How to Easily Remove Acrylic Nails at Home

Need to get your acrylic nails off, but don't have the time or patience to go to the salon? We have been there — but it pays to remove that manicure correctly instead of, say, prying them from your natural nails (ouch!) or mindlessly biting them off while absorbed in a Game of Thrones binge-watching session.

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Removing acrylics forcefully also means removing some of the many layers of your natural nail plate, too. Usually this results in thin, flimsy, damaged nails, which last for months until they grow out. And that's the best possible scenario! So, if you opt for acrylics, we suggest keeping this handy tool kit at home for a damage-free removal.

Now, follow these three simple steps to return to natural nails without tearing apart your tips:

1. File off as much of the acrylic nail as possible
Instead of filing your nails in the usual way (along the top edge of the nail), you'll need to thin out the entire area the acrylic covers. "Using a course grit, file off as much product as possible. You need a really good file for this. An emery board would be useless. Look for a 100-grit nail file, which is coarse enough to file down the surface of the acrylics.
Be careful not to cut the skin around the nails with the edges of the file. "Always "season" a new file by using another file over the edges to soften them.

2. Soak off any remaining acrylic nail
Once the acrylic has been filed down much as possible, soaking the nails in 100% acetone for as long as it takes to dissolve the product.

If you do go this route, Only dip your nail tips in the bowl to avoid drying out the rest of your skin on fingers and hands. Be sure to only use acetone in a well-ventilated area because it is very volatile and can easily irritate your respiratory system.

3. Gently scrape or buff the last bits of acrylic nails away
After soaking in acetone, check nails "every 20 minutes or so to scrape off the softened product using an orange stick or cuticle pusher, repeating this process until all the product has been dissolved. There may be a few small areas of acrylic that refuse to go, but don't get rough with them! If there are any little bits of acrylic that won't budge, a soft foam buffer can be used to buff those little stubborn bits smooth.

Keep in mind, even if you follow these steps, you may be left with somewhat compromised natural nails, depending on how the technician applied them in the first place and how carefully you execute the removal.

Tools You'll Need to Safely Remove Acrylic Nails