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I recently(and briefly) was dating an aesthetician and while complaining about the constant trouble I have with my thumb nail she recommended UV Gel. I have a line running down my thumb nail and the side that does all the picking is paper thin, even with multiple coats of super glue it breaks, and that's with properly "priming" of the surface to accept the brand new glue. Acrylic feels heavy and stiff and definitely affects the sound of it but I've had to resort to it many times.
UV Gel though I'm actually liking quite a bit. It's as thin or as thick as you want, it's somewhat flexible, and supposedly it's breathable and completely healthy for you're nail in long term situations. Through some research and trial and error I've found how to apply it myself properly.
You need a primer, gel, UV light, and brushes. See what I've purchased below.
Apply the primer and go ahead and apply the gel immediately following the primer, doesn't need to dry. Apply the gel in SUPER THIN COATS, this is paramount. Thick coats chip off and burn under the UV light, the thinner the coats the better, for my nail I'm doing like 6 thin coats. After the first coat put the nail under the UV lamp for two minutes. It will still be sticky, that's to help it bond to the following coats. Do as many coats as desired curing under the UV light after each coat. When you're done wipe the stickiness off with isopropyl alcohol and you're good to go!
Hope this helps for anyone who's been dealing with a constant battle of insanely thin nails.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
Yeah? I told her I didn’t want to see her anymore and she nearly impossibly claimed to be “late” for 4 days to get back at me. Welcome to dating in LA, I have no secrets on the foro, mi vida es su vida.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
Leñador, repopulating the world with redheads, one illegitimate bastard at a time.
Interesting to see those UV lights are so cheap. I might give it a try sometime.
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RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
Careful Rui, we gingers have no souls. Haha, no Tiffany, this girls hot to crazy ratio made it not worth the effort. Down for crazy but it’s gotta be worth it.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
I bought one of these on the advice of a well known London teacher (Ramon Ruiz) who swore by it. It didn't work at all for me and the 'skin' just sloughed off under stress really easily. I guess the bond to the nail surface was just not strong enough.
If there was something stronger I might go back to worrying about having my hand under a UV lamp for minutes on end with more aplomb, but the best solution by far for my weak, and often splitting nails was Nail Envy Strengthener after a bit of Avon Nail Experts feeding. I've used this method for years (but not with much public playing to be fair).
So, are there different types/strengths of gel to try?
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
Interesting, maybe bad product or bad application. Mine was coming off until I learned to apply it properly. I play for student dancers without an amp pretty regularly so it takes a serious beating.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
I think you're right in that it seems you have to put it on in thin layers. You also have to prepare the nail as well. The site I just looked at also says care should be taken in removing hardened gel - like CA removal. Maybe if I played a lot more flamenco it'd be worth looking at again, but right now, short nails and Nail Envy are good enough. Report back!
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
I tried shellac once, it didn't cut it, my thumb still broke off to nothing. My understanding is shellac is like a watered down gel. I think the mixture of my nail being crazy lame and playing for dance requires a bullet proof solution.
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From: Washington DC
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Leñador
I tried shellac once, it didn't cut it, my thumb still broke off to nothing. My understanding is shellac is like a watered down gel. I think the mixture of my nail being crazy lame and playing for dance requires a bullet proof solution.
It’s called a PA system.....don’t kill yourself, those dancers are worth only one coat of Krazy glue, that’s all I allow them.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
Haha yeah, I have a PA and I'm just too lazy to drag it around unless it's performance. In reality my thumb nail broke just as many times playing at home with krazy glue on it. I'm lucky enough to be working with really small groups and individuals so at least I'm not trying to compete with a whole big class.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
I've got one of these which I can take anywhere on battery power for rehearsals - it's super-portable (I then lineout into a 100 watt Trace Acoustic amp for gigs).
It's even got a phrase looper, which might be handy if you get bored when they practice a particular sequence over and over again, or you need to nip outside for a quick smoke/etc
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to Leñador)
So I’ve been experimenting with the UV Gel on and off since January. Same stuff that Len posted links to except I have the 70 watt UV light with thermonuclear dry time setting. Proudly made in China. Probably emits gamma rays and kills cancerous tumors at the same time.
Be curious to hear others experience with gel, but here’s mine:
Sound wise, I think Gel is different than superglue , or maybe comparable if you had like 10 coats of superglue on your nails. But sometimes it can literally sound like hard plastic, which I never get from superglue. So I’ve been using gel on my thumb and superglue on other fingers.
The big downside from my experience is that after a week the gel will start to delaminate from the edges of your nail. The separation is so slight however that you can’t even really see it. but you can hear it and it sounds like a super thin guitar pick. And you can’t just rip off the gel at this point. Hopefully a few days later it delaminate further up the nail and you can pop the whole thing off like a fiberglass boat coming out of the mold.
Anyway, when I hung out with Samuelito a while back he uses gel and said he’s never going back to superglue. So I thought I’d give it a go. He had a thick layer on his nails, but I found I don’t like the thick layer personally.
RE: UV Gel for nails (**guitar freak... (in reply to etta)
I looked at the online store, looks like it’s geared toward artificial nails mostly, right? I’m not extending my nails out with the gel, just putting it over the top and filing flush. Because some folks actually use the UV builder gel to make longer nails - in fact I think that’s what the builder gel is for.
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