Who doesn’t like saving money? Paring back on the products you buy saves you money and reduces the things you need to store. So stop paying for products like CND Scrubfresh or Gelish Nail Surface cleanser and make your own gel nail cleanser.
It’s Easy to Make Your Own Gel Nail Cleanser
If you do your own gel polish or gel nails, you probably already have the two key ingredients of gel nail cleanser on hand.
I’ve written about this before: all you need are acetone and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) at either 70% or 91%. Mix them 1:1 in a well-ventilated area. If you’re making more than you need for that manicure, store it in a tightly-sealed container, LABEL IT, and stash it in a safe place.
I give mine a shake before using it, then apply to a lint-free cotton wipe to:
- Prep nails before application
- Remove the dispersion layer (the tacky/sticky layer) after your final cure
Pricing it Out
When you consider that the average going rate for gel nail cleansers available to consumers is $2.00-2.50 per ounce, it’s easy to see why you might want to make your own gel nail cleanser.
A quick search of the latest prices shows that I can get16oz of acetone for $3 and 16oz of isopropyl alcohol for $3 locally from Wal-Mart. That works out to just $0.38 per ounce if you DIY it. At the high end, that’s an 84% savings!
Even if you need to spend more getting it from Amazon at about $6 for alcohol and $8 for acetone, it works out to $0.88 per ounce, or a 65% savings.
The Bottom Line
Why buy (comparatively) expensive, inexplicably dyed products when you can make your own gel nail cleanser? Whether you want to save more money in general or have more of your nail/hobby budget to go to polishes, there’s little reason not to.
