Removing gel from toe nails

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samcarms

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Hi everyone,

Just wondering if the toe clips (seen some on amazon for £7) are the best way of removing gel polish from toe nails? It took me 40 mins last week on my friend which was fine but a lot of time for a paying client!
 
I haven't used toe clips before, but 40 mins does sound like a long time for gel polish removal. What is your usual method of removal?
 
If its gel polish, 40 minutes is way too long. Wrap big toe as you do a finger, the other four are wrapped together, use either individual pieces of cotton pad cut to size or a long piece of cotton wool soaked in remover. You'll need a piece of foil cut to size big enough to wrap 4 toes, soak for 8/10 minutes as per your manufacturers recommendations
 
The toe clips are handy and much quicker than wrapping foil but a bit of a faff to sanitise between each client.
 
I file top layer of gel. Apply cotton wool soaked in acetone and wrap the toe up in foil.
By the time I’ve done the second foot i check the first toe I done by this time most of it has come off, sometimes I need to let them soak a bit longer. I’d say gel removal on toes takes about 15 minutes for me.
 
Hi everyone,

Just wondering if the toe clips (seen some on amazon for £7) are the best way of removing gel polish from toe nails? It took me 40 mins last week on my friend which was fine but a lot of time for a paying client!

I know this is not really an answer to your question , but
I wondered if you would consider using cuccio peel it pre base coat. I use it on my gel toe clients and on myself. It works on gel only polishes and not on hybrid gels and I love it. Lasts just as long as normal gel and is easy to peel off.
As i charge extra for it ,there is your money back with no time spent soaking off after. So clients can arrive with it removed if they want to. Saving time and that's a bonus.
 
Sorry ladies, I asked a question and disappeared! Thank you for all your suggestions, I will try wrapping the toes all together, I think I didn’t let the cotton pads soak properly and she is a fidget so kept pulling the pads off! I will also try the Cuccio peel off (It was cuccio gel too!)
 
To remove gels quickly and without damaging the nails, you have to understand how gels adhere to the nail plate.

How do gels stick to the nail plate?
-
The more area that the gel can cover, the stronger it can stick. For example, If I have a 10 foot sticker, it would be much stronger than a 1 inch sticker.

So in order to remove gels, you have to do things in reverse.
- Using a nail file, file the gel down to thin it out without hitting the actual nail plate. When you file, make sure to break the gels up to where there are no large pieces. Those large pieces are harder to remove because it sticks to a larger area(it has more gripping power). Use a checker board style of filing.

nail-care-mini-series-how-i-apply-and-remove-gel-polish-plus-neutral-nail-style.jpg

Left-hand-after-Gel-removal.jpg

If you look at the pic here, the large pieces are still on. You can see that the surface of the pieces were never hit with the file.

This is why CND Shellac is so easy to remove. When acetone hits shellac, it automatically breaks up the gel into very small pieces. As I stated above, small pieces of gel cannot adhere to the nail because it doesnt have enough power to grip the nail.

Lastly, I like to wrap the feet individually because when you wrap the whole thing with a large cotton piece and foil, the contour of the toes doesn't hit the cotton pad. Just my opinion.
 
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