Artificial nails are available singly or in complete sets and are useful for concealing bitten, split or crumbling nails, as well as for lengthening short nails. Most beauty salons also offer nail rebuilding treatment, which is a more resilient and effective alternative to putting on artificial nails yourself.

Methods

1. False plastic tips can be glued on to existing damaged nails and the surfaces of the tip pared down to conceal the join.
2. Tips can be dipped in acrylic powder. First the surface of the nail is roughened so that the false tip will stick on easily. The tip is filled until the join no longer shows, painted with a thin layer of glue, then dipped in acrylic powder, filed and buffed.
3. Tips can be painted with an acrylic chemical. The nail surface is roughened before the chemical is painted on. When this hardens, the nail is suitably shaped.
4. Nails can be silk-wrapped. This is a good method for preventing long nails from breaking. A thin layer of silk is glued on to the whole nail, then smoothed to take away the edges and filed into shape.
5. Nails can be sculpted. An oval paper from is put underneath each nail before a chemical substance with a transparent base and white tip is painted on the nail and allowed to set. The nail is then ‘sculpted’ to the correct shape and length, and when hard, the paper from is removed and the nail buffed until shiny. No varnish is required, and the false nail will grow out with the normal one in roughly two weeks. Sculpted nails are thicker and potentially more damaging to the real nail beneath than the tip method.
6. ‘Lite’ nails are a new method in which the real nails are roughened, then smoothed over, and shaped with a crystal gel. This is held under an ultraviolet lamp for 3-4 minutes to harden. No varnish is required, as the gel makes the nails naturally shiny. They only need buffing. The nails will not dissolve, but can only be removed by filing. Replacements are necessary every 304 weeks.