What removal does to a nail

What is actually happening

A nail plate is about a hundred layers of keratin pressed together. Gel bonds to the top few. Taken off properly, it releases from them; peeled off, it brings them with it. What you are left with is a thinner plate — bendy, sometimes tender, often with white patches that are air where layers have separated.

A proper soak-off, step by step

The shiny top layer is filed off so the solvent can get in. Each nail is wrapped and left long enough — the temptation is always to check too early. The softened product is lifted off with a wooden stick rather than scraped with steel. Then the surface is buffed lightly, oiled and left alone. Half an hour, and the last five minutes are the ones that matter.

Hard gel is different: it is filed, not soaked

Hard gel does not dissolve. It is filed down carefully to a thin layer and then the last of it is taken off by hand. That is why the removal on the price list takes as long as it does, and why it is the appointment we are least willing to be rushed on.

How long it takes to recover

A nail grows out completely in about six months on hands, rather less on the little finger and rather more on the thumb. Damage grows out — it does not heal in place. Nothing sold in a bottle changes that, and any product claiming otherwise is claiming something about biology that is not true. Oil daily, keep them short, and give it a season.

Which is why the soak-off is cheap

It is deliberately one of the least expensive things on the price list, and it is a real appointment rather than a favour. We would much rather see you for half an hour than see the state of your nails in three months.

Files and buffers are single use. Files, buffers and wooden sticks are single use and binned in front of you. Steel is washed and steam sterilised, and every pedicure gets a fresh liner.