Removing Acrylic Nails

Keeping up with acrylic nails can be tedious and expensive, and it can be even more difficult when you live a busy life. In this tutorial, I will explain how to remove your acrylics at home so you don't have to spend your money at the salon. It may take more time, depending on your skill level, but I think it's worth it to save the extra money.

For this process, you will need several materials:

a sturdy pair of nail clippers

a nail file (manual or electric)

100% acetone

cotton balls

aluminum foil

sandwich bags

a small bowl of hot water

a scraper tool

For your first step, you are going to roughly trim down the nails to your natural nails in the general shape and length that you want. Acrylic is a little unpredictable, so some form of eye protection is wise.

For the second step, you will use your file to remove the first several layers of the nail polish and acrylic. As stated, you can use a manual file, but for this step, an electric drill is much more convenient. File enough off so that you no longer see any nail polish or shiny spots, but not so much that you hit your natural nails. Be especially careful around your cuticles and nail beds because any small abrasions will hurt down the road.

For the third step, you will use your acetone, cotton balls, aluminum foil, sandwich bags, and hot water. Make sure that the bowl of water is fairly hot, but not hot enough to injure yourself. Soak the cotton balls in acetone and apply them straight to your acrylic nails. Wrap each finger in aluminum foil, ensuring a nice, secure fit. Place the fingers you are soaking in the sandwich bag and then immerse them in water. Let them soak between 3 to 5 minutes, but no longer than about 8.

For the fourth step, you will need your scraping tool. At this stage, I recommend going one by one so that the acrylic doesn't dry up and harden while you're working on other nails. Remove your fingers from the water and the bag and then remove the aluminum foil and cotton ball, but be careful not to alter the shape too much. You will likely have to reuse it. Use your scraper tool to carefully remove the softened layers of acrylic. Once you hit a firm layer, you will know to stop since there is not much (if anything) left to scrape off.

To fully remove the acrylic, you will likely have to cycle through steps two through four. Be careful as you're working so as to not damage the integrity of your natural nails. Personally, since I like to preserve the length of my natural nails, I like to leave a very thin layer of acrylic to ensure sturdiness of my nails.

At this stage, your nails may look a little scary, but it will get better. It is important to be careful with your nails for a while following the removal of your acrylic nails. If you work with your hands, like I do, I would recommend using gel polish or another kind of protective layer to prevent further damage to your natural nails.