Difficulty removing acrylic

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LaceyH

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Had a lady wanting her acrylics removing and replaced with gel. It took so long to get the darn things off only had time to offer a gel manicure. Is there a secret to getting these blasted nails off.
Will definitely be rethinking pricing for Acrylic removal in the future.
 
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How did you remove them? X
 
Acetone soak and file x
 
Had a lady wanting her acrylics removing and replaced with gel. It took so long to get the darn things off only had time to offer a gel manicure. Is there a secret to getting these blasted nails off.
Will definitely be rethinking pricing for Acrylic removal in the future.

Hi,

You need to file the bulk of it off before soaking or you will be there all day So file down until you have a thin layer of acrylic left and then soak, you'll be done in 30mins
 
It was pretty indestructible acrylic. The strongest I've ever seen! Or had to remove.
 
I experienced this with a couple of clients. They had been going to the local NSS where I'm pretty sure it isn't proper acrylic. Probably that MMA stuff used in dentistry.....bone cement in other words! Near impossible to remove as acetone does almost nothing to it!! Took me ages and ended up leaving a very thin later as I just couldn't get it to lift off the nail plate and didn't want to damage the nails further.
 
Yep probably MMA.
 
I experienced this with a couple of clients. They had been going to the local NSS where I'm pretty sure it isn't proper acrylic. Probably that MMA stuff used in dentistry.....bone cement in other words! Near impossible to remove as acetone does almost nothing to it!! Took me ages and ended up leaving a very thin later as I just couldn't get it to lift off the nail plate and didn't want to damage the nails further.
Yes this is what it was like!
 
I've just had exactly this and couldn't get it off with soak off....had to file it down but still couldn't get it off. Took absolutely ages. I use bio sculpture gel and the client assured me it was bio. It definitely was not bio as that comes off in 5 mins with soak off.
 
Mma products are used by NSS salons, it sets like concrete, that's why they always have electric drills in those places. It's illegal in some countries but not the UK (yet) as there are real health issues for your nails.
 
Hi

Sorry to here that.


I've been having a lot of clients recently with mma acrylics. It's time consuming and by the time I've removed them the nails are in a terrible state. Sometimes the gels don't stay on because of it. So I've decided not to do it anymore. I just can't do it. It's so exhausting and disheartening when you see the state of the nails
 
Her natural nails underneath were In a very poor state. I will be thinking twice about doing it again. She has lost the gel off the worst finger after a week which I was suprised it lasted so long as they were so bad and she works with horses.
 
Her natural nails underneath were In a very poor state. I will be thinking twice about doing it again. She has lost the gel off the worst finger after a week which I was suprised it lasted so long as they were so bad and she works with horses.

Omg [emoji31] that's a shame. It's disheartening but at the same time it's because of all the stuff they had on their nails previously.
 
If you ever get a set of suspect MMA Acrylic nails in the future, it is usually best to try and just infill them.

Even if you use gel, this is perfectly fine, just shape them up and rebalance with gel.

This is will save you time and heartache and will protect your clients nails the you know will be in a poor state underneath.

MMA does not stick very well to the natural nail therefore it has to be really roughed up to get to adhere properly which is why her nails were in such bad condition.
 
Had a lady wanting her acrylics removing and replaced with gel. It took so long to get the darn things off only had time to offer a gel manicure. Is there a secret to getting these blasted nails off.
Will definitely be rethinking pricing for Acrylic removal in the future.
Acrylic properly contained the banned ingredient MMA in it. I'd recommend using an electric file to remove most of the bulk of the acrylic nail and then do the soak and hand file method close to the natural nail for the remaining.
 
Hi
I've just recently gone back to acrylic after 12 years of gels.....can I ask what MMA and NSS salons mean??
 
Hi
I've just recently gone back to acrylic after 12 years of gels.....can I ask what MMA and NSS salons mean??

MMA stands for Methyl Methacrylate and has been around in nail salons since the seventies and the liquid monomer has a distinctive strong smell. As a previous poster has mentioned, it needs the nail plate to be very rough to adhere to and so if you file it off (soaking won't budge it), you will discover that the natural nail is very weak and damaged underneath. Once applied, it forms an incredibly strong bond and you're more likely to rip your nail off than break the artificial nail.

MMA is banned for use in artificial nail products in many countries around the world because of it's well documented risks to health. Unfortunately, some clients love the indestructible quality of their nails and will happily return to salons that offer it even when they become aware of the associated health risks.


EMA stands for Ethyl Methacrylate and only requires the nail plate to be lightly buffed in order to adhere and soaks off relatively easily. It will also chip and break away from the natural nail if hit hard enough such as banging the nail on the edge of a car door. Leaving the natural nail intact.


NSS stands for Non Standard Salon.
It's generally used as polite shorthand for salons that offer MMA acrylic nails. MMA products are much cheaper to buy compared to EMA products and easily obtained via the Internet so Salons using it are often viewed as discount salons.

MMA is still commonly used in South East Asia and unfortunately here in the West, any salon staffed by Asian nail technicians, particularly if they offer discounted services, can attract rascist comments from some quarters regardless of what products they use.

In reality, some of the most sought after manicurists in the world are of Asian origin so you can't make a value judgement based purely on ethnicity.
 
Thank you so much for that info AcidPerm ..hugely appreciated x
 
:oops::( oooo i hope my ibd monomer is not mma ... it smells bad..... gonna check it out now.... just in case.... im sure it is fine tho.... as i bought it from my local wholesalers. . Not EBAY xx
 
:oops::( oooo i hope my ibd monomer is not mma ... it smells bad..... gonna check it out now.... just in case.... im sure it is fine tho.... as i bought it from my local wholesalers. . Not EBAY xx
It will be EMA. Monomers do smell anyway. I think when salons use mma they buy it as a chemical on its own. It's banned from use in nail products x
 

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