The One Thing That Ruins Your Manicure
by Lyndsay Green, Teen Vogue
Photo: Getty Images
There are few people in this world who you can trust more than yourself. Your list might include your parents, maybe your BFF, and the members of your glam squad.
Listen, it takes serious trust to hand over a pair of scissors and allow your hairstylist to go to town with your strands every six weeks. Or to go anywhere nearsomeone with a drill and a face mask and let them hack away at your nail beds. Your relationship with the people who play a role in your beauty regimen is sacred, so you need to be certain your clique’s on point.
Though we’ve never been the type to come between a girl and her manicurist, we recently received some news about a common salon practice and we just have to share. If you’re still soaking your nails in water during a manicure, it might be time to part ways with your trusted nail tech. Here’s why.
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“I have given the no-soak manicure for many years,” says Deborah Lippmann, celebrity manicurist and founder of her eponymous nail-care line. “Soaking expands the nail plate, so the polish application is inevitably compromised.” Why bother wetting your tips in the first place? Good question. Many nail techs rely on water to soften your cuticles and any dead skin on or around your nails, making it easier to buff and clean up your nail beds. Good intentions, yes, but it’s what comes next that’s the harmful part. “If you soaked your nails, you would need to wait until the nail plate is completely dry in order for it to constrict to its typical size—which no one really does—at which point it would be ready for polish application.” A well-executed mani should last at least a week before you start to notice chipping or fading. Any sooner might be the result of your manicurist applying your polish before giving your nails a chance to dry completely and return to their natural state.
And here’s another thing to consider: While your manicurist is scraping and buffing your nail beds away after the soak, they might be creating an uneven surface, which can cause your bare nails to break or peel easily and your polish to bubble. Not ideal.
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So how do you react the next time your manicurist pulls out that soothing bowl of water during your mani appointment? Lippmann advises you to politely refuse. “Just ask!” she says. “Simply tell your manicurist you’d rather not soak your hands and they should have no problem removing this step from your service. We want you to enjoy your time and feel pampered when you leave.”
It’s totally acceptable to have a “no new friends” philosophy when it comes to your beauty team, so if your current nail tech still practices the old-school technique, kindly let her know that times have changed and today, it’s all about the waterless mani. You could be saving nails in your neck of the woods in no time, so go on—be a local hero!
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