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Nails are often overlooked when it comes to the beauty aspect of our body and our whole look in general. By painting and giving different shapes to your nails, you can change their appearance into a luxurious look you can’t expect. You can use many different types of polishes to paint your nails. Among all, for polishing your nails, the most popular, effective, and safe polish will be gel polish, without any hesitation.
For gel polish with a sticky formula, it may take a long time to dry out. For quick drying, there is a curing process called polymerization. This is a process where the monomers and polymers react and create a strong bond. Gel nails also work in this same process. To speed up this process, we have to put our nails under UV or LED lamps to cure them quickly. But if you leave your fingers the lamp over time, can you over cure the gel polish? Yes, it is very possible to do so! In this article, I will discuss how this might be harmful for your nails, whether it is safe, and if there are any side effects to it.
Can You Over Cure Gel Polish?
While you are having gel polish applied, curing it is a must. For curing gel polishes from our nails, we usually keep them under a UV or LED lamp. Depending on your gel polish type and brand, it may take 2 minutes or more. After that, you will be able to have beautiful, gel-polished nails. If you are curing them for too long and are willing to over-cure them, then yes, you can over-cure gel polish. It is possible to over-cure your gel polish.
So, when it comes to over-curing your gel polish, it is possible to over-cure your gel polish.
Is Over Curing Gel Polish Safe?
Whenever you are over-curing your gel polish, do you ever think about whether it is safe for your nails? To be honest, over-curing your gel polish is not safe enough for your nails. After over-curing, you may face a lot of problems like breakage, brittleness, thickness, and many others. And honestly, I am not suggesting you over-cure your gel polish and damage your nails. Getting gel-polished nails is obviously going to give you beautiful-looking nails when you cure them properly. Having perfectly cured gel nails can change your experience of getting gel polish. But over-curing them can also make your nails more brittle! So, before over-curing gel polish, you must think of your nail’s health because it is not safe for them.
The Common 5 Side Effects of Over-Curing Gel Polish
After over-curing your gel polish, you may face many side effects. Some of them are:
1. Too Hard Gel Polished Nails
If you are a beginner and have no idea about the curing time while getting gel-polished nails, then you may fall for this problem. If you somehow make this mistake and over-cure your gel polish, then you may get the gel too hard on your nails. And you may also face a hard situation while removing them from your nails. It can also break your nails. So, while curing your nails, be sincere to avoid this problem.
2. Dry Cuticles
We all know that to cure gel polish, we have to put our nails under UV and LED lights. If you have dry skin, then curing your nails under those lights for a long time can give you dry cuticles. And dry cuticles basically damage your skin. So, before you get gel-polished nails, you just need to moisturize your nails properly to avoid getting dry cuticles. Also, remember to apply moisturizer after removing those nails to prevent any other damage and to have healthy nails.
3. Breakage Nails
The UV radiation of those UV lights and LED lights is not totally safe to use excessively or over and over. We all know how much UV radiation is harmful to us. After over-curing your nails with these nails, you may find that your nails start breaking. Because overuse of those lights damages your nails by removing all the moisture and making them dry and break. That’s why you have broken nails. To avoid having broken nails, you must know the perfect time to put your nails under those lights. You have to put your nails under those for 30 seconds for each layer. If the gel solution is thick, then only 60 seconds may be enough to avoid broken nails.
4. Thick Nails
Over-curing your gel nails can also give you thick nails because there are so many layers or thick solutions. If you can’t cure them correctly, then they may stay too thick on your nails. Getting thick nails may make you feel heavy on your nails. It may also give you discomfort. To avoid getting over-cured thick nails, you have to apply the gel polish properly and also cure them perfectly. To remove the thick gel nails from your nails, you need to soak them in lukewarm water and wait for them to soften. After the solution has softened, remove them from your nails.
5. Skin Problems
Too much curing can also cause many skin problems. After having over-cured gel-polished nails, you may also notice that you have skin problems like rashes, itchiness, redness, dryness, burning sensations, and more. And the most dangerous one is skin cancer. We all know that too many UV rays are the reason for skin cancer. So, be aware of having over-cured gel polish to avoid problems like these and stay safe with healthy nails by properly curing your gel-polished nails.
These are the five common side effects that we can get after getting over-cured gel-polished nails. So, avoiding over-curing gel polish is most obvious to us.
How To Cure Your Over Cure Gel Polish Properly: Step-by-Step Guide
If you already have over-cured gel polish nails, then you have to cure them properly again to get beautiful gel-polished nails. To cure your gel-polished nails properly, you have to follow these steps:
- Soak Your Nails: The first thing you have to do is soak your over cured gel nails in lukewarm water to make them soften. After those become soft, you have to move on to the next part.
- Cut Extra Polish: If you have any excess polish on your nails, just remove it or cut it to give your nails a perfect shape.
- Push Cuticles Back: Now push your cuticles back to make the gel-polished nails more attractive with the help of a cuticle pusher.
- Cut Excessive Cuticles: Now it’s time to cut your excessive cuticles to make the gel-polished nail plate more natural and easier to have beautiful nails.
- File Your Over-Cure Nails: Take a filer, file your nails properly, and make them look more natural with gel polish.
- Clean Your Nails: Now, with the help of a nail cleanser, clean the dirt and oils from your nails.
- Apply Base Coat: Apply the base coat to the smooth surface of your nail. This will protect your nails from any kind of damage.
- Apply Color Gel Polish: After drying the base coat, apply the color gel coat you have chosen for your nails. And apply them one by one. Always give the first layer time to dry before applying the second layer.
- Apply Gel Top Coat: At the last moment, apply a gel top coat on your nails to protect the color gel polish from any kind of harmful damage.
By following these steps, you can cure your over-cured gel nails again and have an attractive gel-polished nails.
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Things You Should Follow While Curing Gel Polish
When you are properly curing your gel polish nails, there are some common steps you should follow. Those are:
- Lamp Size: When choosing a lamp for curing your gel polish, you must be sincere in your choice. You have to choose lamps that can comfortably fit your nails to cure them. Otherwise, there will be a chance to get corrupted nails. And no one will ever want a cramped, gel-polished nail.
- Light Type: You may see two types of light in your lamp. One will be blue, and the other will be UV light. I will suggest you choose the blue one because it is much safer than the other one. We all know that UV lights are not good for us. And if you have sensitive skin, then it’s obvious for you to choose the blue one.
- Time: In curing gel nails, the most important thing is a timer. Because it’s the only thing that helps to know that your curing is done; otherwise, you will have over-cured nails. If you want accuracy in your timing, then you can also choose a lamp that has a timer in it. It will be the perfect choice for you.
- Price: If we talk about price, then UV lights are reasonable, while LED lights are way more expensive. But the difference in price is worth it because the LED lamp is safer than the UV lamp. It won’t cause any kind of risk or skin damage for you.
- Wattage: The wattage of these lamps helps in curing the solution of gel polish. So, wattage is very important in curing. So, when choosing lamps, always try to choose higher-wattage lamps to cure your nails way faster.
While choosing curing lamps and applying them to your nails, you must remember these things: These will help you prevent over-curing and give you smoothly finished gel-polish nails.
FAQs
1. Can I apply a regular top coat on my gel nails?
No, you can’t apply a top coat regularly to your gel nails because it can make your gel-polished nails peel or chip. So, if you are willing to get top coats on your gel nails regularly, then don’t do it.
2. How long are gel nails going to stay?
Gel-polished nails are going to stay on your nails for two weeks. But to make it long-lasting, you have to avoid things that can harm the longevity of gel nails.
3. How often can I get gel-polished nails?
After getting gel-polished nails, you have to wait a minimum of 10–14 days to keep your nails healthy before having another gel-polished nail.
Final Thoughts
Getting beautiful nails with gel-polished nails is a common fact. Gel nails have gained a lot of popularity in a short time because of their natural-looking, luxurious appearance. To get gel polish nails, we have to put the gel solution and color on our nails and cure them to get perfectly done gel nails. To cure our nails, we have to use lamps like LED and UV to cure them quickly. While curing gel nails, sometimes we also over-cure our gel nails. So, it’s possible to have over-cured gel nails. But over-curing gel polish nails are not safe for your nails because of their unwanted problems. It can make your gel nails peel, chip, break, and be weak, hard, and thick. It also harms the beauty of your gel nails.
So, while curing gel nails, always try to get perfectly cured gel polish nails, not over-cured gel polish nails.
Key Points
- Curing gel polish nails are a must for beautiful gel nails, but over-curing gel nails can harm the beauty of your nails.
- Over-curing gel nails can make your nails break, peel, be hard, be thick, and cause other problems. You may have a bad experience getting gel-polished nails.
- Whenever you are curing your gel nails, be sure about their curing time and avoid getting over-cured nails.
- After having gel-polished nails, you must take good care of them and also always try to give your nails some break before getting another set of gel nails.
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