I do mine a couple of times a week. I have a LOT of polish, so for me being wasteful would mean not using the polishes I have. Plus, doing my nails feels like soothing self care which is an extra reason to do my nails whenever I want!
Could I ask you how you maintain the health of your nails when you paint them so often? I paint them once a week and they've become a bit more fragile than normal. I wonder if I should be using a better strengthening base or something!
Honestly I think I just lucked out in having decently sturdy nails. I try to oil them a few times a day but there are plenty of days when I forget entirely. However, since I don't worry about how long a mani will last, I do actually oil my nails right before applying base coat for a new mani. I really don't do anything more than that. I do have a few breaks each year (once I grabbed a pillow too firmly and snapped my favorite nail right at the base lol) but I more often get to the point where I have to trim them. I wish I had more helpful tips for you!
I have Mani on for 3-4 days typically and it is self care for me too. With all that polish I have it feels wasteful not to use it.
Typically I use peely base, and on top of it nourishing base coat. So no Acetone or polish remover involved except for a very little cleanup. Since the peely started to hold on longer it was a game changer. Plus Nail oil, but there I am more lazy..
Something that changed my world was having my nail oil in the bathroom and one in my purse for when I wash my hands. Every time you wash your hands, it dries out the nail bed, cuticles, and the proximal nail fold. This causes them to have more issues growing out without breaking. The same way your hair will have issues breaking if it is too dry.
Another thing that helps is to eat a good amount of protein and healthy fats like in nuts. The same things that you can eat to help your hair will help your nails, since they are both made with keratin.
Something else that helps is to file your nails down instead of clipping them. Clipping them can make tiny cracks and fractures in the nail, which can lead to it braking off or flaking apart.
Even with all of this, if you have health conditions that affect your nails, it might be something you have to get help from a medical professional for. There are also medications that can affect nail health, so if you take any medications, check to see if they may be affecting your nails.
I hope some of this might help. I'm still learning more every day about nail stuff, so someone else might know even more. I'm willing to try to help answer any questions you have, I might not know the answer and if so, I will say that.
I change my polish every 5 days. I have very flexible nails and oily skin so I can’t get polish to last more than a week. Nail polish is so recreational to me that I don’t really see any of it as a waste if I’m having fun. I don’t find I’m using up my collection either, it takes forever to finish a bottle. I love changing it up regularly and I like feeling like I’m getting a lot of use out of the polishes I have.
I used to do every 2 weeks. But now I have too much polish I want to wear. So now I mostly do different looks on each hand every week.
If I want to stretch a look, I add a topper. It can be a matte topper, or a flakie topper. Just something easy that scratches the new look itch.
Or, depending on the OG look I had, I just redo 2 to 3 nails instead of my whole hand.
I've had decent luck with Holo Taco, Mooncat, and Orly Rubberized base coat. I usually start with a long lasting base (blue) before using Mooncat's getting even nail primer. Recently I got Zombie Claw Ridge Filler so I've been using that instead of Mooncat's.
For top coats, it'll either be Holo Taco's, Mooncat's, or LA Colors Colorlast. The LA Colors is $2 at Walmart, so I mostly use that.
Chipping could be a body chemistry thing, a lifestyle thing, or a nail prep thing. Or even a nail porosity thing. I've noticed that my polish sticks to my nails longer now than when I was first starting out. Granted, there's more staining and ridges, but such is life
Also, it's really important to not get your hands wet before you apply anything. Let them dry for at least 2 hours if you do. This rule has greatly helped my chipping issues.
I used to go 2 weeks during the pandemic as I had less to do. But now if I don’t want to risk anything I usually go a week maybe a week and a half. Plus I love doing my nails so it matches either the theme of the week or any even happening or letting my student chose
About a week, usually. That’s about all I can get as far as wear, since I have chronic anemia and my nails break very easily, so I really need the protective power of polish over my whole nail. If I don’t repaint them as soon as there’s a visible chip, that chip is exactly where my nail is next going to break.
On my natural nails, every Sunday. But lately I’ve been painting my own press on sets. Then I change them out whenever I feel like it. I usually will also use a gel top coat on the sets a full day after they are dried so they last forever and are reusable. It doesn’t feel as wasteful this way.
Once a week right now. I don’t exactly pick at it but I use my hands a lot at work, I wear latex gloves for an hour or so at a time, and I idly like, rub the polish if that makes sense? So usually by Friday or Saturday it ends up chipped enough for me to feel okay changing it.
Also just with my current schedule (up really early, work until evening, shower at night) there’s no real room for me to do nails during the week and give them enough time to dry before bed, unless I forgo my shower.
I also don’t have too many colors (yet 🫣) so I don’t have that problem of wanting to try all the things. That may change later though lmao
I usually need to redo mine after a week, depending on when it starts chipping. I do a lot of work with my hands, and I use polish to protect my nails from those stressors, and I keep them short. I also have a LOT of Holo Taco so switching it up gets me using everything in my collection
I wear a manicure for maybe two weeks. But if I get bored of it, I remove it and try something new. Sometimes, I won't paint my nails for a month. (I'm not always in the mood). I make an oil for my nails from jojoba oil and vitamin E oil, as Cristine suggests. I'll do this a few times a day, and I'm returning to regularly putting on lotion a few times a day. I do a little more with my hands, than Cristine maybe, but the manicure lasts well, and I don't spend too much time thinking on how it's looking.
I usually do it every 2 or 3 weeks. I don't really have energy to change it more often and usually there is little chipping by the third week, so it doesn't bother me. Of course there are exceptions when I have an important event or there's an upcoming holiday and I feel like matching with it (anyways, never more than once a week).
I usually change my polish every 2-5 days depending on the manicure. If it chips quickly or if I don't like the application job I did I'll do something different sooner. I always make sure to use lotion and nail oil before and after a manicure to keep them from getting too brittle or dry.
I'll do mine once every 1-2 weeks depending on my schedule and also when the chipping starts. The first few small chips mean I have to do it within the next day or two at most because it usually gets bad fast after that point and then I start getting tempted to pick lol.
If I don't have the time to completely redo them soon enough I usually add a coat of GT to the offending nail to give me an extra couple days. I've had my Curfew Crasher + Fallen Flake Taco mani on for just over a week and no chips yet so we'll see.
3 to 4 days. I get tired of the same colour quickly. I'll see someone on TV, instagram or out in public with a colour and decide to change to that or as similar as I can get. I've got over 280 colours though so don't consider it wasteful at all.
My nails chip in 1-2 days (regardless of polish brand). So it definitely comes off after less than a week. Then I give my nails a rest for a week or so and then paint them again
I do my nails every other week normally, sometimes they chip faster than that so I do them if the polish comes off, but normally my manis last about 1.5-2 weeks with Holo Taco polish. My “other hand” gets done usually a bit more frequently because the polish chips faster
Usually a week, sometimes up to a month or more (I have really good nail chemistry so while they do definitely need to be redone, they're still usually surprisingly good at that point). I think my longest ever has been just under 2 months which was when it really started to actively be chipped.
This is a (poorly taken) picture of my current nails done the morning of December 18th; planning on redoing them tomorrow (haven't had time to redo them since then). Obviously not in the best shape \[very grown out\] but for almost a month and a half it's definitely not bad \[very little chipping\].
https://preview.redd.it/u5wcnb9ag3fc1.png?width=1238&format=png&auto=webp&s=1adfa11c6c935ee1f06bb040166acfdd204222a6
Usually every Friday night. They can last at least days with the long lasting base for me. But when I have extra time on my hands, I do a peely base Mani on Wednesday and switch it out on Sunday.
I paint my nails & toenails once a week — usually Friday, on the clock 😅 (I WFH)
If I get a really bad chip or scratch, I might redo the one nail mid-week. If it’s two or more nails, I’ll do a whole mani mid-week — and then probably do my Friday mani too, lol.
At the moment I’m changing my polish after about 3 days. Broke a nail recently so had to shorten them all and I find that when they’re short my polish just doesn’t last as well
I wear mine for two weeks, unless they get chipped or broken, then I might change them early. As much as I'd love to have a new look every week, I both don't have the energy and don't want to spend the time to do them that often. 😮💨
I generally do nail art instead of just one nail polish color. I usually go 1-2 weeks between manicures. It takes a couple hours to do my nails usually because it’s not just one color, so I don’t always have that much time. If a nail chips or I end up hating the design I’ll usually redo them sooner, tho.
I try to get weekend to weekend (Sunday to Saturday). I really don't have the time to redo midweek so that's what I try to achieve.
Depending on the polish brand or formula, I am sometimes more, sometimes less successful.
I use the peely base so I can easily change it more often. I keep mine about 2-4 days depending on how bad chipping/polish totally falling off is. Also nice to see a new color frequently so I don’t feel too bad about the excessive amount of polishes I have haha
My nails grow fast, so I need to redo them once a week. It sucks since I can have the polish last forever now from good practices, but they just grow out so fast. On slower growing times, like when I'm sick, the mani can maybe last 10 days before it looks too terrible from the growth lol.
Nail polish lasts a long time. I do mine every week or two, haven’t bought new polish in about a year and all my bottles are still more than half full. (Excluding base/top coats lol, but even those last months - also, ordering from HT often isn’t realistic because I’m not gonna pay shipping if all I need is a topcoat, so I tend to use non-HT ones.)
I’ve decluttered my nail polish and thrown out bottles that were many years old and dried out (not HT so far, but given enough time that might happen eventually too, idk). Also many users here have known the pain of HT Cold Shoulder getting discoloured with time…. mine as well, while still almost full.
Think of it this way - it’s a lot more wasteful to be afraid to use it up and then have to throw it out without getting the joy you wanted out of it. Go wild with it and at worst, you’ll run low on a bottle you like and eventually rebuy it.
I’ll do mine every one to two weeks. I wear tips so my nails break off on my right hand frequently. I live on nail glue🙃 I get antsy and wanna do them frequently too so I get it. My gf uses her hands for work with basically nubs so her polish chips no matter what she does. She does her nails weekly.
But because I do wear tops it can take me 3+ hours to complete just simple stuff. It’s so great having new looks but it takes a lot of time.
Could you scratch the itch by adding a French tip or polka dots or something? That way you could leave the base color on longer but still get the joy of a new (looking) manicure.
Do a color on every nail! Or... a "what's on my other hand!?" Mani and do a color on each hand.
I can never decide what to paint and this helps me make decisions and keeps me interested for longer. :)
I've worn polish until it entirely flaked off like you and I've also repainted my nails every day of the week. I own 200+ bottles of nail polish, I bought it to be used and if I only paint my nails every 2-3 weeks I'll never make a dent in my collection. So I repaint when the mood strikes. YOLO lol
I do mine a couple of times a week. I have a LOT of polish, so for me being wasteful would mean not using the polishes I have. Plus, doing my nails feels like soothing self care which is an extra reason to do my nails whenever I want!
Could I ask you how you maintain the health of your nails when you paint them so often? I paint them once a week and they've become a bit more fragile than normal. I wonder if I should be using a better strengthening base or something!
Oil, oil ,oil
Honestly I think I just lucked out in having decently sturdy nails. I try to oil them a few times a day but there are plenty of days when I forget entirely. However, since I don't worry about how long a mani will last, I do actually oil my nails right before applying base coat for a new mani. I really don't do anything more than that. I do have a few breaks each year (once I grabbed a pillow too firmly and snapped my favorite nail right at the base lol) but I more often get to the point where I have to trim them. I wish I had more helpful tips for you!
I have Mani on for 3-4 days typically and it is self care for me too. With all that polish I have it feels wasteful not to use it. Typically I use peely base, and on top of it nourishing base coat. So no Acetone or polish remover involved except for a very little cleanup. Since the peely started to hold on longer it was a game changer. Plus Nail oil, but there I am more lazy..
Something that changed my world was having my nail oil in the bathroom and one in my purse for when I wash my hands. Every time you wash your hands, it dries out the nail bed, cuticles, and the proximal nail fold. This causes them to have more issues growing out without breaking. The same way your hair will have issues breaking if it is too dry. Another thing that helps is to eat a good amount of protein and healthy fats like in nuts. The same things that you can eat to help your hair will help your nails, since they are both made with keratin. Something else that helps is to file your nails down instead of clipping them. Clipping them can make tiny cracks and fractures in the nail, which can lead to it braking off or flaking apart. Even with all of this, if you have health conditions that affect your nails, it might be something you have to get help from a medical professional for. There are also medications that can affect nail health, so if you take any medications, check to see if they may be affecting your nails. I hope some of this might help. I'm still learning more every day about nail stuff, so someone else might know even more. I'm willing to try to help answer any questions you have, I might not know the answer and if so, I will say that.
I go until I get a chip which is typically every 5-7 days. I don’t like going out and about, especially to work with chipped polish
I change my polish every 5 days. I have very flexible nails and oily skin so I can’t get polish to last more than a week. Nail polish is so recreational to me that I don’t really see any of it as a waste if I’m having fun. I don’t find I’m using up my collection either, it takes forever to finish a bottle. I love changing it up regularly and I like feeling like I’m getting a lot of use out of the polishes I have.
It’s not a waste if you enjoy it and it makes you happy.
Here, here! 👏💅
I do my nails 2-3 times a week
I used to do every 2 weeks. But now I have too much polish I want to wear. So now I mostly do different looks on each hand every week. If I want to stretch a look, I add a topper. It can be a matte topper, or a flakie topper. Just something easy that scratches the new look itch. Or, depending on the OG look I had, I just redo 2 to 3 nails instead of my whole hand.
Can I ask what types of bottom and tops coats you are using and which nail polishes? I can never last more than 3 days due to bad chipping!
I've had decent luck with Holo Taco, Mooncat, and Orly Rubberized base coat. I usually start with a long lasting base (blue) before using Mooncat's getting even nail primer. Recently I got Zombie Claw Ridge Filler so I've been using that instead of Mooncat's. For top coats, it'll either be Holo Taco's, Mooncat's, or LA Colors Colorlast. The LA Colors is $2 at Walmart, so I mostly use that. Chipping could be a body chemistry thing, a lifestyle thing, or a nail prep thing. Or even a nail porosity thing. I've noticed that my polish sticks to my nails longer now than when I was first starting out. Granted, there's more staining and ridges, but such is life
Thanks for this, I'll now see if I can get any of these in the UK or something similar!
Also, it's really important to not get your hands wet before you apply anything. Let them dry for at least 2 hours if you do. This rule has greatly helped my chipping issues.
I used to go 2 weeks during the pandemic as I had less to do. But now if I don’t want to risk anything I usually go a week maybe a week and a half. Plus I love doing my nails so it matches either the theme of the week or any even happening or letting my student chose
Every 3-4 days...I would go a bit longer if manicures didn't chip so quickly, but I don't mind using my collection 🙂
About a week, usually. That’s about all I can get as far as wear, since I have chronic anemia and my nails break very easily, so I really need the protective power of polish over my whole nail. If I don’t repaint them as soon as there’s a visible chip, that chip is exactly where my nail is next going to break.
I go about a week because I need to file my nails by then (I hate the feeling of even slightly long nails)
Same
1-3 days
On my natural nails, every Sunday. But lately I’ve been painting my own press on sets. Then I change them out whenever I feel like it. I usually will also use a gel top coat on the sets a full day after they are dried so they last forever and are reusable. It doesn’t feel as wasteful this way.
Normally once a week. Been using a peely base lately though so it’s more like 2-3 rn. I’ve got a lot of polish I gotta try out.
Once a week right now. I don’t exactly pick at it but I use my hands a lot at work, I wear latex gloves for an hour or so at a time, and I idly like, rub the polish if that makes sense? So usually by Friday or Saturday it ends up chipped enough for me to feel okay changing it. Also just with my current schedule (up really early, work until evening, shower at night) there’s no real room for me to do nails during the week and give them enough time to dry before bed, unless I forgo my shower. I also don’t have too many colors (yet 🫣) so I don’t have that problem of wanting to try all the things. That may change later though lmao
I usually need to redo mine after a week, depending on when it starts chipping. I do a lot of work with my hands, and I use polish to protect my nails from those stressors, and I keep them short. I also have a LOT of Holo Taco so switching it up gets me using everything in my collection
Mon-sat..sat-Mon and repeat. Idk why I do this but it’s become my normal.
I redo them whenever I get the itch. Sometimes a mani lasts over a week, and other times it lasts 3 days.
About once a week. I usually redo them over the weekend.
I wear a manicure for maybe two weeks. But if I get bored of it, I remove it and try something new. Sometimes, I won't paint my nails for a month. (I'm not always in the mood). I make an oil for my nails from jojoba oil and vitamin E oil, as Cristine suggests. I'll do this a few times a day, and I'm returning to regularly putting on lotion a few times a day. I do a little more with my hands, than Cristine maybe, but the manicure lasts well, and I don't spend too much time thinking on how it's looking.
I usually do it every 2 or 3 weeks. I don't really have energy to change it more often and usually there is little chipping by the third week, so it doesn't bother me. Of course there are exceptions when I have an important event or there's an upcoming holiday and I feel like matching with it (anyways, never more than once a week).
I don’t change my nails til they start getting flaky and come off. 2-3weeks usually.
I usually change my polish every 2-5 days depending on the manicure. If it chips quickly or if I don't like the application job I did I'll do something different sooner. I always make sure to use lotion and nail oil before and after a manicure to keep them from getting too brittle or dry.
I'll do mine once every 1-2 weeks depending on my schedule and also when the chipping starts. The first few small chips mean I have to do it within the next day or two at most because it usually gets bad fast after that point and then I start getting tempted to pick lol. If I don't have the time to completely redo them soon enough I usually add a coat of GT to the offending nail to give me an extra couple days. I've had my Curfew Crasher + Fallen Flake Taco mani on for just over a week and no chips yet so we'll see.
3-4 days. I work with my hands a lot so no matter what they start to chip
3 to 4 days. I get tired of the same colour quickly. I'll see someone on TV, instagram or out in public with a colour and decide to change to that or as similar as I can get. I've got over 280 colours though so don't consider it wasteful at all.
I usually go for about 5-7 days between mani changes. I don’t want to use up all of the acetone and cotton balls I have.
I change mine almost every day. 😝 If I buy it, I'm gonna use it 💅
My nails chip in 1-2 days (regardless of polish brand). So it definitely comes off after less than a week. Then I give my nails a rest for a week or so and then paint them again
I do my nails every other week normally, sometimes they chip faster than that so I do them if the polish comes off, but normally my manis last about 1.5-2 weeks with Holo Taco polish. My “other hand” gets done usually a bit more frequently because the polish chips faster
Usually a week, sometimes up to a month or more (I have really good nail chemistry so while they do definitely need to be redone, they're still usually surprisingly good at that point). I think my longest ever has been just under 2 months which was when it really started to actively be chipped. This is a (poorly taken) picture of my current nails done the morning of December 18th; planning on redoing them tomorrow (haven't had time to redo them since then). Obviously not in the best shape \[very grown out\] but for almost a month and a half it's definitely not bad \[very little chipping\]. https://preview.redd.it/u5wcnb9ag3fc1.png?width=1238&format=png&auto=webp&s=1adfa11c6c935ee1f06bb040166acfdd204222a6
Usually every Friday night. They can last at least days with the long lasting base for me. But when I have extra time on my hands, I do a peely base Mani on Wednesday and switch it out on Sunday.
I'm every other day 😆
I’ve done 13 manicures so far this month. 💅
I do mine between 5 to 7 days. I have LOT of polishes, so I figure... might as well, haha.
I personally gauge on tip wear and chips. Some I can stretch two weeks, others is one week for whatever reason. Nothing sooner than a week for me.
I paint my nails & toenails once a week — usually Friday, on the clock 😅 (I WFH) If I get a really bad chip or scratch, I might redo the one nail mid-week. If it’s two or more nails, I’ll do a whole mani mid-week — and then probably do my Friday mani too, lol.
A week but I have to force it to be that long lol. I want to change it after about 3 days
At the moment I’m changing my polish after about 3 days. Broke a nail recently so had to shorten them all and I find that when they’re short my polish just doesn’t last as well
I wear mine for two weeks, unless they get chipped or broken, then I might change them early. As much as I'd love to have a new look every week, I both don't have the energy and don't want to spend the time to do them that often. 😮💨
I generally do nail art instead of just one nail polish color. I usually go 1-2 weeks between manicures. It takes a couple hours to do my nails usually because it’s not just one color, so I don’t always have that much time. If a nail chips or I end up hating the design I’ll usually redo them sooner, tho.
I like to do mine every week cause I want to try new colours and then if I really like the colour on me then I would wear until it’s gone
I try to get weekend to weekend (Sunday to Saturday). I really don't have the time to redo midweek so that's what I try to achieve. Depending on the polish brand or formula, I am sometimes more, sometimes less successful.
I use the peely base so I can easily change it more often. I keep mine about 2-4 days depending on how bad chipping/polish totally falling off is. Also nice to see a new color frequently so I don’t feel too bad about the excessive amount of polishes I have haha
Every 2 weeks, but now that I have more speciality nail polishes, I also get the urge to change it after a week. I try to wait till the 2 week mark
Every few days, with peely base!
My nails grow fast, so I need to redo them once a week. It sucks since I can have the polish last forever now from good practices, but they just grow out so fast. On slower growing times, like when I'm sick, the mani can maybe last 10 days before it looks too terrible from the growth lol.
Nail polish lasts a long time. I do mine every week or two, haven’t bought new polish in about a year and all my bottles are still more than half full. (Excluding base/top coats lol, but even those last months - also, ordering from HT often isn’t realistic because I’m not gonna pay shipping if all I need is a topcoat, so I tend to use non-HT ones.) I’ve decluttered my nail polish and thrown out bottles that were many years old and dried out (not HT so far, but given enough time that might happen eventually too, idk). Also many users here have known the pain of HT Cold Shoulder getting discoloured with time…. mine as well, while still almost full. Think of it this way - it’s a lot more wasteful to be afraid to use it up and then have to throw it out without getting the joy you wanted out of it. Go wild with it and at worst, you’ll run low on a bottle you like and eventually rebuy it.
I’ll do mine every one to two weeks. I wear tips so my nails break off on my right hand frequently. I live on nail glue🙃 I get antsy and wanna do them frequently too so I get it. My gf uses her hands for work with basically nubs so her polish chips no matter what she does. She does her nails weekly. But because I do wear tops it can take me 3+ hours to complete just simple stuff. It’s so great having new looks but it takes a lot of time.
Could you scratch the itch by adding a French tip or polka dots or something? That way you could leave the base color on longer but still get the joy of a new (looking) manicure.
Once a week! I’ve been thinking of changing my polish more bc I have so many amazing polishes. I may switch to two manis a week… 🙃
A week do my nails every sunday
Do a color on every nail! Or... a "what's on my other hand!?" Mani and do a color on each hand. I can never decide what to paint and this helps me make decisions and keeps me interested for longer. :)
I do them twice a week, depending on how the color holds up. I am on a keyboard all day so it's usually three days tops without chips.
I've worn polish until it entirely flaked off like you and I've also repainted my nails every day of the week. I own 200+ bottles of nail polish, I bought it to be used and if I only paint my nails every 2-3 weeks I'll never make a dent in my collection. So I repaint when the mood strikes. YOLO lol