Irritated Cuticles after Manicure (Allergic Reaction?)

Have you ever tried to do something the faster and the cheaper way, and got terrible results? Bad choice consequences? These situations are often related to beauty treatments. If you have irritated cuticles, then it's usually because of a bad manicure or perhaps related to the products.

Let's imagine this situation! You want to get a nail manicure (gel manicure or acrylic nail extension) but you think you can save some money by doing this on your own, at home. You buy some products, watch some videos and tips online and get started. After you get this done you see that something is wrong. You see that your skin had some reaction to the product or your treatment had damaged the nail and the skin. You have irritated cuticles.

This may be because of fake products, or just low quality nail polishes. Familiarize yourself with the best gel nail polish brands that most nail salons use.​

If you are doing a manicure you need to take care of your cuticles too. Cuticles are usually dead skin. This happens when your nail grows faster than the skin around the nail. If they got irritated then you have a situation.

Irritated Cuticles Hands

What are symptoms of Irritated Cuticles?

If you notice swelling and itchy bumps around your cuticles you can be sure that something went wrong. Your nail beds can also get red and bleed. This can be very painful sometimes. Your body is reacting because a product has certain ingredients which your skin can't tolerate.

If this happened to you, what should you do?

You need to remove the nail extension if you have it and remove the nail polish carefully, trying not to damage your skin more during this process.

If this reaction becomes worse you have to go to the doctor, because allergic reactions can sometimes be really dangerous. I can only provide with general advice, I'm no doctor.

How should you treat your nails to help them heal?

There are a several options how to get better. You should do something to calm your skin and nails. You can soak them in warm salt water. There is also homemade cuticle soak you can do every day for 10 days. This will treat your irritated cuticles properly. This soak is made of;

  • Olive Oil
  • Half of a Lemon, Squeezed
  • Salt
  • Warm Water

​Soak your hands for 30 minutes, massaging your cuticles.

This will encourage new growth and make skin around your nails stronger. The most important thing is that you have to be persistent. You can't do something once and expect good results. You need to make some effort because it's not easy for your body to heal. This is something homemade, this is a great thing for you if you prefer natural help over medications.

Some medical products can be used to treat this problem.

You shouldn't use anything except hypoallergenic cream or ointment. You can use Benadryl. This is antipruritic medicament, used to reduce infection and irritation caused by allergic reaction to some product. There are also pills with this ingredient which can be used in combination with cream.

This can calm your skin, reduce the swelling and make your blisters smaller. This will help you with itching. You should discuss about side effects of these products with your pharmacist. These medicament don’t suit everyone.

Good thing about these products is that you don't need any prescription for them in many countries. After using cream and pills you should see some results. Your skin will be recovered and symptoms like itching and swelling should disappear. But what about the nail beds?

I use Keratin Nail Treatment occasionally, even without having irritated cuticles.

It will take months for your nails to recover. Every manicure treatment with or without allergic reaction will damage your nail beds. You nails will be soft and thin, so don't expect to grow a strong and long nails. That is impossible!

I recommend you not to use any product for nail strength before you get rid of cuticles problem caused by allergic reaction. After the skin around your nails recover than you can use a different products which can make your nails stronger. This won't happen overnight! You need take care of them more than ever if you won't to get them to natural condition.

If you are someone who is used to having a nail manicure all the time, I think that the hardest thing for you will be the fact that you can't get your nails done for a long time. You need to put your health over aesthetic. That's the most important thing! You can think about fashionable nails when they get better. It is also possible that you will get some white spots on your nails after this reaction. If you do, you should find some anti-fungi product for your nails.

This is like a circle. You treat you natural nails to make them look better. But this is something you can’t do for the rest of your life. When you stop doing this, then you have damaged nails and then you wait for them to get in the natural condition. Again and again.

Before making any decision you need to get informed and choose what is more important for you and meet the risks. But I am sure about one thing. No matter what you decide, I am sure you are not planning to have allergic reactions, so do everything it takes to avoid them. That's a bad thing, but every problem can be solved. Be careful and good luck!

2 Comments
  1. this is exactly my problem… my cuticles are red, itchy, and blistered

    my nails are fine…

    are there any nail products that do not contain methacrylate which I have read can cause this reaction ?

  2. Start out that it’s usually due to a bad manicure, when thousands of manicures are done without issues then you have that one and it’s usually due to an allergic chemical reaction.

    Bad manicurists don’t stay in business salons are in business for the love of the work and want to stay in business to just start out that it’s usually due to a bad manicure is irresponsible. It’s not the salons fault if you are allergic to a chemical however they should and 99 44/100th percent of the time do all they can to fix whatever caused the irritation and discover what the allergy is to prevent future incidents.

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