To remove acrylic nails at home, start by trimming them with nail clippers to make the process easier and less tedious. Soak in acetone, like Super Nail Pure Acetone, to lift up the acrylic. Be patient, then gently scrape the nails. Moisturize your nails by placing cotton balls and foil on top of the nails.
There are two ways to soak off acrylic nails: cover them with a cotton ball soaked in pure acetone, wrap your fingers in tin foil or nail clips, and let them sit for 30 minutes. This method is similar to how you would remove gel manicures. If you prefer to do your nails at home, follow these steps:
- Trim excess length.
- Buff the acrylic.
- Grab the acetone.
- Check your progress.
- Hydrate.
To remove acrylic nails at home, follow these steps:
- Trim nails with nail clippers.
- Soak your nails in acetone for 20-30 minutes to break down the acrylics.
- Saturate a cotton ball with acetone nail polish remover and place it on top of your nails, covering them completely.
- Submerge your nails in acetone for 9 minutes.
- Use a scraping tool to remove the product. If it’s difficult, soak for another couple of minutes.
Soak your nails in acetone or strong nail polish remover, either wrap them in foil or over hot water. Soap and water are another great way to remove acrylics without harsh chemicals or solvents.
In summary, removing acrylic nails at home can be done with the right tools, patience, and proper care.
📹 Remove Acrylic Nails At Home: Step By Step How-To Tutorial
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📹 Remove Acrylic Nails Safely At Home
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Susie I commented back in 2021 about how I was pregnant with my first baby and perusal your articles to take my mind off of the morning sickness. You shared how tough your pregnancies were. Well here I am, 2 years later, pregnant with baby number 2 and yet again binging old and new articles to take my mind off the morning sickness! 😂 Your articles are a great distraction and so so entertaining, pregnant or not!
I think so many nail techs in my area do this. For so long I didn’t even know you were supposed to file them down. When I would ask them to properly remove it, they would even roll their eyes or give me a hard time. They don’t actually care about the integrity of your nails, they just care about the next customer and getting everyone in and out quickly.
ALL the nail places in our area(Midwest) use tips/floss & when you ask them not to do that they get angry because, yes it takes more time, but I’ve literally had part of my nail bed ripped off from being ripped off with a nail tip. I had to go to Urgent Care where they had to remove my entire nail😤🤬 which really hurt, EXTREMELY. But thanks to Suzie & her store I now can do them myself & have zero problems with ripping, thing/brittle nails or fungus growing under the product🤢. But to anyone reading this, they cannot rip off your nails, if they refuse to soak or buff off then get up & leave. Call around & ask nail techs how they remove nails & you’ll find someone who takes the time to do it correctly. I’ve lost four nails to nail techs doing it the “fast, so they can get more clients in way” & the other three were to fungus growing due to my natural nail trying to heal & being trapped under product & without your natural nail being able to breathe it’ll become infected. Hope this helps people, by scaring them, sorry😅 but don’t let it happen to you. It’s weeks/months of painful regrowth. And as always ❤ your helpful articles
I watched this article because I wanted my nails removed. Mind you, I’ve only had them filled less than two weeks. The person that did my nails I told her not too thick. I don’t think she understood. Well, they were too thick and painful. Remarkably, one popped off. I’m glad I found your filing off method and soaking method. I used a combination of both, and it took me two hours still to get these off. My nail beds ache. I don’t think I will be getting acrylics any time soon. Fine with me, I’ll be saving money. I’ll definitely baby my nails for now on.
My nail tech always uses a nail tip to remove my acrylic nail. At times it would hurt and she would just tell me not to move my hand so much. The nail tech did not care about my comfort level, she just wanted to be sure she was getting money to put on a new acrylic set. She did not care about the health of my nails. I no longer go to get my nails done.
I’ve seen so many saying they use dental floss or something to pry them off ..I tell them every time DO NOT USE THAT METHOD.. YOURE TARING LAYERS OF YOUR NATURAL NAILS OFF . And it’s always a good idea to do a base layer of clear to file down to rather that total removal every time because some change them every few days. And acetone is so harsh when used that often
I have surgery tomorrow and I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to have nails on until I just had a phone call with my mum and she said. I am lucky enough to have had some hundred percent acetone lying around so I’m going to try and use it now. I’ve just watched your whole article and it was so helpful. Thank you so much for your help.
I just use the file off method out on the patio. Did all ten fingers. Going to put a new set on later. I’ve been doing nails for over 45 years. Will take me about 25 minutes to put a new set on and file! If I do somebody else it takes longer cuz I talk😂❤❤❤ thank you for the continued education you put out there for nail techs. It is crucial to keep the service safe for everyone.
Thank you Suzie this article was very helpful! Does this work for dip powder as well? I’m just starting to learn nails for real and I’m trying to decide between getting a nice dip kit or the apres gel system. I do like long nails but I have very sensitive skin/nails and the curing lights really hurt me. When I used dip in the past it was such a pain to remove.
I lived in Ontario when I first started perusal you a couple years ago. I took a break from my DIY nail journey as I had my 4th baby. Now I live in Alberta and am resuming my nail education. I just had the thought of “OMG! I’m only one province away from Suzie now!” I could realistically attend one of your workshops one day! It’s definitely a dream of mine as you have helped me more than you know when it comes to acrylics. Thank you for all you do for us! ❤
Thanks for this education. I trusted the nail salon to know what they were doing. They were aggressive taking the acrylics off with a plastic nail tip and my nail bed was so sore. They used the file thing too and it must have been too high because my nails were burning. I’m doing my own nails from now on. I’m educating myself first.
Sorry Suzie I’m only just perusal this article – 3 days on from when you uploaded it! When you leave the thin layer on to protect your natural nails, is that just because you’re redoing your nails several times a week and is it only when you’ve used acrylic and not gel or hybrid gel? As you can tell I’m not a nail tech!
I agree about the wait time to remove with acetone is a tedious process but I have to share a way that I was shown that if someone wants a total removal for whatever reason this worked very well for me. Just like you mentioned that warmth helps speed up the process. I would fill a large to medium bowl ( big enough to hold my hands)with quite warm water then put a couple pieces of paper towel in a large ziplock bag and pour about a 1/2 cup of acetone into the ziplock bag. Submerge the bottom of the bag in the warm water and place your hands into the paper towel soaked ( with acetone) and run your fingers into the paper towel. It’s just abrasive enough to run layers of product off in ( for me) about 10 min. ❤ love this article. Your looking great 😊 PS. I have even put a heating pad on low under the bowl of water to keep it warm.
What’s the best way to remove custom press-ons? I’m using full cover tips with gel polish as well as a layer of builder gel for strength before top coat. I’ve been using a mix of soaking off and filing with my e-file on the lowest setting with a sanding band. But sometimes I do pop them off if they’re lifting after soaking them in the acetone. Is that as bad as popping off a loose acrylic? Just want to make sure I’m not damaging my natural nails and that I’m using the recommended technique. Thanks!
I put about an inch of acetone in a sandwich baggie with a paper towel.( you can add cuticle oil or nail oil directly to the acetone if you’re worried about dryness) Then I put my hand in the baggie. And that baggie goes into a bowl of hot rice. Then rub nails together with the paper towel. The heat activates the acetone and it usually takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to soak off a full set. 😊
I had a guy use that plastic cuticle pusher to lift off my nails. He got to the last one, went straight through my nailbed. I woke up on the floor with a lady screaming at him in a language I didn’t understand while fanning me with a magazine. She brought me water, then they sanitized my finger (OW) and built a gel nail over the top of my now cut through natural nail. Obviously, I never went back. It took me 10 years to even get my nails done again, and it was for my sister’s wedding.
There is a Korean woman that I follow here on YT that puts down a rubber base for every set I’ve seen her put on her nails. And she has stunning nail beds!! She does sculptured nails and they are stunning. She uses Jello Jello brand base. It’s a Korean brand and they are always out of stock 😢😢😢😢 She puts a remover oil along the cuticle and the side walls. She waits a bit and with an orange wood stick she pops them off. And her nails remain protected and perfect. Jounails is I think her screen name is. I ant try that technique. I hate soaking my extensions off. Filing sucks too!
I love the colors of this, what’s a beautiful glitter to it is fun studies nails in square shaped, coffin shape Sqoval stiletto shaped Nails. Using different colors of the rhinestone, different large and medium stones more like Jenny does that would be fun 🎉🙋🏻♀️🥰👌🏼❤️🥇💛🎉🖤💛❤️💯‼️ I hope you have a wonderful week thank you for making that fun and a great learning tool
What are your thoughts on when they remove your nails by soaking / file / soaking / file / soaking, etc.? I used to not know any better so I thought the jamming a tip down in between was the only method, but the places I go to now do the soak/file/soak/file method. Is that considered appropriate and safe?
Hello Susie I have learned so much from you no I am not a tech just doing this for myself still learning its been two years and I am getting better at it I love the hard gel I tried the soft gel like it but to runny tried dips love it I am having trouble with the paper fourms I haven’t tried acrylic yet that’s my biggest one yet but loving the hard gel I do have problems with tips sticking with base gel I use my dehydrator and my prime but it stays on some but like 2 or 3 pop off unless I add nail glue then it stays on but I love doing nails just got a hand trainer i was doing practice on me but ruined my nails but other than that love doing my nails. But you are my inspiration and you are absolutely amazing thank you for the lessons ❤
All of the nail salons in SW Florida that I’ve gone to remove gel nails using a new tip and it does hurt badly sometimes as the gel is still secured to the nail bed. I understand the tech probably wants to get customer nails done as fast as possible, but they need to be gentle. I feel like I paid them to torture my nails. I’ve also had nail techs burn my nail with the gel and cut my cuticle with the hand file when shaping my nails. The only time I’ve seen them soak off the gel and use the electric drill to remove them is if the customer has dip nails.
I went to my first nail salon about a month ago. I am horrified and am unsure if I will EVER let anyone but me do my nails every again. This lady took a coarse file and held it parallel to the tip and started with big and harsh movements, I could feel the vibrations in my elbows. She found it amusing. She took of to much length. I did not wanted any length removed at all, but was okay with some shaping of my natural nail, as I wanted my own nail to be the support for the acrylics. But she basically removed almost everything. I SHOULD have walked away there but ofcourse I didnt. She made super thick nails also strangely wide, it looked a bit like a waterdrop. And she never done an French ombre but promised me she could do it… she could not, I was practise for her, and had to pay for it too. It looked like a mess, and Ive asked her to try something else but she refused to give up trying and happily cured the mess. I’ve spend over 3 hours filing the gunk down to something more normal and from under my skin I pulled so much product. The pressure on my fingers felt so bad until I had removed most of the product. Now I’m fighting an infection as well that had started under the product and turned GREEN! it is under control now as it is no longer spreading but the discolouration stayed. I will happily continue doing my own nails instead of going to another hobbyist who thinks herself a professional nail-tec. 😅 ❤ Thank you for you articles as I’ve have learned so much from you and did not even realise how much until I first went to a nailsalon and got butchered 😂
my nails are soft and they peel badly. Even a cuticle pusher will dig right down with no pressure at all. they are so thin that they wont gain any length before they tear off with something as simple as a strand of hair catching the edge. as a result the acrylic or polygel nails last less than a week before they either pop off or start lifting .. very annoying, im in a wheelchair, im loosing my hair, and my once great legs are nothing but bone..i need ONE thing to be proud of and happy with… help?
Okay removal question so say gel polish or other enhancements etc the layers like base coat etc how do you know if you’ve removed them? Their clear so they blend right in with your natural nail which is obviously the point but sometimes I feel I don’t file enough or too much trying to figure it out. I used to wear gel all the time I do it at home but this kinda the only thing I’ve been stuck on and really damaged my nails going too far onto my natural nail I think. Live and learn but now I know dos and donts.
When I was a teen the local shop used nail tips to rip off your nails. One time my mom had a fungus under her nail(maybe it wasn’t actually but they claimed it was) and they actually told her they need to remove her nail. And they did it. I was like wtf. Now as an adult I even more think what the hell was wrong with them
So…I probably should have seen this before I started prying off my polygel nails after getting a tad impatient and annoyed with the shape not coming out how I want. (My first DIY nail form poly gel set of nails!) While my nails arent insanely damaged from this i do notice that there are light scratches on the surface so…all in all, not too bad in comparison to some of the pictures Ive seen. So…now the question is do I try again by covering it up with polygel+gel tips or just let it grow and heal some more before trying again. ; w; Almond is a hard shape to do. Sometimes mine just ends up squoval 😅
I had a nail tech rip my acrylic nail off and it hurt so bad I jumped out of my seat practically. She tried to gaslight me when she first started with the pinky and it immediately lifted but the next one did not. She was basically saying “you kind of like a baby?”. Yeah I never went back. She caused my nails beds to bleed and my nails burned for about two hours after that.
I haven’t had much success with soaking even when I used pure acetone 🤷🏻♀️ Don’t know why it never occurred to me to just file them off and away 🥸 Got myself the most coarse file I could find and about 25 mins later, my super long grown-out acrylics were nothing but a pile of powder on my porch. So glad I found your website! 💅🏼
And exactly what she said it shouldn’t be painful! Today I was getting my last acrylics off so i could start practicing on myself w/ gel rather then on fake hands fingers and blood everywhere! Bc he used a nail tip and it ripped my nail and under neath i was in tears and im Scared to take off the bandaids he immediately grabbed nail glue to stop the bleeding! It was horrible and if i was able to share another picture I’ve got black and bruised thumb another reason why i began starting to practice myself bc everyone is so lazy and both my nails all 10 are so thin i can’t practice on myself like i wanted to
And soak and drill and soak and drill until i was in so much pain bc they were drilling off my natural nail perusal how you just let them soak off why wouldn’t they do that after blood was all over & i was about in tears! Bc they aren’t artists or don’t care they are extremely sloppy and do what’s quick and easy to them, when Filing them off was obviously very quick and easy.😢
I’ve definitely had techs do all of the bad things to me. They become so irate when you tell them not to do that. I just don’t go back. I now go to a higher end, licensed and inspected salon and spa. They don’t even do acrylic and refuse to use any harsh removal techniques. The prices aren’t that different either.
I have been getting my nails done for the first time in 10 years and when I went to have them removed for a new set the nail tech took a nail tip to remove them and it hurt and it messed my natural nails up! Never again will i let them do that! This is much better and more effective than ripping them off!!
What about the rice method with the acetone? Putting the acetone in a little sandwich bag, then heat up a bowl of rice. Then put the baggie of acetone in the middle of the rice. Put a paper towel in the acetone and then put your hand in. Then you let it sit and get soft. You run your bails against the paper towel to help.
This is my 2nd set of nails ever and the 1st set they removed by ripping the nail off. It ruined my nails so bad i had to go to a different salon and get another set put on. I never went back to the other place. It hurt and he cut my finger in the process of removal. I will definitely do this method with this new set I have now.
I’m here to learn how to do my own nails. I do acrylic overlays on my nails. I went to the nail tech and she was impatient claiming she didn’t have enough acetone (I’m paying for the soak off by the way) and then she puts a dab of the liquid, takes a plastic tip and starts ripping. In conclusion my nails broke and I’m not going back.
Thank you Susie. I have thyroid issues and very thin, brittle nails. I have resorted to doing my own mostly because I couldn’t stand the damage that was done to my natural nails when the nail tech did them. And there was no point in arguing with him/her about their technique because they didn’t speak English. Very frustrating. I’ll never go back.
Susie have you ever tried peel off base coats? I would like to learn more about this to protect my nails more….something about putting a layer of acrylic or gel first and then the peel base and then your actual product application….. can you do a article about peel base and how to use them in a protective way? Acetone damages my nails and makes them thin and flimsy so I don’t use acetone for soak off very often anymore. I mostly file down as best as I can but I’m very interested in peel base
I wish I saw this article when my acrylic nails decided to lift off and take most of my beautiful natural nails. I can’t afford to go to my nail salon the cost is getting ridiculous but I trust them it is just like my hairdresser I don’t trust anyone but her. Sorry just went off the topic. I managed to salvage some of my nails (they were so soft and thin I literally cried) but the ones that didn’t lift properly I soaked and having no acetone on hand I had to deal with just filing the darn left over gunk. Roll on this morning 2 nails down 8 more to go to make them look semi normal. My natural nails grow alot when I have acrylics but now I am going to leave them off as I think 4 months is just too long to have them on. Thank you for your info and I am happy that I found your website.
I stopped going to my manicurist last year as she always removed gel polish with a handfile off natural nails. I noticed over about 4 months that my own, previously very strong and long natural nails, became weak and split much more easily. I don’t think filing gel polish, rather than acrylic nails, off natural nails is a good approach.
I recently did this, filed the shine and a little bit more off it took more than 20/25 for me ! My nail were very white and patchy I am using oil to put the moisture back in but had a very soft nails, bruised feeling for a couple of days It’s put me off having acrylic nails again they ruined my natural nails
My regular nail tech used to use the nail tip to remove my nails but after i asked, he switched over to soaking them. I just come in early and soak while listening to a podcast as he finishes up with someone else lol saves him time and I get the peace of mind that i don’t have to endure the discomfort of the other method😂
You Always want to remove product safely properly never let time or anything else rush you into improperly causing substantial damage to thee nails an taking all your education training Extremely seriously because anything you do that can affect your business and anything that can cause any kind of damage or problem to the Nails 💅🏽 skin, etc. can lead to cause substantial financial loss, losing clients Affecting your business that can lead to many issues that isn’t good for either you are thee client but especially affecting your business improperly taking safety protocols, not seriously can lead to damaging affects for your business! It’s always good to truly continue to keep your skills honed in with ongoing training education even if you have RA taking the steps to get your license and have had training intermittently afterwords it’s always good to whom in on your skills and keep improving. It’s always good to to grow and continue to, keep the skills that you have required sharp and on point consistently🫶🏾👊🏾🎨💅🏽 Consistency is very important and we all can always grow even more so, even if we think we got everything down pat, we always can have room for improvement or bettering your skill that means of time management is not the same as it used to be may be there’s some things you need to address because as you age in life seems to go by fast there’s certain things that might slow you down not because it’s something you did wrong but arthritis, etc.
I know this isn’t really like part of the article removing nails, but like I have something related that’s like about nails so here it is see my nail tech was filing my thumbnail and then I started to bleed a little on the edge of my thumb like where my cuticle is I said it hurt and my nail tech I don’t know why it’s just she put the nail polish on top of the cut, and when it went in the cure thing that cures your nail polish It hurt I don’t plan on going back
Hey Susie! Love your shows and thank you for sharing your knowledge! Would you please develope and sell full coverage nails that already have gel in the nail well? You would prep the nails as usual, press the pre gel nail on, then nuke! Different colors and shapes and you wouldn’t have to pre etch the cover…or even shape it unless you wanted to! This may already be available…The raw materials are already in place and they would be easy to produce.
It took me THREE HOURS just to get the polish off using this method! I still have to soak!! I think nail techs don’t understand that we at home are using regular cotton balls & aluminum foil, not pre-cut foils, so a tutorial on how to cut each would be massively helpful! I couldn’t cut my cotton balls in half OR figure out the foil dimensions to wrap😩