How to dry gel polish and how long does it take?

The times when only women with a good income could afford a lasting, long-lasting coating on the nails were long over. Now you can create a gel coating of excellent quality with your own hands without leaving your home. Manicure performed on your own will save money and time.

A drying lamp is a central tool in creating a manicure, requiring close attention when choosing and proper use. In manicure, mainly three types of these devices are used.

1. Ultraviolet (UV lamp) - the most common option. Universal, with their help you can dry gel polish and other coatings for nails. The disadvantage is the relatively short service life of fluorescent lamps.
2. LED (LED lamps) - just starting to gain popularity in manicure. They have a long service life. LEDs are built into the surface of the device. However, only certain gel polishes are dried.
3. Hybrid. Combine the properties of ultraviolet and LED lamps. Surpass other devices in service life. Accelerate the drying process several times. Absolutely safe for the skin and nail plate. But such devices have a very high cost.

CCFL fluorescent lamp is very rare. It has a cold cathode, which does not allow the device to heat up, which undoubtedly increases the life of the device. It has a maximum power of 1.5 times more than other lamps. Despite this, the nails are dried in it the same time as in other devices for drying.

Manufacturers of gel polishes always mark on the label in which lamp the coating should be dried.The UV or LED icons must be drawn.

Deciding on the type of lamp is not enough. Each type of lamp has its own characteristics, which require study before acquiring technology. When buying, you need to pay attention to these technical specifications.

• Drying speed. This criterion is completely dependent on the type of lamp. UV lamps are practical and versatile, but require a lot of time to dry each coating layer. Drying in the LED unit and hybrid versions is much faster. The main difference is in the types of coating that you can work with when using them.
• Power - the next factor affecting the drying time and coating quality. The more powerful the manicure technique, the faster the drying process. The cost of the device is directly proportional to its power. With increasing power, so does the price. The minimum recommended power for UV lamps is 24 watts, for LEDs - 12 watts.
• Cost - a characteristic dependent on all technical properties. LED lamps are a bit more expensive than UV. Hybrid options are the most expensive. You should know that a high price is not always a guarantee of excellent quality. Many budget options are in no way inferior to expensive models. The main thing is to take into account the required power. A miniature version of the LED lamp is ideal for home manicure.

• The size Manicure technology also affects the convenience and drying time. In today's market you can find appliances that allow you to dry your entire hand at once. But even miniature analogues do an excellent job of this, albeit for a longer time. The thing is the number of lamps or LEDs that are placed in the device. The larger the device, the greater the number of light elements. Usually UV lamps have standard sizes, only the number of lamps changes. There are super-small options designed to dry just one finger. They are best used for precision repairs, and not for manicure all fingers. Otherwise, the procedure time will increase tens of times.
• Life time. LED lamps will last at least two years, but UV devices are more resistant to use. Manufacturers guarantee 100,000 hours of use. However, lamps must be replaced every six months, regardless of frequency of use.
• Design - a characteristic that does not affect the quality characteristics of devices.

Any nuance mentioned above affects the drying time of the gel coating. But it is worth remembering that each layer has individual requirements for the polymerization time.

The biggest power of the UV lamp is 48 watts. The optimal and universal option is 36 watts. Such a lamp is suitable for both home and salon manicure. It will dry the base coat in one minute. Color and finish - for two.

A 24 watt lamp will increase the cure time by one minute. A 9-watt will take up to five minutes per color layer.

A 35-watt LED lamp dries the first layer in ten seconds, and the remaining coatings in twenty. A model with less power (from 18 to 24 watts) will cope in thirty seconds. This option for all its characteristics is ideal for home manicure. Models with a power of 9 watts or less will require up to one minute for color and topcoat.

Biogel is dried in a UV lamp for three minutes, in LED, this tool takes no more than a minute with maximum power.

The polymerization time in the hybrid apparatus depends on the characteristics of the coating. Such lamps are equipped with both second and minute timers. 36 Watt lamps are best suited for home manicure.

For unforeseen cases, when an urgent need to fix a damaged coating, and the lamp is not at hand, there are alternative ways of drying gel varnishes.Such experiments can be tried out of interest. But you need to immediately tune in to the low quality of manicure.

For drying gel products without a lamp, you can say, improvised tools.

• Ice baths. The gel coating is frozen and dried. This option is considered the most suitable, as it is safe and allows you to get a good result. However, not everyone is comfortable holding their hands in ice water for about ten minutes.
• Cold remedy. A variation of the previous version. Before application, the coated bottle is placed in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Applying cold gel polish increases the drying time several times.
• Ordinary hair dryer. They need to dry the coating for thirty minutes. The air flow deforms the gel polish, it can be displaced and collected by the waves, so it is unlikely to be obtained with this method of perfectly even coverage.

• Solar UV rays. The result will keep you waiting for more than an hour.

• Gel Coatings Catalysts - innovation in the nail industry. The tool quickly dries all gel products for manicure. There are three varieties that come in the form of an ointment, spray or gel. When using this new product, it is important to apply the product evenly. Otherwise, the coating will dry unevenly.
• Blue spectrum lamp medical use is an exceptional option. The polymerization rate depends on the power of the device. It does not guarantee good quality.

None of these methods guarantee the quality of manicure that is obtained with a lamp.

The problem when the gel coating curls up or shrinks is often encountered by both professional masters and amateurs. The causes of these troubles can be very diverse.

Most often, insufficient power or the wrong type of lamp is to blame. If you buy another one, there may be a problem that the varnish for which it is intended is removed from sale. Before buying a new device, study the gel coat label to know exactly what kind of lamp is needed.

Another common reason is obsolete light bulbs. Here the only way out is to replace them.

UV lamps are not able to dry a thick coating. The opposite reason is a very thin layer, which is very easy to dry. Both the first and second options spoil the quality of manicure.

If the above options can be excluded, the matter is in the quality of the products used. It may have expired or is not original. Such funds are best discarded. They can be hazardous to health.

The drying process of gel polish is simple and fast. Performing everything correctly, you can get the perfect manicure. Therefore, be sure to read the instructions that came with gel products and drying equipment.

In the next video, see the overview of lamps for gel polish.