How to remove acrylics without totally destroying your nails: A guide

I’ve committed quite a few beauty sins in my life. Sleeping with makeup on, cutting my own bangs, popping my pimples—all the big ones. But the one that still haunts me to this day? Biting off my acrylic nails. TBH, I think my nails are still recovering from that trauma five years later. But once I learned how to remove acrylic nails in a way that didn’t completely annihilate my natural nails, my whole world was changed.

TBH, the safest way to remove acrylic nails is at a salon with a trained nail tech. But, if you’re desperate, just like with gel polish removal, there are some methods you can try at home that won’t completely destroy your nails like biting, chewing, or picking them off would. Keep reading for a guide on how to remove acrylic nails at home, plus some tips to keep your nails healthy afterwards.

How do I remove acrylic nails at home?

To remove acrylic nails at home, you’re going to want to soak them in acetone to help lift up the acrylic. The easiest way to remove acrylic nails fast is to cover them with a cotton ball soaked in pure acetone, wrap your fingers in tin foil or nail clips, and let them sit for 30 minutes. The acetone will help break down the acrylics, so you can buff or scrape off the rest with an orange stick or cuticle pusher. As a ~hot~ tip (literally), try warming up your acetone before starting, which will help it work faster and more effectively on your nails. (Note: Acetone is incredibly flammable, so don’t microwave it—just run the bottle under warm water for a few minutes.)

The steps:

1. Carefully clip off your excess acrylics, cutting them as close as possible to your real nails.
2. Using a nail buffer, rough up the surface of the polish until the shine is completely gone. Removing the top layer helps the polish soften faster in the acetone.
3. Pour 100 percent pure acetone into a tray or bowl and soak your nails in it for five minutes.
4. With a metal cuticle pusher, gently push the polish off your nails, pushing from your cuticles downward.
5. Redip your nails for five mins, then gently push again. Repeat until your acrylics have completely soaked off.
6. Buff off the rest of the smaller pieces with your nail buffer.
7. Massage cuticle oil into your nails to rehydrate them, then buff it into your nails with the soft side of a buffer. Finish with another layer of cuticle oil.

And if you’ve seen a bunch of TikToks about removing acrylic nails with dental floss or dish soap and hot water, sure, they might remove your acrylics (albeit, in a few hours), but they can potentially damage your nails too. I lost half a nail trying the dental floss trick on my acrylics, FYI, and dish soap can also be majorly drying. So if you’re truly in a pinch, def just go see a nail tech to get the job done effectively and with the least amount of damage.

When should acrylic nails be removed?

Your acrylic nails should be removed after four weeks max, but this depends on how fast your nails grow. “Your natural nails grow out regardless of how long your acrylics last, and you’ll start to see growth at your cuticle beds after two weeks,” nail artist Rita de Alencar Pinto previously told Cosmo. So even if you top your acrylics with gel nail polish and don’t notice any chipping, the growth will still make your nails more susceptible to breaking, cracking, and snapping off, which you don’t need me to tell you is painful AF and can damage your real nails.

What to do with natural nails after acrylic removal?

After you remove your acrylics, your natural nails will likely be quite brittle and dry, so you’ll want to give them from TLC. Layer on a nail strengthener every day for a week to keep your nails from breaking and smooth out any ridges, then brush a cuticle oil or serum around your nail beds to keep them soft and moisturized. You should also def consider taking a break from acrylics, gel polish, press-on nails, and even regular polish to give your nails some time to recover, especially if you notice any discoloration, cracking, splitting, or breaking.

Meet the experts:

Why trust Cosmopolitan?

Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with five years of experience researching, writing, and editing nail stories that range from dip powder nails to fall nail trends to simple nail designs. She’s an authority in all nail categories, but is an expert when it comes to removing acrylic nails, thanks to years of making the mistake of peeling them off herself and dealing with the repercussions afterward. Now, she’s shared guidance from nail techs and dermatologists about how to remove acrylic nails (and remove gel nails) without damaging her nails.

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