Who of the fair sex does not dream of boasting perfectly well-groomed nails? We think there are not many such women. But the trouble is that working women, and even a burdened household, do not always manage to find time for a manicure . But do not despair, after all company CND already for a long time has pleased the world with a fine gel-varnish, capable to keep on fingernails not day and not two, and full one and a half-two weeks. And what can not but rejoice - to apply shellac (which is the name of the child of CND) does not necessarily go to the salon, you can also make nails at home. The only thing that must be purchased is a special lamp for drying shellac, because without it, the gel can not polymerize.
What lamp is needed for drying shellac?
In order to harden the shellac on the nails, it is necessary for some time to place it in the rays of the ultraviolet range. Only under their influence, shellac will acquire the required hardness and glossy luster. To date, you can use LED-lamps or fluorescent UV lamps of different power for drying shellac. It is not even worth trying to dry the shellac coating simply in the air, like ordinary nail polish - the gel-lacquer will remain viscous.
Which lamp is better for shellac?
So, what kind of lamp will do better with drying shellac - LED or fluorescent? By and large, with respect to the quality of drying of each of the layers of the gel-varnish coating, there is practically no distinction between the two types of lamps. And fluorescent UV lamps and LED lamps dry shellac equally well. The difference between them is only in the time for which they cope with this operation and the price of the lamp itself. Fluorescent lamps are much cheaper than their LED-counterparts, but the drying of nails in them will take much longer (from 1.5 to 4 minutes per layer). In addition, they are designed for less hours of work, after which mercury-containing lamps need special disposal. LED-lamps cope with the drying of shellac much faster (10 to 30 seconds per layer), equipped with special timers, they last much longer, but their cost is an order of magnitude higher.
How many watts should there be a lamp for shellac?
And finally, a few words about what power should be a lamp for drying shellac. As you know, on sale you can find UV lamps with a capacity of 9, 36 and 54 watts. In principle, any of them can be used to work with gel-varnishes, but it is most convenient to dry shellac in 36-watt lamps. A small comparative characteristic of lamps for drying shellac of different power will help to verify this:
- Lamp power 9 watts. It has only two advantages - small size and cheap. Otherwise, the use of such a lamp will have to be liked only by people with a very stable psyche. First, each layer of varnish in such a lamp dries on the order of 3-4 minutes. Secondly, because of its miniature dimensions, it is almost impossible to dry its toenails. Thirdly, such lamps are usually not equipped with timers, therefore, the drying time must be monitored independently.
- Lamp power 36 watts. In this lamp are installed 4 bulbs of 9 watts each, which together gives a power of 36 watts. Drying each of the layers of shellac takes 1.5-2 minutes. On sale there are many different models of such lamps, equipped with timers and having several modes of operation. Due to the speed of drying and a fairly sparing cost, it is the 36-watt UV lamps that are most in demand on the market.