest contributor to this is typing on a laptop or computer, as it’s something that can have a big impact, especially if you’re typing at a computer all day for 5 days a week. Not to mention, it can also lead to you pressing the wrong keys a lot of the time, which is just really frustrating when you’re constantly having to hit backspace. To fix this problem, angle your hands and fingers so that you are typing using the pads of your fingers. This way, you’ll probably be able to type much faster, more accurately and without the breakage of your acrylic nails. It’s a no brainer!
4: Take care when opening containers
One of the things that acrylic nails are notorious for is how difficult they can make everyday tasks to complete, even something as simple as opening a can of soda or taking out your lip balm from the pot. These simple things may not seem like they can make a difference, but they often lead to you using your nails to do the job for you instead.
Nevertheless, you should try to find some other alternatives to completing these tasks, as using your nails to do them for you can add pressure and sometimes even just snap the acrylic tips off there and then, which is certainly not a good situation to be in. Instead, try to use the pad of your fingers as much as possible and find other alternatives. Also, avoid being the friend who is always asked to untie things just because you have long nails – this isn’t good for them!
Final thoughts
If you’re careful with how you do simple things when wearing acrylic nails, and you avoid causing any accidental damage to them, they are much more likely to stay on for a long time, and you’ll even be saving money !
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