Hi guys, today I want to share with you what are the “stakes” to do a correct nail reconstruction. By illustrating these points, potential customers will also be able to distinguish a correct work from a poorly executed one.
Let’s begin!

Rule of proportionality

How many times we see such long nails that we think: “But how do they do everyday things?”
The first rule for a well done reconstruction is to create a nail that is proportional to the starting one.

Imagine you hypothetically divide the nail in 3 sections. Following the rule it would be correct to reconstruct up to 2 parts of it.

Obviously if the client insists on wanting them much longer, she must take responsibility for a possible break.

In fact, following the rule, the chances of the nail breaking are much inferior.

Look for example at this excessively long nail which, due to a hit , broke exactly in the stress point (point where the nail naturally undergoes flexion in case of strokes), which is on the nail bed.

This person certainly felt a lot of pain and bleeding.
Next time he’ll think twice about making it up like that!

Based on my nail, this is the correct length for a reconstruction ..

Not this one.

Apex rule

Apex, “bombatura”, give it the name you want, but I’m sure that for many of you it’s still a mystery.

Even for me it was before attending the course, and I thought it served only to make the nail chunky.
Instead it’s very important.

Before I mentioned what the stress point was and now I will explain it better.

The stress point corresponds to the point where the nail separates from the skin and is the point where it, composed of keratin, flexes (and then returns to its normal position) if it suffers a hit.

The reconstruction, whether in gel or acrylic, is much more robust than natural nails and in case of strokes, it risks to break easily.

The apex serves to strengthen and protect the stress point, so as to lower the likelihood of the nails breaking.

In the structure it must be positioned a little before the point of stress, because it must be considered that the nail grows within three weeks, therefore the product will never leave this point without protection.

Obviously all the nails of one hand are different so the apex is not said to be positioned at the same point for all ten fingers!

Many customers may ask not to have the apex done because they are traumatized by badly works.

The highest point of the nail must be a maximum of 1 millimeter, so neither too thick nor too thin.

Still on my hand, I created the apex at the point where the nail disincarnates from the skin.

Here I specifically wanted to place it in the wrong place.

Rule of parallelism

This rule includes a portion of nail often ignored: the Sidewalls.
As the word itself says, this portion is found on the sides of the nail, both natural and reconstructed, and it is very important to preserve them.

Especially in ballerina or almond nails, there is the tendence to file the sidewall because frontally you want to get a less wide and finer nail.

Obviously eliminating or in any case filing the sides too much, will lead to a weakening of the nail structure, which consequently will result more flat and without the c curve.
Although I created a ballerina, I paid attention to the sidewalls.

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The nail will not be as tight as we are used to seeing it, but at least it is correct.

Furthermore, constantly stressing the sides can cause permanent damage to the natural nail, which, perhaps after years of filing, will see them absent.

I did not know the importance of them, so for years I have filed them and as you can see from the photo, I miss the side of the nail.

C-curve rule

Seen from the front, most of the nails have a C-shaped curve.
Even in reconstructions it is important to recreate this curve, using the sidewalls pliers and not the office pliers that hold the sheets together, because they can damage the natural nails.

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This rule gives further strength to the reconstruction that will resist the most shocks.

The c-curve should not be present only at the tip, but on the whole portion of reconstructed nail.

See how my reconstructed nail has a C curve.

This one hasn’t, and therefore it will be more fragile.

In conclusion these are the main rules for making or recognizing a good reconstruction. They must coexist to make the nail as sturdy as possible and above all to lower the apex as much as possible.

If one or more rules were missing, we would run the risk of possible breaks and instability of the reconstructions.

Obviously these rules must be related to a good preparation of the nail and good materials.

Said that, I hope to have opened your eyes on how to recognize a good reconstruction and I hope that you will look at them closely.
See you soon and if you enjoyed this post, share it with whoever you want!

SOFIA