The beauty industry today is worth billions of dollars and a significant portion of that market belongs to nail care. Today we have skilled manicurists and a bevy of nail salons. Even home gel manicure set-ups and UV lights can be had at a relatively low cost. But, in the 1960s nail polish and long nails were just coming into their own. The polish, the techniques, and the tools were quite different back then, as these tips from experts of the era show.
According to nail artists in the 1960s boken nails can be mended by laying down a layer of nail polish, applying a layer of tissue over the top, letting that dry, and then dipping the nail in water to dissolve the unvarnished tissue. The whole thing is then covered in 5-6 coats of nail polish! Today this type of break might be mended with acrylic powder or even crazy glue.
Another tip was to dry recently painted nails quickly was to dip them in ice water. Today, many nail experts will tell you this trick is not recommended as it briefly hardens the nail polish, but does not correctly cure the polish as air drying would. This can lead to unwanted texture or dents in the manicure, not to mention cold hands.
And, to get rid of those pesky nicotine stains that can ruin a manicure, they advised to simply make it a habit to hold one’s cigarette upright so that the smoke does not travel over the manicure. Given this tip the way actresses hold their cigarettes in old movies makes a lot more sense now!
Have a look at all these tips and more from the 1960s in the video below. It’s so interesting to see how different the advice was back then!