At various salons and spas, paraffin wax has been frequently used in manicures and pedicures. There are various treatments related to hands, nails, and cuticles, which can be done using paraffin wax. Since our hands are the most dehydrated parts of the body, paraffin manicure commonly improve its moisture and thus, appearance. Most of us have been familiar to those routine you will have when having manicure at the salons, which include clipping or trimming the nails, buffing the nail and the nail plates to restore the shine, and dipping the hands into a paraffin bath to retain or restore its moisture. However, what if you are doing the treatment at home to care for your fingers and nails? Should you dip the hands before or after all these manicure routines?

Will paraffin wax remove nail polish?

When doing self-manicure, you might be concerned about the sequence of treatments you should perform. This will not be a problem if you are having a regular manicure, in where you clip the nails, care for the cuticles, buffing the nail plates, and apply nail polishes. However, some questions might rise related to self-paraffin manicure, and the most common one is whether or not paraffin wax causes damages to your polished nails.

If you have got your own paraffin bath at home and perform your self-paraffin manicure, it is recommended to dip your hands and fingers into the melted wax after you apply the nail polish and it has been fully dry.

What paraffin wax does to nail polish?

A big concern about the right sequence of paraffin manicure is whether paraffin wax will remove your beautifully-applied nail polish. In fact, paraffin wax is not going to remove any applied nail polish. Instead, it usually enhances your nail shines and thus, make the polish appear more vividly. There are some benefits to dip your hands and fingers into the paraffin bath after you have the nails clipped, buffed, and polished, such as:

• As a final manicure treatment, paraffin waxing will leave your manicured hands soft and well-hydrated. As it does not only soften the hands, but also the nails and cuticles, you will end up with less dry cuticles and softer nail edges.
• Paraffin waxing increases moisture to your nail plates as well, so that dipping the nails into the melted wax after they are polished will enhance your nail polish look, as it increases nutrition to the nails plates, making your nail polish appear more vividly.
• If you dip the nails into the paraffin bath after polished, the skin around your nails will not lose its moisture. This skin usually loses its moisture as you will likely to get rid of any smeared nail polish with acetone-based polish remover. This acetone remover commonly causes the skin to dry out, making it more prone to dryness and hang nails. If you dip the fingers after they are polished and cleaned with acetone, you will restore its moisture and thus, prevent the possibility of having dried out cuticles.

Things to concern about paraffin wax and nail polish

• If you prefer to, you can apply top coat to your polished nails. This will not only make your nail polish last longer, but also enhance nail shine after the paraffin wax treatment. If you prefer not to wear any top coat, it will not be a problem, since paraffin will not remove your nail polish and instead, make it look more beautiful.
• Before dipping your finger into the paraffin bath, make sure your nail polish have dried completely. Otherwise, it will be contaminated by the melted paraffin.
• After any paraffin waxing, avoid putting any used paraffin wax back into the warmer, especially if you are dipping the fingers after using acetone-based nail remover. You might be tempted, but remember that used paraffin wax will be contaminated by dead, shed skin and acetone, not to mention all dirt and debris attached to your hands. It is better to throw this away and use new paraffin block whenever you are doing manicure at home.
• When getting the hardened paraffin off the hands, you should be careful not to use any instruments to buff it, since this might cause damages to your previously-polished nails.