Common Nail Myths Busted

Taking care of your hands and nails is one of the easiest ways to make sure that you always look classy and well put together. Having dirty nails or chipped polish is one of the easiest ways to give off the wrong impression about yourself.

Many myths about taking care of your hands and nails float around, especially since the pandemic when everyone tried their hand at doing their own manicures from their homes.

However, we are here to bust some of those myths for you to know what’s real.

Take A Break

This is a myth that you may have heard from several people and definitely one that you have likely heard more than once. The myth says that you must remove any nail enhancements once a year to let your nails breathe.

This is false. Your nails, like your hair, are dead cells. This means that they don’t need to ‘breathe’. Your nails do require oxygen to be able to grow, but they receive oxygen from your blood.

Cold Water

If you’re not one for gel or acrylic nail enhancements, you are probably one for using nail polish. You might therefore know the myth that says that placing your wet nails into cold water will allow them to dry much faster.

This is false. The cold water may thicken the nail polish and make it seem as though it has dried quicker, but it is slowing down the drying process of your nails.

Sun Strength

This myth is a bit of a strange one. Most of the time, we are told that the sun is bad for us and that we should try to stay out of the sun as much as possible, but this myth says that the sun makes our nails stronger.

It is not true that the sun makes our nails stronger; however, it is is true that the sun makes our nails grow faster, which might be where the confusion comes in and caused the strengthening myth to begin.

Gel vs. Acrylic

You may have heard that acrylic nails are much stronger than gel nails. It is easy to see where this myth originated because of how much harder acrylic nails are than gel nails, but the myth is not true.

Both acrylic and gel nails last well under wear, and the specific strength of the nails will depend on the brands being used and the person’s natural nail strength.

Round Nails

Some say that round nails are stronger, and others say that square nails are stronger. However, neither of these two myths is true because no nail shape is strongest.

The nail’s strength will depend on the person’s natural nail and the apex of the product applied to their nails, and how the tip and sidewalls of the nail are sealed.