Monday, November 30, 2009
Progress?
It's been a week and half since I took off my last set of glue-ons and started using Dermelect. Just to remind you, here's what I started with:
and here's where I am today:
Both pictures are of my naked nails. I do have Mango Mend on in the second picture. As you can tell by the cut on my index finger cuticle, the cold weather is really drying them out.
I titled this post with a question mark because I'll occasionally get discouraged, but I think they are actually doing pretty well.
Also, in the interest of total disclosure, I am also using Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition 1-2x a day. My finger tips hurt so badly, up to a couple days ago, that I needed some fast growth. The NN gives me pretty fast growth, but my nails are not much stronger. I think the Dermelect products are what's helping with that.
Lastly, I applied my coat of Dermelect Launchpad and my coat of Dermelect Makeover, then I decided to put some color on my hideous nubbins. I used Essie Porcini. It's a pretty taupey, mauvey pink with gold micro-shimmer. It looked better in the bottle than it did on my nails, but it wasn't a bad color at all. The one thing I didn't like was that my polish looked glumpy (gooey+clumpy) and I was reminded why I never liked polishing my natural nails. However, I'm hoping that in the next few months after all the ridges and bumps are gone my polished nails will look much better.
Also, the one problem I'm having with the Dermelect products is a lot of bubbling after I apply the topcoat (High Maintenance). Their info states that it's fast drying, but I'm finding drying times to be a bit slow, but the main problem is the bubbling. Seriously, it's worse than the bubbling I always got with Seche Vite. I don't know if that's because it's a naturally thick product or if there is some other reason. I had to remove my Porcini mani within 30 minutes of application due to the bubbling. Here's a pic, though I doubt if you can see the bubbling. Maybe on 1-2 of my fingers.
This mani is 1 coat Launchpad, 1 coat Makeover, 1 coat Porcini (could have used a 2nd, but I don't like using too much polish on my natural nails) and 1 coat of High Maintenance TC. Application on the Essie was fine, but I hate Essie's brushes. I can never get the right amount of polish on them.
Tonight, I will apply another coat of the Dermelect base coats/ treatments. I wish I hadn't had to take them off to begin with, but the bubbling was too bad. I plan on retrying the HMTC a couple more times, maybe with a thin fast dry TC over it, to see if that helps with the bubbling. I'll let you know if anything changes.
EDIT: I tried using a thin fast dry top coat over the Dermelect High Maintenance top coat and it made the bubble issue go away. I used Beauty Secrets from Sally's. Nails dried very fast due to the Beauty Secrets TC and feel very protected thanks to the HMTC.
and here's where I am today:
Both pictures are of my naked nails. I do have Mango Mend on in the second picture. As you can tell by the cut on my index finger cuticle, the cold weather is really drying them out.
I titled this post with a question mark because I'll occasionally get discouraged, but I think they are actually doing pretty well.
Also, in the interest of total disclosure, I am also using Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition 1-2x a day. My finger tips hurt so badly, up to a couple days ago, that I needed some fast growth. The NN gives me pretty fast growth, but my nails are not much stronger. I think the Dermelect products are what's helping with that.
Lastly, I applied my coat of Dermelect Launchpad and my coat of Dermelect Makeover, then I decided to put some color on my hideous nubbins. I used Essie Porcini. It's a pretty taupey, mauvey pink with gold micro-shimmer. It looked better in the bottle than it did on my nails, but it wasn't a bad color at all. The one thing I didn't like was that my polish looked glumpy (gooey+clumpy) and I was reminded why I never liked polishing my natural nails. However, I'm hoping that in the next few months after all the ridges and bumps are gone my polished nails will look much better.
Also, the one problem I'm having with the Dermelect products is a lot of bubbling after I apply the topcoat (High Maintenance). Their info states that it's fast drying, but I'm finding drying times to be a bit slow, but the main problem is the bubbling. Seriously, it's worse than the bubbling I always got with Seche Vite. I don't know if that's because it's a naturally thick product or if there is some other reason. I had to remove my Porcini mani within 30 minutes of application due to the bubbling. Here's a pic, though I doubt if you can see the bubbling. Maybe on 1-2 of my fingers.
This mani is 1 coat Launchpad, 1 coat Makeover, 1 coat Porcini (could have used a 2nd, but I don't like using too much polish on my natural nails) and 1 coat of High Maintenance TC. Application on the Essie was fine, but I hate Essie's brushes. I can never get the right amount of polish on them.
Tonight, I will apply another coat of the Dermelect base coats/ treatments. I wish I hadn't had to take them off to begin with, but the bubbling was too bad. I plan on retrying the HMTC a couple more times, maybe with a thin fast dry TC over it, to see if that helps with the bubbling. I'll let you know if anything changes.
EDIT: I tried using a thin fast dry top coat over the Dermelect High Maintenance top coat and it made the bubble issue go away. I used Beauty Secrets from Sally's. Nails dried very fast due to the Beauty Secrets TC and feel very protected thanks to the HMTC.
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11 comments:
WOW, that is major improvement!
Thank you, EA. I'm trying. :P
ohh..im glad to know that ur improving ur nails...
They look far better and seem to be more healthy already! Don't lose hope! :)
Your nails look amazing for such a short period of time! Where can I get Dermelect?
Thank you everyone. :)
Dermelect is available at their website www.dermelect.com.
They do look a lot better. Just think how good they'll be by Christmas!!!!
They look a lot better than the first pic . Wow so glad that you got to save your nails !! Acrylics do do a lot of damage . Especially if you pull them off like me . I did extensive damage to mine and sadly they won't grow back . I did a 9 month break and they didn't grow back at all . I have resorted to using glue ons .
Wow that's progress!
They look a lot better.
Mary Ann, I'm so sorry. I didn't pull off my acrylics, but I know I did a bit of damage to my nails when I removed them. I soaked them in acetone, and I noticed there was still bits of the acrylic that wouldn't soak off, so I tried to remove it w/ clippers. Turns out, the bits of acrylics were pieces of my nails that had lifted up. :/ They were awful for a few weeks and then I decided to use glue-ons to help hide the damage. I don't regret it, but I'm happy to trying to rebuild my natural nails. I liked my glue-ons, however. My natural nails will never be that long and thick.
My mother has nails that won't grow back as well. She used acrylics for years and then started using glue-ons after an infection. Now after 2 years of exclusively using (and abusing) glue-ons, the nails on one of her hands (can't remember which one) and her thumbnails refuse to grow back. So, she pretty much has to use glue-ons if she wants any nails at all. She hates it, but you do what you have to do.
Thanks again, everyone.
Wow! I am really impressed with the progress you made in such a short time! Keep doing what you are doing. :)
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