Hairline cracks appearing

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The Beauty Shed

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I did my sister in laws nails yesterday afternoon for the first time in ages. She is a nail biter and had pretty short nail beds, I used an opaque pink to extend the nail bed and thought they looked quite good, and she was happy with them.

She text me this morning to say that 2 nails had cracks in them, she said they were where the white joined the pink and it was almost as if she had got a knife and sliced them but they were only about 1mm long. The cracks go from the sidewalls towards the centre of the nail. I asked her if she had been biting them or banged them and she said no, I totally believe her because she has always been honest with me about these things in the past and always accepts blame when she needs to. Then about 10 minutes ago she text me to say the crack on her thumb had continued to grow all day and the tip has now snapped off. She has been busy so I haven't had chance to see them yet but I'm going round tomorrow morning to have a look at them.

Any idea what has gone wrong as this has never happened to me before. I haven't done any nails in a while so maybe my application has gone rusty? Could it be because I am working too wet or too dry? There isn't any lifting so I'm guessing the pressure was correct. Could I have maybe gone too thin at the sidewalls?
 
Have you built the apex correctly ? Sounds like maybe you have not applied enough product in the stress area ? Just a thought?
 
Yes I think I had done the apex nicely, will have to have a look in the morning but I'm stumped and will feel stupid if I can't offer an explanation (I'm glad it's only my sister-in-law).

Also I feel if I can't offer an explanation how on earth am I meant to offer a remedy? Of course I can fix it but what if the same happens? I can't fix a mistake if I don't know what it was!
 
I saw her today and there isn't any more cracks or other problems thank goodness. I checked the apex and it looks good to me. It really does look like she has sliced the nail with a knife and I'm really stumped.

Anybody else have any ideas what could have caused this? I don't want it happening again.
 
You may not have built the sides up enough for a nailbiter. With short nail beds the nails need just a little more support at apex and sides and generally have to be a bit shorter to avoid unnecessary stress on the nail plate.

If a crack starts from the side it would only take a few small knocks, hardly noticeable, to make it grow! ;)
 

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