Shellac and gel won’t wreck your nails if they are good quality and removed properly – I’ve got the method down pat
Two friends tell me that one of their new year’s resolutions is taking a break from gels and ultraviolet lamp-cured, soak-off nail polishes. That’s because, despite the dramatic global increase in salon gel manicures, thanks to an instantly dry, super-shiny finish that lasts up to three weeks instead of the traditional three to five days (seriously, it’s a bleak time for regular polish brands), there’s a pervading belief that gels ultimately “wreck your nails”.
This is only a tiny bit true, in that all manicures involving repeated filing and exposure to solvents will weaken the nails in the long term: the issue is not with gels per se. What does damage gel-polished nails specifically is picking, peeling and other heavy-handed removal, or poor application (including excessive roughening of the nail surface) that later requires it.
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