This Toenail Polish Remover Hack Uses The Most Surprising Tool

The sun is out and with it comes flip-flops and sandals, and, by extension, toes — specifically polished ones. While many of us have used the time indoors as an excuse to eliminate the step of painting our toenails, that hiatus is over. With so many new colors and styles to try the desire to change colors brings with it the challenge of removing said polish. This step is important because, as podiatrist Joy Rowland reminded Health Essentials, that our nails need a break between polishes. According to Dr. Rowland, the pigment can actually permeate the top few layers of the nail and even leave them stained.

Reaching the toes is its own challenge. Many people are able to twist themselves into pretzel-like positions to reach their toenails, but Footgood points out that others face additional struggles, like being injured, pregnant, or even having gained just a few extra pounds around the middle leftover from winter.

In addition to contorting yourself into unnatural poses, this is what makes taking off toenail polish so difficult — and here's the perfect hack to make it easy.

Add to the locational difficulties the fact that summer favorites like glitter-based polishes can be extra tough to remove. Manicurist Jessica Washick, who spoke with Harper's Bazaar, says, "Glitter polishes are made with a glue-like formula that seals the glitter into the polish so it doesn't just flake away while you're wearing it — that's why it's so difficult to remove." So what can we do to make the process of removing our trendy polishes from the hard-to-reach appendage?

They say necessity is the mother of invention — and "they" aren't wrong. Social media is buzzing with a beauty hack posted by a TikTok user that suggests using something most women have readily available to help with this task: a tampon. Yes, at first that sounds totally crazy — but it's actually a brilliant hack. 

Using regular cotton balls, as Bustle points out, involves tipping the bottle over repeatedly trying to get the right amount. Unfortunately, this takes two hands, which involves moving from the perfect position you've found. So, how do tampons help?

Imagine if there was a ball of cotton shaped to fit down inside the bottle where it could so be done with one hand? Wait a minute, there is! CNN reports that tampons are made of an absorbent blend of cotton and rayon. While all tampons have the absorbency we need in this case, not all tampons are good for this unusual cosmetic use. 

The trick is to use a tampon with an applicator that not only fits easily into the container, but it gives us that one thing we desperately need: a few more inches of arm reach. The applicator holds the tampon in shape as it soaks up the remover and gives you something to comfortably hold on to while placing it on the polish (using it like a cylindrical eraser). But what if your bottle of remover isn't full enough to dip or you're afraid to spill it? The viral TikTok video, which has been viewed millions of times, suggests pouring some in the cap and dipping it there. This simple but useful beauty hack is definitely one to try — and it gives a solid excuse for the hours this summer spent lounging and surfing TikTok.