An Overview On Gel Nails
Gel nails are artificial nails that are the closest that you can find to natural nails when it comes to resemblance. They are quite similar to acrylic nails and are made of a combination of polymer powder and monomer liquid. The monomer liquid will react with the polymer powder and will form long polymer strands. These strands when they dry out will form a hard resin that will look very similar to a fingernail. Acrylic nails tend to be more brittle where as the gel nails are flexible as they contain short chain monomers that are known as oligomers. You can paint the nails, draw airbrush designs on them and also wear French tips. The gel nails can be short or long and can be filed into round pearl or square shapes.
Types Of Gel Nails
There are two types of gel nails that are available and they are light cured gel nails and no light gel nails. A light cured gel nail is hardened using ultraviolet light whereas the no light nails are hardened with the use of a special gel activator. In light cured nails the coat of polymer is first applied on the nails followed by the monomer liquid and then is placed under the ultra violet light for about two minutes. This process is repeated twice or thrice depending on the finish that is required by the customer. The no light nails are also applied similar to the light cured nails with the monomer liquid applied over the polymer coat and then the special gel activator is brushed onto the nails or is sprayed on them to make them hard. Again the process is repeated till the desired finish is attained and is satisfactory for the client.
Advantages Of Gel Nails
The popular choice for artificial nails used to get acrylic nails till the advent of gel nails and now women are slowly shifting from acrylic nails to gel nails because of the advantages that it has over the older acrylic nails. Some of the advantages are
- Gel nails look almost like natural nails and is hard it differentiate between the artificial nail and natural nail
- They are thin, glossy in nature and are flexible
- The resin is made out of a mixture that is odorless and therefore it is safe for pregnant women to use them
- As only a thin layer of acrylic is applied on the nails you will not have to get them filled often.
- Time taken to cure is a lot less when compared to acrylic nails
Disadvantages Of Gel Nails
Where there are advantages, there is also bound to be disadvantages and gel nails do have some disadvantages and they are
- Gel nails are expensive and can look natural, but they tend to break often when compared to other artificial nails
- When these nails break, they just shatter most of the time and this means you cannot do a home fix on the nails and have to go to the nail salon to get it filed off and get new ones.
These nails are not too good at holding on to the polish and therefore you will have to pain them often