[Nails] Jamberry: Taking care of your nails before applying wraps/polish

Hooooold on a sec! Whaddya mean I can't just stick the wrap on my nails and it'll last for 2 weeks like it says??

Exactly that.

Before you apply your wraps, your nails (or hands in general!) must be healthy. The same rules that apply to polish apply to wraps. If you have a wound (from trimming your cuticle or just skin peeling off), get it healthy before you do anything to it. This will minimize infection or fungus when you add a foreign object (polish/wraps) to your nails.

You must also take good care of your hands regularly, not just for the purposes of polish! This is not meant to be some time-consuming routine that takes hours. It really takes just minutes out of your day :).

To prepare for Jamberry wraps, follow these simple steps and they can adhere to your bare nail for the time (2 weeks) that they're supposed to.

Watch the video or read the blog post below:

Simple Nail Care Routine:

1) Take care of your cuticles. Happy cuticles = happy nails. This is imperative if you're going to expect Jamberry wraps or polish to adhere to your bare nail effectively. Don't cut cuticles because you risk breaking the skin and once you have a wound, you have to wait until it completely heals if you want to dress up your nails. Cuticles protect the cells that help build healthy nails, so broken cuticles = sad nails. Broken cuticles = chance of hangnails (who wants those??) True story.

2) Push back your cuticles often. If you don't want that little bit of cuticle making your bare nail uneven or breaking off when the nail grows (thus weakening bond of the wrap to the nail or polish to the nail), you should push it back often. If you've never done it, you can definitely start now :). It's easier to push it back when they're pliable like in the shower, after a bath, or if you want, you could soak your hands in warm water before you do it. I usually use my opposite thumbnail to push my cuticles back every day. You might want to start once a week if you've never done it before. You can also use a gentle cuticle pusher. GENTLE is the key word. Don't go all crazy on them if you haven't started yet or you'll hurt yourself. Do not use cuticle trimmers/clippers/scissors!! Some salons do this, but you must say no! It increases the chance of cutting it too close, breaking the skin, and then possibly creating an infection.

Using thumb to push back cuticles:

3). Moisturize! I like to use Sally Hansen's Cuticle Massage Cream. You can just use plain old hand lotion or generic body lotion. Any lotion to moisturize is better than nothing. This will help your cuticles not be cracked or dry. Pick one that isn't oily if you work with your hands a lot. The one I use is just massaged on to the cuticles as shown below.

4) Don't leave your nails too short. I have nothing against short nails. However, Jamberry wraps at the end need to be filed down a little to help seal it to the nail. If you've got no nail to file, it might not be sealed properly at the free edge. Of course, you can skip this part, but I like to make sure I've covered my bases.

Ok, that's it! Properly care for your nails and even if you don't have wraps or polish, your hands will feel great and healthy and you will reduce the risk of infection.

***These opinions are solely my own and are not the ideas of Jamberry Nails, LLC. Again if you would like to order these wraps you can browse over 300+ designs on my consultant site: http://myrop2nd2.jamberrynails.net/