Monday, April 11, 2016

How to Fix a Broken Nail

I broke a nail a little over a month ago. Yeah. Cindy got trapped in a ladder at work. Alright, so - yes. The whole ladder and manual labor thing goes completely against the concept of protecting your nails at all costs, but we have to live, and sometimes we have to endanger our digits.

First I have to point out this tragic sight:

This is my break. 



As you can see, this was a pretty painful break. But that being said... can we just say a big howdy hallelujah to the fact that my nail polish kept this ugly thing from becoming a tattered bloody mess? This, folks, is why we wear polish. Just kidding. We wear polish because it's fun and makes us feel like superior beings. The added protection factor is simply a super ultra mega bonus.

ANYway.

Because I'm stubborn and a little fingernail OCD, I immediately went on the search for the best way to mend my poor injured nail. First, I thought about my past experiences with the tea bag and super glue method. Well, uhm, I say "experiences" and not "successes" because I can honestly say that while I have been able to prolong a bad break using this idea, it's messy, makes your nail tough and ridged, and even when you try to file away the bumpy facade, you end up weakening your nail, thus causing chipping, stripping and breaking at a later date. Oh, And it doesn't bend. So catch it just right on anything and BOOM. Broken beyond repair.

So I wanted to take that same concept and kick it up a notch. Like, oh, I don't know. Using legit methods. Keep in mind that I'm not a nail tech, and knowing that should this work, I would be writing a blog addressing a lot of people who, like me, are looking for a fix anyone can do without special skills and knowledge.

I went to Sally Beauty supply and looked through my options. There were a few I could've run with, but I didn't want to put acrylic on my nails, nor did I want to have to cure anything I used. I knew the tea bag and glue method was pretty solid and I decided silk wraps might work. I picked some up. Then right below the wraps, I saw some nail bandages - little clear stickies that boasted a quick fix. Ah, why not. Grabbed some of those, too. In order to set the wraps, I picked up some brush on gel resin.

First I tried the nail bandages. Give them a shot, right? Well, I guess if you're not going to be using your hands they work. Sorta. All in all, a quick fix that would help you not lose a nail if you broke one and didn't have the time or tools needed for a more solid fix. Ultimately, the positive is that you can quickly adhere them to a break to protect it while you make your way to a more permanent solution. They don't show much under thick, dark polishes, but you definitely don't want to go without some stamping if you're using a multichrome or light holo over it. Plus, I ended up having to use two to make it hold better. (As you can kinda see in this pic.)



I moved on to the silk wraps. Just... a hot mess. When I finally did get them to stay where I wanted them, I had to poke out the air bubbles after brushing them with the gel. (Okay, real nail techs that may read this... again... I was going for layman's fixes here.) After a few tries, I managed to get them situated and looking pretty damn good, if I do say so myself... and then I went to work. The wrap popped up splitting the break again as soon as any pressure was applied to the tip of my nail. *sigh* All that for NOTHIN'.

Third time's a charm, right?

So screw the fancy, schmancy products... I went straight for the brush on gel resin. I knew that gel overlay helped strengthen nails from my time as a waitress when I used to overlay my natural nails to help them withstand huge plates of steak on a platter. Seemed to work then. I separated the break a little, brushed a dab on and held it tight till it dried (about 2 minutes for good measure). Then I just brushed on the gel resin like I would a base coat. I let the first round dry about 5 minutes then added a second coat, letting that dry about 5 minutes. At this point, my nail is looking ragged. It isn't pretty, folks... but it sure is stiff. So I break out my 4-in-1 nail file (which I never use on my nails, BTW, not my favorite for general maintenance) and start filing and buffing. The 4 grits on this particular file seem to have been made for making my newly gelled nail look like it's 9 natural sisters. Which, in case you were wondering, IS a good thing.  You'll notice that I filed my nails down to a manageable length after this break. Looks pretty good, right??

Left: before gel resin Right: after gel resin and filing


So here's the real test. I work retail and have to open shipment and stock shelves along with my selling prowess. I also have 4 kids and have to clean and pick up a toddler on occasion. I deal with car seats and clorox and two cats and a dog - plus I use pure acetone when I do my nails, oh, say, 6-10 times a week. So this crap better be good.

How did it work, you ask? Well, it worked like a charm. I did repeat the gel process about every other nail polish change, which for me was every other day, but that's because the acetone eats away the gel resin and I wasn't gonna take a chance, y'all. After roughly a month of fixing (reinforcing) my nail, I was finally at a point where I was willing to lose the very tip and be done with the break. This is my nail today:


A little shorter than her sisters, but all in all, well on her way to redemption and just as strong as ever! This picture is after I used acetone to remove the remaining gel, pulled off the broken part (you should always file or clip the break, do as I say, not as I do), filed my nail even and polished as usual. No smoke and mirrors.

An added bonus tip for you all, if you ever have an underwire pop out of it's rightful place in your bra, this gel resin works amazingly to hold that rowdy ronda in her place. And considering I have huge, expensive bras and have tried every "fix hack" on the inter webs for that, too, this is a huge development. Just make sure you cover that fix with moleskin, though. Gel resin ain't soft. 

Moral of the story: A deep break doesn't have to mean that you lose your nail or you have to cut all the rest down to size. During this little experiment, I actually snapped my left thumb nail clean off and thought, hey, why not... so I used the same method to glue that bad boy back on. Left it for about 2 weeks until I figured I'd rather focus on more important things. Ol' Thumbelina wasn't broken short enough to warrant wasting my time. But it definitely worked, even for a complete break.

So next time you have a break, it's worth a shot! I know that I now keep a bottle in my purse and one with my nail supplies. You never know when you're gonna snap a nail or pop an underwire.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day!!