Growing Out A Damaged Nail

So, over the past couple weeks this topic has come up several times all over the place - I've seen talk on other blogs, I've had readers email me, and last Friday at work I was talking with the receptionist - the lovely lady responsible for introducing me to Konad - who had just torn one of her nails quite low down. Those of you who've been reading for a while may remember when I got a tear in my pinky nail back in February, which I discovered when I took of my Valentines day mani:

I've recently just finished growing out that tear, without having to cut the nail all the way down. In fact, the patches that I used to grow it out worked so well, I've been using them to help me grow out several of my nails that had extremely bad peeling on my not-so-cute right hand:

That said, I bring to you my first tutorial =) So that you too can grow out those damaged nails. I took these pics when I changed my patches on Tuesday.

After 2-3 weeks of wear, here is an example of what they look like when it's time to change them. If you were using them to hold a break I think you could probably buff them smooth & leave another week or so, but for growing out peeling I think it's important to keep the integrity of the patch at the edges:

You can use normal polish remover to take them off, but I keep some 100% acetone for cleaning my Konad plates & I find it makes the job quicker & easier. Soak a cotton ball, hold it for several seconds & then treat it like a stubborn polish. You'll see the edges lift but I recommend against giving it to temptation & just peeling it off.

OK =) Now that I have my old patches off, here's my toolbox for putting some new ones on:

4-sided buffer, cuticle scissors, IBD Gel Resin, Swiss Silk Self-Adhesive Wraps, and tweezers. The tweezers are optional, but I think they're helpful - you can hold just a small edge of the wrap & avoid getting it stuck to your fingers, which leads to less trouble sticking it where you want it to be on your nail.

Make sure your nails are clean. Give them a good wash, make sure they're dry, and even give them a swipe with polish remover to be sure there's no residual oil from you skin. This is my left index finger:

And you can just see the last remnants of peeling at the tip. This might be the last time I wrap it but it will be our model for today's pics because it's easier to take pics of than my right hand =)

The wraps come in lots of sizes - don't worry if you don't find one exactly your size (although you probably will when your supply is brand-new), it's easy to cut the patches to whatever size you need or want. You can see here I'm down to some wider sections:

The wraps are kind of long, I usually use 1 strip for 2-3 nails, just cutting it into sections with the cuticle scissors. After you've got a section stuck to your nail, you can trim the sides to fit & the end to a more manageable length:

Don't worry about being too neat at the end. All that will be fixed after we're done with the gel. Stroke one one thin coat of gel & let dry for 5-10 mins, then do a 2nd coat & let dry:

How long this takes can vary depending on how thick you apply the gel & your environment, but I usually try to wait at least a half hour before I start buffing. Hard to sit still that long but it's not like this is something that has to be done every manicure. It's worth the wait.

Once the gel is dry, you can take the rough side of the buffer (in my case the blue side) & file off the excess silk from the nail edge. Be gentle - we're not actually trying to file the nail, just enough to get rid of the excess. When you're done it will be neat & tidy like this:

This may look pretty smooth - don't let it fool you. The first time I tried to patch my nail, I tried to do a mani at this point & the patch stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. Go a step finer with your buffer (in my case the pink side) & buff the top of the patch. It doesn't take much to get a smooth finish & then it will look like this - you may need to enlarge to see the difference from the previous pic.

Ta-da! You've got a patch. They've helped me finally be able to grow out some of my worst problem nails. And I've got the naked nail pics to prove it =) Here are my nails back when I first started my blog, this past January before I'd ever tried silk wraps:

This set of pics is from 4/16, after I'd had patches on the tear for a while & had decided to start trying them on my peeling nails:

And here are my nails now (well, Tuesday, but you know what I mean):

By my birthday (July 14th), I may just have a perfect manicure. Not to jinx myself, but looking back at how far I've come in a relatively short period of time, I can see it happening =)

Thanks for reading. And good luck growing out your own damaged or problem nails =)

~Colette