Saturday, March 28, 2015

Absolute Disaster on 27 March 2015 - DON'T BUY THIS NAIL GLUE!!!!!!

Yesterday I had an absolute disaster with 3 of my nails which I was trying to patch, using a different nail glue to the one I usually use, and here is how my nails and fingers look today!


As a result of this, I want to advise everyone NOT TO BUY THE NAIL GLUE shown below:


and here's the full story of what happened.

After taking off last week's manicure and the patches I had on three of my nails, I still couldn't cut my nails back because they were broken a long way down the actual nail, and not only on the tip section.  So, I set out to put patches on them again before I put on this week's mani.  I had run out of the glue I had been using, which came with the Manicare Nail Repair Kit I bought months ago, so I decided to use the nail glue shown above, which I had bought to use to attach artificial nail swabs to my nail polish bottle lids before I put them up on the shelves.  It said "Nail Glue", so I presumed it would be safe to use, and I had to make a tiny hole with a sharp needle in the top, so there should have only been a small drop of glue on the index nail on my left hand (the one with breaks on both sides of the nail) when I put it on.  However, that is not what happened.  It spread all over my nail, and onto two of my fingers, and then dried instantly.  My fingers were stuck together, but I managed to get them apart, and managed to finish that patch.

I then spent half an hour trying to get the glue off my fingers with acetone, and still didn't manage to get it all off, but I wanted to go ahead and patch the other two nails that needed repairing, so I decided to finish trying to get it off after I had finished the patches.  I had read during the week that micropore tape from the pharmacy is a good alternative to tea bags to use for patches, so I applied some over the splits on the middle finger on my left hand and the thumb on my right hand.  I filed off the excess bit of the fibreglass tape that I used with the nail glue patch, and smoothed off the surface of the glue.  

Next, I added two coats of Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" original formula nail hardener to all my nails, waiting for each coat to dry before adding the next one.  I then added one coat of Jordana "Mellow Yellow" to all my nails except for my ring fingers, and one coat of Sinful Colors "White On White" to my ring finger nails.  I was planning to do a gold and green water marble manicure for the Cricket World Cup Final on Sunday, 29 March 2015, in which Australia are playing.  However, when the polish finally dried on the patched nails, I noticed that the polish was really rough on the ones I used the micropore tape on.  So, I decided to remove the micropore patches and do them the same way as the one with the glue, and that's when disaster struck.

The micropore tape nails were easy to clean and remove the tape, but when I tried to do the patch on the first nail, glue went all over my fingers again.  I then tried to add some acetone to a cotton swab to try to get it off, but the acetone went all over the nails on my right hand, and I just burst into tears.  Then I tried to use the acetone to remove the glue from my fingers once again, and most of it just wouldn't shift.  I used the foil method with 100% acetone on the two nails with the glue on, and after 15 minutes they still hadn't shifted, so I added more to them, left the remover on for 15 minutes, and the glue hadn't even budged.  I tried again, and again, and finally managed to get the patch piece off, but the glue underneath still wasn't going to budge.  

Meanwhile, all this time, my finger and nails was burning because of the acetone, so I switched to an acetone-based polish remover, and after about 2 hours I finally managed to remove most of the glue, but in the process the nail on my index finger broke right off, and the other break got worse.  That's when I really gave up, and decided to cut all the broken nails off as carefully as I could, and filed the rest of my nails back a lot so they didn't look ridiculous.  I was really crying my heart out at this stage, because I was watching 9 months of careful nurturing and beautiful manicures going out the window, and my nails looked worse than they did when I first started my blog after the chemotherapy damage.  One of the nails even started bleeding, and you can see how badly the tips of my fingers were damaged by the glue and the acetone.


 
 



So, now I won't be able to do anything but nourish, strengthen and pamper my nails and hands for weeks until they start to recover, and start from scratch again.  I am absolutely heart-broken, and feeling extremely discouraged.  I just wish I could find some glue like the one I got with the Manicare Nail Repair Kit to use with the tea bag patches, but I think the only way I'm going to be able to is to buy a whole new kit, even though I've still got half the fibreglass strips left, and the emery board will last for a long time yet.  

This was a horrible lesson to learn, but I will never put nail glue made for false nails near my nails again, especially the one I tried.  After more than three whole hours just to get the two patches off, plus the time taken to put the base coat and polish on, and then take it off, and still picking glue off my fingers, I guess all I can do is start treating my nails and hands with kid gloves, and use everything in my arsenal to repair the damage.  My first port of call was, of course, my Jojoba Oil, but I have other things I can use, so my next few posts will most likely be updates on how my nails are going and how the different products that I use perform. 

I hope you won't give up on me, and that you will come back again to see how things are going.  If I find anything interesting on my travels around the internet I'll let you know, and will also keep you informed about any new polishes I get while I'm waiting to start polishing my nails again.

Bye for now, and I hope to be back real soon.  Have a wonderful day, and may God bless you.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing. So sorry to read what has happened to you and your nails! I have never even seen this glue before. Hope you can write to them to give them feedback. If I see it I will stay clear. Hope they grow back quickly and stronger than before for you x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. Unfortunately I bought it from AliExpress, and they sell heaps of it, and so do lots of other sites online. It's no wonder you see horrible photos of the damage done to people's nails by wearing false nails and/or extensions. I cry every time I look at my nails, and they are still hurting like mad. Typing is hard, too, because of it. Thanks for caring :)

      Delete