Hi, Doreen: this post will be a little long, but hopefully you’ll find something useful in here. 😀
I have never made a polish remover that didn’t contain acetone, but here are some professional and upscale methods that I have used for clients with weak, peeling, chipping, brittle, or dry nails that have served me well as a nail tech:
You can add 10% water, and, optionally, a drop or two of essential oil of lemon or orange to your remover. (Gently shake to mix). Warm polish remover is more effective, and the pro way to do accomplish this is to gently loosen the cap on the bottle, hold the bottle by the neck, and gently swish the polish in its’ bottle while running hot water over the bottom half of the bottle for a minute our two. Wipe bottle dry.
Actual use of polish remover: to keep from scrubbing the natural oils out of your nails while removing polish, put some remover on a cotton ball, lay it on your polished nail so that the wet ball touches the entire nail; leave it in place for at least 30 seconds, longer if you have many layers of polish on; and almost all of the polish should just wipe cleanly off in one go when you just pull the cotton ball down the nail and off the tip.
Wash hands with mild cleanser & nail brush in warm water so that the polish remover is
off & out from under the nails.
Next: Prep your nails for manicure service:
Get a really nice, warm bowl of water in which to soak your hands. If they need extra TCL, soften the water with a spoonful or two of baking soda, and a spoonful of oat flour (dissolve into manicure basin). Massage some coconut oil into your hands and nails, and then
Give your nails & fingers a nice, warm soak for a full 20 minutes. The warm water will expand your nails so that your enhancements or polishes dry to fit an expanded nail… it keeps the polish from shrinking more than it normally would, so that it is less likely to chip or peel off once the nail bed dried back to its’ normal size. It will also cause some of the oil to absorb into the nail beds, so that the hands & nails will be less dry and the nails less brittle.
Give them another warm wash with mild soap & nail brush as before. Procede with your manicure.
Consider using a base coat with rubberizers to impart flexibility; avoid nail-hardening formulae, because these will only cause the nails to become more brittle. When u apply it, gently brush a little underneath the free edges and along the very end of the tips to seal them up. This should help minimize splitting & peeling.
If you can prevent any polish or treatment from landing on your cuticle, your manicure ought to last longer. Invest in a packet of those oval-shaped tapes that are intended to hold corn plasters in place if you need to. You can easily position those on your fingers before applying product to your nails so that the polish can’t end up where you don’t want it to. Once the polish is good and dry, any little smudges will peel off with the tapes. 😀
My only other tips are: tap your fingers (but not the nails) when it won’t bug other people (improve circulation), massage a little oil into your nails at night & leave it on all night; and plan your week’s work wardrobe so that you start the week wearing the lightest colour of polish, and end with the darkest so that you can just apply the next darker colour right over the 1st polish so that you can go without having to remove polish for a week or two. Reapply a thin layer of top coat every couple days to keeps those fragile tips sealed nicely. Oh: avoid polish-drying drops or spray if you can; they are a bit of a scam in my mind… the client leaves happy with dry nails, but they cause extra product shrinking so that the manicure fails faster, and you have to return more frequently for another manicure.
Source: Dr Axe