What Should You Do If You Wind Up With Nail Glue On Your Skin?

While every glue's primary job is to keep things stuck together, they each serve a slightly different purpose. For nail glue, the main goal is to keep acrylic nails attached to your nail bed. What makes nail glue such a great option for manicures is the special formula made specifically to keep tips in place without damaging the natural nail. Most adhesives for the hands are made using alcohol, low concentrations of cyanoacrylate, and in some cases, photo-bonded methacrylate and citric acid, all of which are safe for fingers. However, that doesn't mean nail glue dripping onto the skin during nail application is totally harmless.

In most cases, nail glue touching your skin is not a serious health crisis. In rare instances, chemical burns can result from nail glue being on the skin for too long. Even in some minor cases, the quick-drying adhesive can lead to irritation and redness. If fingers happen to get glued together, pulling them apart can rip the skin. 

Having your nails professionally applied may not pose as much of a threat. Unfortunately, things tend to get stickier when doing your nails at home, which is why it's important to know which steps to take if you accidentally drizzle a bit of glue onto your skin.

Petroleum jelly is a life saver among moisturizers. Its healing properties serve a wide range of benefits, including treating diaper rash, hydrating chapped lips, and mending cuts. For nail glue sticking to the skin, this remedy will easily and safely remove it. Saturate a glue-less finger in the jelly and proceed to gently massage it into the area where the nail glue has dried. Rub the nourisher in a circular motion for several minutes. This should break the glue apart without harming the skin.

After successfully separating the nail glue from the skin, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. If you don't have any petroleum jelly handy, a regular hand lotion or moisturizer can also break down the glue in some instances. You'd use them the same way, applying a generous amount of product directly onto the hardened glue and rubbing the area until the adhesive loosens completely.

After applying a set of press-on nails, you may find that you've gotten nail glue on various areas on your hands. Things may get even trickier if you realize you do not have petroleum jelly or lotion readily available. That is where soap and water can come in, though this process may take a bit longer. Start by filling up a bowl with warm water and hand soap. Place your entire hand inside and allow it to soak for roughly 15 minutes, though more time may be required depending on how much glue is stuck to the skin. This method will soften the glue, allowing it to peel off a little more easily. After doing so, it's always a good idea to moisturize your hands to prevent dryness from the glue and subsequent stripping of it.

Having glue touch your skin is luckily not the end of the world in most cases, though it can be an annoying aspect of the nail application process. You'll want to act as quickly as possible to remove it, as the longer it sits, the harder it becomes, making removal even tougher. This can prove exceptionally true for extra strength glues such as NYK1 Nail Bond, which touts itself as being a "super strong" bonding option that'll prevent the lifting and breaking of false nails, but will also make any mess cleanup that much more difficult.

Rock those DIY claws for an easy manicure this summer, just ensure you're careful with the glue.