False nails, love them or hate them?

I do my own nails - straightforward red gel polish - 2 coats and I have had many a compliment ?

I would never have mine done anywhere other than my local salon (which I use for other treatments anyway). The owner never uses anything other than a normal nail file. I've seen some horrendous pics of nails which have been left in an awful state after having the 'drill' type file used on them. They can damage the nail bed and leave you prone to all kinds of infections and so on.

I recently had gel nails for the first time. We were going on holiday and a friend persuaded me to go along with her when she had hers done. My nails are usually OK anyway - not long and a nice shape.

I thought that gel wouldn't damage my nails and it would be nice for the holidays. However, I was horrified when the nail technician started roughing up the surface of my own nails with a Dremel (small drill with a filing head on it) prior to putting on the nail polish

I had a shortish French polish, nothing exotic. After a couple of weeks they started growing out and chipping. It took me ages to get the gel off using cotton wool, 100% acetone and tin foil.

My nails are now wrecked and I wish I had never had them done. My nails are soft and flaking. It will take me months to get them back to normal. In the meantime, I am putting nail strengthener on every day and cutting them as short as I can.

I was speaking to someone about this and they said that the Asian nail technicians (who I went to) tend to file the surface of your nails but British salons don't do this.

Never again. Although they did look nice for a week or so.

I wonder if men actually find the slug eyebrow, thick lashes, trout lips, plastered on foundation etc. attractive. As Honeyrose said, they end up looking like pantomime dames.

I have horrible hands now that arthritis has taken hold so I have a nice discrete gel colour which makes me feel better about them. The nail lady always offers me something flashier as a joke - she knows I would have the glitter, flowers, long pointed nails but we always have the conversation. I cant open things, thread needles sew a button anything now without adding length to my nails but I think some of them look very artistic.

I have acrylic nails (not long) but because I have a chronic nervous picking habit, meaning I have spent a lot of time with band aid on my fingers, especially my thumbs. I really wouldn’t bother if I didn’t destroy my fingers left to myself. I just can’t pick with acrylics, no matter how hard I try. I hate salons and hairdressers but willing to do this.
My daughter has the same habit and I suggested we should have it on the NHS?.
Can’t stand ‘art’ nails.

Personally I don’t like them at all but each to his own. I used to have gel on my nails sometimes which does make them look lovely for a couple of weeks. However getting it off is a nightmare and it doesn’t do my nails any good at all.

At the moment I have a french manicure done with gel,I change the colour every 4/5 weeks and my own nails are still very strong I have them not too long and just love going to the salon to have a relaxing hour or so of being pampered.At Christmas time I have bright red with a gold glitter put over all very festive.

You don't have to have them really long like talons. I usually have very short nails which break easily, but I've got gel nails at the moment because I was going to a posh charity dinner. They're probably shorter than many people have their own natural nails. You can get acrylic or gel nails done to any length you want and looking as natural as you want too - such as a French manicure. I wouldn't make a habit of getting them done personally, but they're nice for a special occasion if your own nails are as bad as mine usually area.

I'm not a fan at all although most people I work with tend to have them regardless of age.

Visiting a local shop recently, the young cashier was wearing them together with false eyelashes so thick she literally appeared to be struggling to keep her eyes open!

grannyrebel7

Hate them! Hate false eyelashes, slug eyebrows, brilliant white teeth, boob implants and fake tan as well. It all just looks so horrible. However I suppose if we were young we'd all be doing it too

I completely agree. All very unattractive and - dare I say it - tarty (IMO). A female’s looks can be enhanced in a subtle way. Why go around looking like a pantomime dame?

Nanawind I too used Acrylic nails to try to stop biting my own, but after 3 years I gave up, my own nails took about 2 years to stop peeling off and they were very soft and bendy.but I loved them, not too long so that they looked very natural.

Then last June I realised that my nails were growing and I haven’t bitten them since!
And I’m nearly 70 , have bitten my nails since a bad bout of Measles when I was 3,( left me with a stammer and bitten nails) the stammer wore off by the time I was in my teens.

They wouldn’t last 5 minutes on me!

ixion The hotel rooms did have bidets so maybe that was why 3 young girls were staying in a 5* hotel!

My husband wanted to know how they wipe their bottoms

I've always wondered that too!

They are like curved claws or talons something a bird of prey has. Also everything else now is OTT massive lashes trout pouts. Shoes with 9 inch heels that they clearly can’t walk in.
A lot of young women look the same now tasteless and ridiculous.

You are right there Grannyrebel!

Hate them! Hate false eyelashes, slug eyebrows, brilliant white teeth, boob implants and fake tan as well. It all just looks so horrible. However I suppose if we were young we'd all be doing it too

I have gel put on my nails. It costs £21 and lasts for up to 3 weeks.
As I used to bite my nails I am now proud to show them off.

I've never tried them. But my three granddaughters all seem to like them sometimes. Only sometimes though. They seem impractical.

Can’t stand them, but then I’m an old biddy!

Only once was I persuaded to get acrylic nails. My daughter used to have beautifully decorated false nails before she had children. She paid for me to get my nails done. They looked amazing and very festive, however I hated them! I found myself incapable of the most basic tasks. I couldn't even pick up something I had dropped if it was small. I loathed being so helpless. Never again.