Advice on silk wraps

[CoolerKing]

So, for about 20 years, I've been shaping my own nails and have a pretty good system down to prevent edge snags, mostly involving filing with a crystal nail file from one of our good sponsors Wolfram Slides, and buffing the top and edges, followed by lots of moisturizers because I have to wash my hands about 20 times a day. Even with this, my nails are inherently very thin and fragile. The only good news is that they are pliable and forgiving when I bend them.

This is the lead-up to the question. Is it really true that trying silk wraps will forever damage and/or weaken the nail, making it a never-to-return phenomenon? I'm not talking about acrylic tips, but more something along the lines of this:



I won't go for it unless I can get some reasonable assurance that if in 16 weeks I change my mind, I can let my natural nails grow out and back to square one. Keep in mind, I don't have Wolverine iron claws to begin with and I realize that I keep them a fair bit longer than most people recommend. Let's get past that and accept this is the length I've been playing with for two decades and not much will change that.



What sayest thou? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[SimplyLuo]

It won't permanently change your nails. It will just make them thinner where applied if removed. New nail growth will be as thick as usual.

[dosland]

Yeah, I think SimplyLuo's right, you're not going to damage the nail bed by applying something to the nails, so anything you do can eventually be grown out. My wife markets these nail wraps that some people are into these days, and I've occasionally thought about putting some of those on to keep my extremely frail nails alive. I have an unfortunate genetic predisposition to split nails, and they also curl up and out if they grow beyond a certain point, so I have to cover them with something and keep them very tightly sculpted or I quickly end up with a "man down". Some products are worse on the nail than others, in terms of tearing off the top few layers when removed, but in general anything that adheres to the nail surface is going to damage or remove that topmost layer. If you're patient enough to let the experiment run for several months, as implied in your post, I don't see how this could possibly go wrong. Just make sure you report back after the trial period so we all know how it went!

[ZippyChip]

Guitarplayernails. Com sells this as a supplement to their plastic glue on nails. I have used it to reinforce my nails when I get a crack and it works fine. It will thin the nail but nails grow out all the time so no problem. One important thing...at times we all will use the top of our nails for a strum or a quick note and at that point you will not like it much.

[CoolerKing]

Thanks everyone. I'll research the best place nearby, there are a ton of guitarists in town so I'm sure I can get a store recommendation that will do exactly what I want.

[ceciltguitar]

One person's experience: (me)

I started using professionally applied silk wraps in 1997, and continued to do so every 2 - 3 weeks for about 4 - 5 years, at which time my nail tech moved and at her insistence I learned to apply the silk myself.

If you decide to experiment with silk nails, my advice is to save your time and your money and learn to do it yourself!

Find the type of nail glue that works for you. You will find nail glue and silk wraps at Sally's Beauty Supply. (I only go once every 2 -3 years, and always in the company of my wife when she wants to go anyway).

Does the glue weaken the nails? For me, sometimes my nails are really weak after removing old silk. At other times, the nails feel the same. I have no idea why there is such variation.

I don't use silk as much as I use to. However, I nearly always have thin plastic Krazy-glued under my nails. In regards to the glue weakening my nails, same result: Sometimes nails are weak after removing old plastic, sometimes the nails are unchanged.

My conclusion: results vary amongst individuals and even from time to time for this individual.