After glue on full cover nail removal

I know that probably the best way to remove glue on full cover nails is to use pure acetone and soak the nails off. I've done this and it leaves me with very damaged cuticles and dried out skin for a long time after. It takes many days for my cuticles to stop cracking and tearing and becoming infected.

Now truth be known, I stopped biting my nails 2 weeks ago after years of biting them. I tend to care more about my cuticles and skin than the shape of my nails because I wear full cover glue on nails and they cover my sin.

I wait until the nails are lifting, when I know the glue is "cured" and not holding all of the fake nails on my nails. and then I use a toe nail clipper to lift the glue on nails from my finger nails. I'm very careful to work the fake nail off slowly, to avoid pulling off bits of my own nail. I don't recommend doing this, it's just what works best for me.

As you can see, they look pretty rough.

My nail mending arsenal:

• Pure Acetone ($3 @ Target)
• H2O Spa Hand and Cuticle Scrub ($4 in a 5 piece gift set @ Marshalls)
• Sally Hansen Hard As Nails  (It's actually clear) (75% off clearance sale @ CVS)
• Barielle Intensive Nail Renewal Oil ($3.99 @ Marshalls)
• J.R. Watkins Natural Apothecary Hand & Cuticle Salve ($6.27 on clearance @ Target)
• Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Therapy ($5 sale in store)

I listed all the prices to show that taking care of your nails doesn't have to be expensive if you look for sales and bargains. I tried H2O brand when I read about it on a blog. I love this brand now and find it on discount at Marshalls. The gift set that has the hand and cuticle scrub comes with foot scrub, hand cream, foot lotion, and a pumice brick. It was only $20. The cuticle scrub is awesome, as is the foot scrub.

After the fake nails are off, I gently buff off some of the residual glue with the nail file, use pure acetone to remove more glue, and then wash with cuticle and hand exfoliating wash to get even more glue off.  Then after my nails are dry I polish them with nail hardener, and then cuticle oil. Before bed, I'll rub cuticle cream into my cuticles and put on the hand lotion.

They don't look too bad now. As you can see, my nails are really thin, almost transparent. But they are growing! Tomorrow, I'll apply another coat or 2 of the nail hardener, and then I'll polish them with color.