Best cuticle removers

I'm just wondering if anybody has any recommendations for a really good cuticle remover? What do you all use? I have quite stubborn cuticles due to years of biting my nails so any suggestions of products to try or avoid would be gratefully received. Ta muchly!
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Or do none of you use cuticle remover? I have no choice as mine are really tough so I've just bought a Sally Hansen Instant one from CheapSmells to try.

Hey, I'm wondering about getting one as well. Tbh I'm worried about damaging my nails by being too rough with the cuticles. I saw an Orly one online - pls let nme know how the Sally Hanson one works

I've tried all sorts. The problem with mine is I can't stop chewing and ripping so they are contantly ragged and have catchy hard bits - just perfect for chewing and ripping!

I've not really found any that make much difference apart from what I got in Greece which I discovered after is actually meant for ingrowing toenails - trust the Greeks!
I'd forgotten about it until I read this as I seem to have put it somewhere 'safe'. Its this stuff:
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The lady in the greek shop said to put a drop on my cuticles and under the nail edge every day. I did and they were easier to get off, although my fingers did look a bit odd in one photograph, but that could have been the week of sand and sun!

I shall have to find it again and give it another go as recent stress = more chewing = even sorer and more ragged cuticles

The best cuticle remover, bar none, is CND CuticleAway. However, the skin surrounding your nails is actually called your eponychium (your cuticle is the white skin that grows up your nail plate), this should not be removed by way of nipping (or chewing :p) or any other means.

The best way to ensure that the skin surrounding your nail is healthy and smooth is to apply a mega moisture pack; I use a small dot of CND cuticle remover (the small, white tube - NOT the cuticle away) and follow with solar oil. If you condition, rather than cut then the skin will smooth out and stop overgrowing - these areas are know as the guardians and seals of the plate and they're there for a reason. If you remove them, then they'll grow back twice as fast to try to protect the nail. It is a difficult habit to break and it won't happen overnight, but it is essential that you keep applying this, daily. You should also be applying your solar oil at other times during the day as well.

My nail rehab programme involves giving each client a little homecare bag including baby fingernail clippers for removing the raggy skin - biters just can't leave it alone, it's far too tempting for them but if they clip it, they're not JUST so tempted to keep gnawing. They also have oil so they can oil rather than chew. Failing that, you can get cuticle nippers in sallys/salon services, but they will be more expensive and should only be used to remove the actual dead, raggy bits, not the healthy skin.

I'm afraid that, even with the skin moisturised to heck and cuticle nippers I still find I have unconsciously chewed chunks out of my fingers.

Up till my late teens I bit my nails terriby and managed to stop that but never the cuticles and skin surrounding. I KNOW its awful and the more I chew the more it grows, but no degree of telling myself to stop or carrying cuticle cream and trying to do that instead of chew has ever worked.

I think the only solution is permanent gloves or handcuffs!

Linzi I don't know if you saw (I wrote on MSE I think) but I have ordered the major components of the CND oil and made my own sort of dup - I can have it in much bigger qquantities for far less £, but more importantly I can have it in a little dropper bottle instead of the brush one which just annoyed me becaues it was so slow to use. I made such a huge batch in a tupperware type tub that I even soaked my nails in it before bottling some!

Thanks for the replies. I'll make a note to try the CND CuticleAway next time thanks Linzi.

The Sally Hansen Instant treatment I bought was OK, but certainly not the 10 second miracle worker it claimed to be! I think my main problem is the eponychium rather than the cuticle itself - I usually resort to very careful removal with cuticle nippers. Will things improve if I keep using cuticle oil, OPI Avoplex and hand cream then?

Babafette wrote:Thanks for the replies. I'll make a note to try the CND CuticleAway next time thanks Linzi.

The Sally Hansen Instant treatment I bought was OK, but certainly not the 10 second miracle worker it claimed to be! I think my main problem is the eponychium rather than the cuticle itself - I usually resort to very careful removal with cuticle nippers. Will things improve if I keep using cuticle oil, OPI Avoplex and hand cream then?

I know it's difficult, but the eponychium is a very important part of the nail; it's supposed to be there so, if you cut it, it will grow back thicker (it's a bit like a scab! It's for protection). It may look horrid for a little while but it WILL shrink back eventually and will be much healthier

HanSpan wrote:Linzi I don't know if you saw (I wrote on MSE I think) but I have ordered the major components of the CND oil and made my own sort of dup - I can have it in much bigger qquantities for far less £, but more importantly I can have it in a little dropper bottle instead of the brush one which just annoyed me becaues it was so slow to use. I made such a huge batch in a tupperware type tub that I even soaked my nails in it before bottling some!

I hadn't seen that, no.

The thing is, for me to sell/recommend to my clients something that I had made myself (the HM solar oil), I'd have to have it all licensed and printed with ingredients and stuff, so it'd be a PITA. I know it's different on here, but still As long as you get the quantities right, then it's more MSE to make your own.

How are your nails coming on?


Also, yes it takes a heck of a lot to break the habit!! People mostly don't know that they're doing it. It takes time, but it CAN be done

Babafette - it's the cuticle remover, not the away - the away is designed to remove the cuticle will eat through anything (AMAZING for any callused feet, btw! ); the cuticle eraser is an intensive treatment which will exfoliate away the dead cuticle tissue and help moisturise the eponychium, followed with the solar oil, it's a lovely little intensive treatment for the skin.

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The bigger bottles, if you can get them are much better value.

HanSpan wrote:Linzi I don't know if you saw (I wrote on MSE I think) but I have ordered the major components of the CND oil and made my own sort of dup - I can have it in much bigger qquantities for far less £, but more importantly I can have it in a little dropper bottle instead of the brush one which just annoyed me becaues it was so slow to use. I made such a huge batch in a tupperware type tub that I even soaked my nails in it before bottling some!

How did you make this dupe? I can't find it on the MSE thread. Is it just by mixing sweet almond and jojoba oils? Maybe a Vit E capsule? What proportions? Please share!

Linzi wrote:

HanSpan wrote:Linzi I don't know if you saw (I wrote on MSE I think) but I have ordered the major components of the CND oil and made my own sort of dup - I can have it in much bigger qquantities for far less £, but more importantly I can have it in a little dropper bottle instead of the brush one which just annoyed me becaues it was so slow to use. I made such a huge batch in a tupperware type tub that I even soaked my nails in it before bottling some!

I hadn't seen that, no.

The thing is, for me to sell/recommend to my clients something that I had made myself (the HM solar oil), I'd have to have it all licensed and printed with ingredients and stuff, so it'd be a PITA. I know it's different on here, but still As long as you get the quantities right, then it's more MSE to make your own.

How are your nails coming on?


Also, yes it takes a heck of a lot to break the habit!! People mostly don't know that they're doing it. It takes time, but it CAN be done

Oh I didn't mean it was realistic for you to make and sell, but for me its a bit of Chemistry entertainment! Its not like any of the ingredients are going to do me any harm so its just taht if the qanities are really off it might not be so effective. If I can find something that will go small letter would you like to try a bit for fun?

My nails are up and down - I'm too disorganised to keep up any sort of routine at the moment, but the nails themselves have never been much of a problem its just the skin that I chew and the cuticles I poke at;)

Jei70 wrote:

HanSpan wrote:Linzi I don't know if you saw (I wrote on MSE I think) but I have ordered the major components of the CND oil and made my own sort of dup - I can have it in much bigger qquantities for far less £, but more importantly I can have it in a little dropper bottle instead of the brush one which just annoyed me becaues it was so slow to use. I made such a huge batch in a tupperware type tub that I even soaked my nails in it before bottling some!

How did you make this dupe? I can't find it on the MSE thread. Is it just by mixing sweet almond and jojoba oils? Maybe a Vit E capsule? What proportions? Please share!

Oh very slapdash! Sweet Almond quite a bit, Jojoba probably about 10% and a bit less of rice bran, plus a few drops of Lavendar, Lime and Roosewood essential oils I already had.
Got the 'carrier' oils from the aromatherapy shop via Amazon.
It smells nice but whether its as good as the real thing I don't really know.

Thanks for this! I've got everything, except the rice bran oil - but I can't be bothered to get that, will probably use another oil I already have, like camellia or argan. I still have some Sanctuary cuticle oil left, anyway, although I wasn't that impressed with it!

Well I've just bought some CND Cuticle Away from eBay so will report back once I've tried it. I might even use it on my feet as Linzi suggested. I'm off to find some CND Cuticle Eraser now.......