I Thought I Broke My Nail Beyond Repair, but a Silk Wrap Fixed Everything

A short list of things I learned this weekend: my nails are not infallible, and I suck at basketball. While on vacation in Arizona last weekend, I badly broke one of my beloved fingernails. I know, I know: first-world problems. But getting my natural nails to a good place has been a long and arduous process, and breaking one felt like a major setback.

Last year, I was having trouble growing out my nails after too many months of back-to-back gel manicures. My nails were brittle, and even once I took the gel off, I couldn’t get them to stop breaking. I tried nail cycling, which helped, but it wasn’t until I was introduced to builder gel that I was able to get my nails back on track. Since trying it for the first time last year, I’ve had great results. I’ve been able to grow out my nails longer than ever before, and I’ve even been able to try out new shapes that accentuated my length.

When I broke my right pointer fingernail during a heated game of “HORSE,” I thought it was the end. Not only did it break all the way through my builder gel, but the break location was past my fingertip, which meant it was extremely painful. I couldn’t get a good look at what was going on because part of the gel was still intact underneath the crack, so I booked an emergency appointment for the next day at my go-to nail salon in Los Angeles, My Little Boutique.

At my appointment with nail artist Sherese the following morning, I was sure we were going to have to completely cut my fingernails down, and I figured my pointer finger would need to go in a bandaid for the foreseeable future. Once we filed down most of the gel, we realized that the break went all the way through the fingernail on one side, but on the other side, things were still intact. Since I had builder gel on, we left a thin layer of gel on top of the nail, so the break was never fully exposed. After taking a closer look, Sherese suggested we use a silk wrap to hold everything together. I had never tried one before, so I did a little Googling to make sure I was comfortable with what she was proposing.

“A silk wrap manicure is given to a client when they need strength and durability added to their natural nails,” manicurist and LeChat Nails educator Syreeta Aaron previously told PS. “This method of using silk fabric is excellent for repairing a chip or breakage to a natural nail for a client that does not want enhancements such as acrylic powders.” After Sherese showed me the silk wrap and explained how it would work, I told her I was game to try it – and I’m so thankful I did.

We ended up cutting down my natural nails to a more manageable length, and once everything was even, we started the process. Sherese manicured all of my other nails first, and then she focused on my pointer fingernail. She placed the silk wrap on my natural nail and then applied gel on top. Once it cured, she was able to go in on all of my nails with the color of my choosing.

The silk wrap made my broken nail a bit thicker than the rest of my nails, but it was barely noticeable. I opted for a sheer color because I wanted to make sure I could monitor what was going on underneath the gel, and although you can see where it was broken (and bleeding), if you look really closely, overall, my nails look uniform.

The pain has completely disappeared since getting the silk wrap and gel put on, and I’m able to go about my normal activities without any issues. Sherese did note that I should get my nails checked out after two weeks (rather than waiting for my usual three), but other than that, things are business as usual. I’m so happy I opted to get a silk wrap and that it worked to fix my first-world nail problem.

Renee Rodriguez is a staff writer and social producer for POPSUGAR. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for POPSUGAR’s TikTok and Instagram accounts.