A Step-By-Step Guide to Removing Your Acrylic Nails at Home
If you're obsessed with your nails, then you know there’s nothing as satisfying as walking out of a salon with a fresh set of acrylics painted in a trendy spring polish color. But after a few weeks with those long and sturdy tips, they start to lift, chip, or break. If you can't make it to the salon, learning to remove acrylic nails at home is key to keeping your nails healthy.
"It's important to remove acrylics in a proper way by soaking versus breaking them off yourself and tearing them away from your natural nail, which in turn can damage your nails," explains LeChat Nails educator Syreeta Aaron. "When you choose to tear off the acrylics from the natural nail, you are tearing extra layers off the nail."
The more layers that are removed, the more damage there will be. "Nails are composed of hard keratin, which is technically what skin is made from," explains Aaron, adding that "to tear off extra layers would be like tearing off extra skin."
Although you should ideally seek out a qualified nail tech to remove your acrylics safely, you can do it at home...as long as you have the proper tools. Read on for DIY advice on how to remove acrylic nails from an array of experts.
How to Remove Acrylic Nails At Home
Step 1: Cut Off Your Nail Extensions
Start by using an acrylic nail clipper to trim any of the nail extensions and their acrylic coatings that extend past the length of your natural nails. Clipping off the excess product helps to expedite the removal process.
Step 2: File Down the Top Layer of Acrylic
Using a 100-grit coarse nail file, begin to file down the acrylic coating to thin it out and scratch up the surface a bit. The scratches that the file creates on the acrylic are important because they act as channels to help the acetone you apply absorb faster.
Whatever you do, steer clear of harsh chemicals such as methyl methacrylate (MMA) during the acrylic application process. "In order to remove this unsafe acrylic, you would need to rough up the nail bed, causing permanent damage to the natural nail,” Julie Kandalec, CEO of Master Class Nail Academy, explains.
Step 3: Apply Cuticle Oil
Before you soak off the acrylic layer of your nails, you need to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. “Acetone remover is extremely drying so you want to be sure to apply cuticle oil around the perimeter of the nail, on cuticles, and even under the nail on to your fingertips,” Kandalec says.
Typology Hand & Nail Serum
Townhouse Cuticle Oil
Step 4: Soak Off the Acrylic
Aaron recommends first determining whether you have regular polish or gel on top of the acrylics. "If you have regular polish you can begin the soaking process right away. If you have gel polish on top of the acrylic, you must first break the top layer or top coat of gel polish, and then you may begin to soak," she explains.
Drench a cotton ball in 100 percent pure acetone, place the cotton onto the surface of nail, and wrap each nail in foil. Wrapping the nail in foil serves two purposes: “It prevents the acetone from evaporating quickly while retaining your body heat, causing the acetone to work even faster,” explains Kandalec. Be sure to let each nail remain wrapped for at least 20 minutes to allow the acetone acrylic to break the material down fully.
Aaron offers an additional tip if you're not immediately getting another mani. Soak with 100 percent acetone mixed with a few drops of cuticle oil like LeChat CBD Cuticle Oil, which will help replenish the nail as you remove the polish.
Step 5: Gently Scrape Away Acrylic
Unwrap and work on one nail at a time, so the other nails remain wrapped as long as possible. “After unwrapping, check to make sure the acrylic has a soft and gummy consistency,” says celebrity nail artist Vanessa McCullough.
If it does, take a wooden stick cuticle pusher and gently scrape off the softened acrylic, working from the area closest to the cuticle outward toward the tip of the nail. If the acrylic isn’t coming off easily, don’t pry it. Instead, place the acetone-soaked cotton back on the nail, then re-wrap the nail for a few more minutes.
Step 6: Buff Off Remaining Acrylic
No matter how carefully you remove the acrylic, stubborn spots may remain on the nail bed. If there are any remnants left behind, use a multi-sided buffer to buff away the last bits until your nail bed is clean and smooth.
Step 7: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
Apply a final layer of cuticle oil to rehydrate the nail. If you don’t plan on getting a new acrylic set immediately, finish with a keratin-based nail treatment, like CND RescueRXx.
“Your nails are made out of keratin, so this nail treatment actually absorbs into the layers of the nail plate to make the nail strong and healthy,” says McCullough.
Is It Safe to Remove Acrylics Nails At Home?
Yes, you can remove acrylic nails at home—as long as you have the proper tools.
"We recommend having a nail clipper, both an acrylic and natural nail file, and acetone. With these tools, you can clip the excess nail off if they’re really long, file down the top layer of the acrylic, and then soak the nails in acetone," recaps Michelle Nguyen, founder of Paris Lash Academy and PLA Nails. "You’ll likely have to soak them for a while, and then you can start scraping and filing the acrylic off."
When Should Acrylic Nails Be Removed?
I know, I know—we've all "accidentally" seen how long we can make an acrylic set last. But that's not what our nails want.
"Acrylics can theoretically last between six to eight weeks, but that doesn’t mean you should leave them on that long," explains Nguyen. "To keep up with nail growth, you should get your acrylics redone or removed after two to three weeks."
How to Care for Nails After Acrylic Removal
If you want healthy nails, the removal process doesn't end after your acrylics are off.
"After removing acrylics, it is important to keep the skin and nails healthy by applying cuticle oil and hand cream daily," explains Juanita Huber-Millet, Founder and Creative Director at Townhouse, the beloved U.K. salon that just opened up its first American location in Los Angeles. "By nurturing your cuticles, you support the health of your nails as they grow. For added strength, consider incorporating an IBX treatment at the salon, which is a natural and high-quality strengthening application that has personally transformed my nails."
Should You Take a Break Between Acrylic Nail Sets?
While there isn’t a requirement to give your nails a break between acrylic sets, it certainly won't hurt to let them rest every now and again. In fact, it'll even help you avoid yellowing or damage.
And if you're already noticing some damage? "Then you should definitely pause the acrylic sets until your nails are healthy again," Nguyen says.