Are Acrylic Nails Beginner-Friendly?

Short Answer: No. But here’s why. 

Now I’m not talking about getting acrylic nails done, I’m talking about doing them yourself. There are lots of beginner kits and drug store renditions of doing your own acrylic nails than there ever were before. Not to mention people who are willing to try something with just the tools they have in their houses. The nail world is a lot bigger and closer to home than it used to be. Though, I believe that there are some things that are really meant for a professional or someone well-versed in the mechanics and functions of complex nail products. This is coming from someone who HAS tried to do their own acrylic nails and it is a HORROR STORY. 

Please ignore the quality, I was VERY STRESSED in the moment I took this photo. This was after I tried to do my own acrylics. I did not attempt on all my fingers though. Notice the middle finger is just broken. (Unrelated product of stress and not looking where my hand was). The real problem is my pointer finger. You can see the texture of the nail looks all splotchy and rough. That’s from the damage the process did to my nail bed. My inexperience, lack of knowledge, and general practice almost caused me to murder my pointer finger. Don’t even get me started on the PAIN. Part of the problem of doing your own acrylics is accidentally making them too thick and/or getting the acrylic stuck to your skin. IT HURTS SO MUCH AND IT FEELS LIKE YOUR NAILS ARE BRICKS. Honestly, it was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. 

Now, you may be thinking that you could always just file down the nails to reach a safe thickness or length but on a serious note, without a professional nail drill, you could very much be filing your life away for HOURS. I think I spent approximately two hours on filing my pointer nail ALONE. It may look nice and easy in nail videos but manual labor is manual labor and it definitely sucks. 

The last thing I want to touch on is the removal and “trying again”. FYI, you can’t just scrub it off and start over. It doesn’t work that way. After I completely messed up my initial attempt at acrylic nails, I decided that I was going to soak my nail in acetone and retry. Spoiler alert: That’s not even close to what happened. I used 100% acetone and the product STILL wasn’t coming off my nail. I soaked for 45 minutes and the acetone I was soaking in became all gross and disgusting that I caved and just pried the rest of it off my nail. Resulting in a lot of the damage you can see in my picture. My pint is, this is not something you can just keep scrapping and trying over in an afternoon. Acrylics are difficult, especially for people like me who get confused easily and don’t understand the science behind the product. Overall I’d say, please don’t do your own acrylics. Don’t hurt your nails like I did. It wasn’t worth it. In the end, I just filed down all my nails and grew them out the natural way. Do yourself a favor and don’t attempt this at home, and if you really really want acrylic nails, please make an appointment with a local nail tech. Support your home businesses and keep your nails happy and healthy. That’s all I’ve got to say. 

- Madison