Ladies: Have you ever had artificial nails?

[Flaxbee]

If so, what kind? Acrylic, silk wraps, gel? Any thoughts? Love 'em? Hate 'em?

I tried acrylic nails once years ago and felt just freaked out - immediately took them off (but the manicurist had also done a horrid job - looked like someone had stuck thick slabs of plastic on my fingers).

(Not to discriminate: if any men have had false nails, please chime in).

[mcctatas]

1. I have never even had a manicure...

I keep my nails pretty short (even after I stopped biting them) and if I am feeling super festive,I might use some clear polish. I just don't have the patience to sit there forever while someone messes with my body, I'm weird like that I guess. :crazy:

[mcctatas]

2. Was this ghost kicked?

why does it say there are two replies when there is only one? The ghost kickers have run amok! :scared:

[Lyric]

3. I tried some of those do-it-yourself nails when I was a teen.

I felt like an alien, so I took them right back off.

My nails are extremely short, for very good reasons. :)

[pitohui]

4. just don't do this to yourself

i could tell you a horrible tale of a terrible tragic acrylic nail accident that led to the ripping out of three nails at the root -- one of which did not grow back again for over 2 years -- but the story is too long and depressing and you wouldn't believe it any way

just don't, don't

you've gone this long w.out fake nails, don't do this to yourself

the reason it looked like you had globs of plastic glued to your nails was because you had globs of plastic glued to your nails

run, forest, run!!!

[vixengrl]

5. They are sooooo weird!

I try to be a little fashionable--I wear make-up, I'm actually good at cosmetics. I can cut and I color my own hair--

but I never quite got the hang of long nails. I don't grow them myself--they are never all long at the same time without one at least being snagged in a tablecloth or something. So I generally keep them short, all the better to do long stands of typing at home when I'm writing, blogging, or forum commenting, or at work when I'm heavily data-entering. But on the two occasions (Senior prom and first wedding) I tried fake nails (Lee Press-ons!) I totally could not deal with them for long.

They feel like plastic fingers! They just float all weird and not sense-having on top of my real nails in a creepy, fake, wearing-a-mask-on-my-digits way. I have honest working-chick hands. I like to use them--ineptly mostly, but I can't just be careful of some ten-dollar manicure.

In both instances, once I felt one nail go a little loose, I ended up ripping it and the rest off with my teeth. My natural nails survived. I wouldn't ever get wraps or any of that really bonding stuff. My nails never were really good, where I thought they wouldn't break if I got that.

I have great natural nails now--I keep them short but rounded, file them regularly, buff them with a little oils sometimes, push back my cuticles, use loads of hand cream, and polish them on special occasions (I also try to use polishes thay aren't super-drying)that's quite enough for me!

[jmm]

6. I tried acrylic nails once in high school.

They lasted all of 3 days until I had to play volleyball in gym class and split one of my fake nails and my real nail under it. A mini battle of the sexes broke out when I wanted to sit out the rest of the game. When I got home I clipped and filed them as much as I could then got the rest off with acetone. I wore a band aid on my thumb until until it got better and removed that one later.

[AwakeAtLast]

7. I had them for about a year

I liked them, but keeping them up took so much time! I could do anything with them, but I kept them a respectable length - not a million miles long. If you find a good manicurist there shouldn't be any problems.

[MissMillie]

8. I wear them all the time

acrylics

if the nail technician doesn't know what s/he is doing, they'll be terrible

I don't wear mine very long... I like them to look natural.

[PassingFair]

9. "Crystal Gel"...or "A Tale of Woe" by PassingFair

I got a set of "Crystal Gel" nails done because
I was trying to sell the salon owner an ad... :eyes:

I am not very "girly" and it was the first time I
had ever had my nails done professionally.

I asked him to do something removable, but I don't
think he understood me....

The original set wasn't so bad, my friends and
family made fun of me, but I thought they looked OK..

The problem was the FILL-INS! Every two weeks, I had
to go in and have the bottom of the crystal gel FILED
down by a crazy woman with a DREMEL DRILL! If that's
not TORTURE, I don't know what is. I would get HEADACHES
that lasted until the next morning, and the woman would
tsk tsk at me while she drilled away.

After about 2 months, I asked about taking them off and
she told me that I would have to LET THEM GROW OUT.
I did some research into it on line and found out that
growing them out left air pockets that were HOMES FOR
INFECTION. She told me that she could SOAK THEM OFF IN
ACETONE, but that it would take TWO HOURS.

Another shop owner told me to just soak them myself and
peel them off, which, one scotch-soaked afternoon soon
afterwards, I did.

My nail beds were pretty much DESTROYED from all the
drilling, and what wasn't destroyed was mutilated from
pulling the nails off.

They took about 6 months to grow back. And I have yet
to be able to think about it without CRINGING.

Needless to say, I don't recommend the crystal gels
to people who are headache prone or have thin nails
like I do.

Stick with the Press-Ons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o

[Skittles]

10. no - they are RIDICULOUS

[LynneSin]

11. I tried Lee Press-Ons. They looked way too whorish on me

that was my extent

[Generic Brad]

12. Only when I used an artificial hammer

Kid stuff, you know.

[boilerbabe]

13. I tried those Lee Press On Nails

Years ago. I was working in an oil refinery and they just got in the way, so I ripped them off. That was a bit painful!

[amitten]

14. Fingernails or toenails?

Equally strange and gross, in my opinion.

[Quantess]

15. No. I love painting my nails, but fake nails are where I draw the line.

Anyway, nails are not sexy to heterosexual men. Guys don't care about nails. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but, I'm pretty sure they don't.