6 Ways to Protect Hands from UV Lamps- Safer Gel Manicures

5 Ways to Protect Hands from UV Lamps During Gel Manicures
5 Ways to Protect Hands from UV Lamps During Gel Manicures

UV light has long been known to have serious negative effects on our skin. This is why for years now we have lathered up with sunscreen when going out in the sun.

Now several studies have shown that the UV light from nail lamps can potentially damage our skin and even lead to health concerns.

Fear not you can reduce some of the risks of a gel manicure with some simple tips.

But if you are extra worried about the effects of a UV lamp, I recommend avoiding them altogether. Thankfully you have other options, you can click here to read my top alternatives to gel nails

1- Wear UV Manicure Gloves

The best way to reduce the amount of UV light reaching our skin is to wear manicure gloves.

UV Manicure gloves are designed to protect our hands and our fingers from UV light. They are fingerless gloves so they only leave enough space for our nails to be opened for the manicure application.

These gloves are made of materials with strong UV protective properties. Citation.

Now the main drawback with manicure gloves is that they still leave a little bit of skin exposed to facilitate the manicure. If you still want more protection you can apply some sunscreen on any exposed area.

The manicure glove that I wear is by Maniglovz. They are very effective and brilliantly designed. Click here to see the price for a pair on Amazon.

Now if you want to learn more about manicure gloves you can click here.

2- Apply Sunscreen on Hands & Fingers

Sunscreen is usually used to protect your skin from sunlight. But did you know that sunscreen can be used to protect the skin on your hands and fingers from the UV radiation from nail lamps?

This is because the UV radiation from nail lamps are similar to those from sunlight meaning that sunscreen will help to protect your skin.

Now sunscreen won’t be as effective as a manicure glove since they weren’t designed for this purpose but they will be better than going without any protection.

Just ensure that you:

  1. Apply a thick layer of sunscreen before the manicure and ensure you cover most of your hands and fingers – you don’t need to apply sunscreen on your nails – nails are not made of living tissue so it doesn’t need protection.
  2. Use a sunscreen with a very high SPF – For shielding your skin from nail lamps I recommend using a Sunscreen with a very high SPF.

The higher the SPF the better. The Coppertone Sunscreen has one of the highest SPF, click here to see it on Amazon.

Related Article: How Long Do You Really Need to Cure Gel Polish – Easy Guide

3- Limit How Often You Get a Gel Manicure

If you have UV sensitive skin meaning you are prone to sun burns or you have either a history or family history of skin cancer then you should probably reduce how often you get a gel manicure.

You should talk with your doctor if you think you are at a high risk and maybe even avoid gel manicures altogether.

Related Article – 6 Reasons Why Your Gel Polish is not Curing & How to Fix

4- Use a smaller UV Lamp that only target the Nails

Small portable UV nail lamps allow you to just mostly target the nails which keeps your hands and most of the fingers from getting exposed to the UV light.

Now the drawback with smaller UV nail lamps is that they tend to be weaker and take longer to cure.

For a nice smaller nail lamps, click here to see the price for one on Amazon.

5- Apply Vitamin E Oil to Hands & Fingers

Vitamin E oil has been shown to protect the skin from being damaged by UV light.

This means that it can potentially be used to protect the skin on our hands and fingers from the UV light from nail lamps.

How effective Vitamin E oil will be for this purpose is unknown, since no studies have been carried out. But generally vitamin E oil has some amazing benefits to the skin and has been shown to even help heal sun damaged skin. Citation.

Related Articles – How to tell if Gel Polish is Cured & 5 Tips to Dry it Fast

6- Use Other Manicure Alternatives

Now thankfully gel manicures are not the only way to get amazing nails they are alternatives that don’t use UV nail lamps.

These are some great manicures that don’t use UV nail lamps during application.

  1. Acrylic Nails – a durable way to get nail extensions.
  2. Dip Powder – Perfect replacement for gel polish
  3. Press on Nails – Gives you amazing nail designs on a budget.

I cover these manicures and more in my article on the 5 Best Alternatives to Gel Nails.