What on Earth is a Lower Arch?

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Well you might ask this question because the ‘lower arch’ is something that is ignored by most teachers when it comes to nail design, yet it is a touch of finesse that when incorporated into your work, adds undeniable class and beauty that sets it apart from all the rest.

So what and where is it exactly? Do we need it? How do we incorporate it?

Visualize how a nail would look, from the side view, if it were allowed to grow and grow and grow. We have all seen pictures of ultra long nails and it isn’t difficult to visualize the image of how they curve and curl when allowed to grow indefinitely. I have never seen a natural nail that when very long, just grows out in a straight line from the free edge … and with the exception of the misshaped nail, as in the case of a ski-jump nail when it grows in an upward curve, the natural line in which a nail grows is that of a gentle curve from the free edge downwards (the lower arch). The shorter the nail plate, the more difficult it is to see the lower arch but give it some length and the arch is more pronounced. So to find it, look from the side view, at the sidewall from the point where the nail plate leaves the nail bed (the free edge).

It is essential in my view to be conscious of the need to incorporate the lower arch into the nail enhancement and the longer the nail, the more it needs to be incorporated. If no account is taken of the lower arch as another and natural dimension of the nail enhancement, then the design of the enhancement looks very false and unnatural. Every nail has a natural upper arch, which we as technicians recognize and go to great lengths to make look natural and graceful. If that upper arch is not complimented by a corresponding lower arch the look is very unbalanced and not attractive to the eye.

There are four main ways to incorporate the lower arch into your work as a nail technician.

The first is to use tips that already have the lower arch built into the design of the tip. Good examples would be Creative Nail Design’s Velocity, Radical French, and Eclipse and Formation tips.

There are many tips that do not have a marked lower arch, but if you use them, the second way is to create the lower arch yourself is by simply using a pair of curved scissors and cutting a very gentle curve into the side wall of the tip starting from the ‘stop point’ of the contact area and cutting towards the end of the free edge of the tip. You do not have to cut all the way down the length of the tip; only as far as the length you are making the finished nail. Need I say that you need to do this prior to adhering the tip to the natural nail?

The third way to fashion the lower arch is to add it to your free form sculpted design in zone one. When sculpting this zone, make sure that while keeping the sidewalls parallel, you also carve the lower arch into the sidewall with the tip of your brush. Just nudge the sidewall into a gentle curve with the point of your brush and there you have it!

The forth method is to use a padded abrasive to file the lower arch into the tip … this method however takes allot of practice and using curved scissors is much easier. However, again, if you use an abrasive, it needs to be done prior to adhering the tip to the natural nail.

The effect of creating the lower arch, be it on a tip or when free form sculpting, is twofold. One, it adds grace and beauty to your design, and two, it makes the free edge a little more narrow and sleek. A lower arch is the way to make bitten nails look less wide and white tips to look narrower.