Our fingertips are always on show and give away a lot about our personality.
Our style, wellness, and overall mood are reflected in how well or poorly we take care of and manicure our nails in our daily lives. After all, is there anything that gives hands a more appealing feeling than a recent manicure?
If you are over your 50s and your hands look a bit mature, that is of course something you should feel good about.
However, you might be wondering what manicure works best with mature hands, and which one can make your hands look fresh and like they are well taken care of.
Before discussing different manicure styles, it should go without saying that everyone wants a manicure that lasts as long as possible without chipping and without causing any harm to their health.
But which types of manicures can offer us the best of both worlds for mature hands? Keep on reading below to find out!
How Do Our Nails Change?
How healthy we are can be indicated by our fingernails. Our nails are a mirror of our overall wellbeing, and that is fairly evident even when the only thing that changes is our age.
Nails, like hair, transform over time as a result of illness, aging-related bodily processes, nutritional inadequacies, or environmental factors including prolonged exposure to chemicals or UV radiation.
Our nails can alter in quality, hardness, size or form, hue, or how quickly they develop. Our nails can alter in quality, hardness, size or form, hue, or how quickly they develop.
Slower nail development, thin nails that are more likely to break, hardening (usually in toenails) and weakening (often in fingernails), or color changes to more yellow and gray tones are a few of these alterations.
Even though most alterations are normal, some, particularly those in nail color and growth rates, might indicate health issues.
When it comes to natural aging, dehydration is the most frequent factor that affects our nails. The body reduces the rate at which it produces and retains fluids and oils.
Our nail plate has around a hundred layers, and when they weaken, they are prone to splitting, peeling, chipping, and ridges, while temperature changes further negatively impact our nails.
Standard Manicure
We are not going to lie; the primary disadvantage of the standard or classic manicure is chipping. Apart from that, however, there are no significant negative effects on our health.
Most of the terrible substances are nowadays removed from nail polish, so you can apply it for days on end without any worries about your health.
However, it is best to use a non-acetone polish remover for your polish at least once every week because acetone can severely dry out the nail plate, resulting in peeling and brittleness.
Therefore, there are almost no health risks related to a classic manicure given that you remove the nail polish and redo your nails weekly. Sadly, other types of manicures don’t work like that.
FOR TIPS ON THE BEST SHAPE FOR MATURE NAILS CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE.
Dip-Powder Nails
This method has been around for quite a while, but it has gained more popularity these days since the nails don’t need UV light to dry and they do not start chipping for at least two weeks.
The steps are straightforward: the manicurist buffs the nails’ top first, then adds a primer coat and a base coat before dipping each nail, one by one, into a colored dip powder.
To give all nails a second coat of powder, the process is repeated once again. After brushing off the leftover powder, a finishing top coating is applied to the nails.
Types Of Manicures To Avoid
Acrylic
Acrylic nails are artificial nails that cover your real nails with a strong protective coating.
These nails consist of a mixture of powder and liquid monomers that are mixed to form a clay that is applied to your nails with a brush and then dried by the air.
Since acrylic is transparent, nail polish is applied on top of it. The durability of acrylic nails is almost unmatched, and they endure till your nails grow out.
However, the main disadvantage of acrylic manicure is that fumes and chemicals are used during its application.
A ten-minute soak in acetone is required for removal, which can harm the nail bed and be very painful when you have hangnails or small cuts.
Even though it is advertised as the best option for clients who wish to lengthen their nails or modify the curve of their nails, it is not a manicure method you should frequently opt for as, from what you can see, it will cause irreparable damage to your natural nails.
Gel Nails
Gel nails are artificial nails like acrylics, however, they typically seem more authentic. The nails are initially lengthened by applying nail tips, but that is only if they have to be lengthened.
The next step is to apply 2 to 3 coats of gel nail varnish, “curing” every coat with UV radiation. Once this is done, the color you chose is applied to the nails.
Gel nails have a drawback, much like acrylic nails. To begin with, they are rather pricey, ranging from $25 to $60 for one session, with nail extensions being even costlier.
When it comes to your health, having your nails exposed to UV light might enhance skin damage and lead to an increased risk of skin cancer.
Strangely, acrylics and gel nails are the results of treatments that claim to grow your nails longer and thicker, while the truth is that they make them weaker in the long run.
The Bottom Line
In this article, we looked at what type of manicure works best for aging hands. While these manicures help keep your hands looking fresh for longer, what matters the most is for you to feel good in your skin… and nails!
