What woman doesn’t enjoy beautiful, freshly manicured nails? While all women have different preferences for their nails, be it short or long, natural or artificial, bright colors or neutral, donning a fresh set of nails always adds a bit of confidence. Artificial nails serve an important purpose in the beauty world, for women who need a clean look for a wedding or special event, or even for women who have trouble growing out their own nails or suffer from the nail biting plague. Artificial nails come in a variety of kinds, from gel to silk to acrylic. Acrylic nails have long been the most popular option for its long lasting properties. Yet it can be frustrating to deal with many otherwise mundane tasks with acrylic nails, like typing. But we have it covered here.

How to Type with Acrylic Nails

1

Change Your Typing Form

For starters, you have to change your typing form when trying to type with acrylic nails. Usually, we use the very tips of our fingers to type, but with long nails, it becomes easier to slip, miss and end up with loads of typos.

Straighten your fingers a bit so that when you type, the pads of your fingers glide across the keys rather than the tips of your fingers. This will not only improve your accuracy but also will lessen the likelihood of damaging your nails.

2

Be Gentle

Try typing gently, rather than aggressively. Even if you’re concerned with speed, try to tap each key with certain gracefulness. It might be difficult at first, but after a full day at the keyboard, you’ll be able to master the gentle technique.

3

Start Slow

Mastering your new typing habits may seem impossible, but if you just take your time in the beginning, you are sure to catch on in no time. The most difficult adjustment is changing the way you hold your hands in relation to the keyboard. Type slowly at first until you start to get used to the feeling.

4

Don’t Let Your Smartphone Discourage You

More difficult than typing on a keyboard will be the virtual keyboard on your smartphone. It’s so tiny, and you might start to feel like you are fumbling about your phone with your new long nails. Use the same techniques listed here to help yourself get accustomed to typing with your smartphone.

5

Note

Here are some notes you should bear in mind when learning how to type with acrylic nails to keep your fake nails safe, neat and beautiful:

  • Using your nails to strike the keys, or anything for that matter, will add unnecessary stress to your acrylic nails, which may cause them to scratch, chip, or even break.

  • If your job requires a lot of typing, you may want to avoid artificial nails altogether. It would be better for you to get a weekly manicure to look neat, rather than spend extra time making up for all the typos.

  • With long nails, whether they are natural or artificial, it’s impossible to stay silent. Even typing with the pads of your fingers rather than the tips will still create a tapping noise. That is completely unavoidable, and sometimes completely annoying to people around you.

Acrylic Nails Changes More Than Typing

1

Using the Bathroom

Some toilets have a push button flush, rather than a lever, which can cause some problems with acrylic nails. Just remember to use your knuckle instead of trying with the tip of your finger so you don’t lose a nail to the porcelain shrine.

2

Getting Things Open

How to type with acrylic nails won't be a problem if you find out how hard these nails make this day to day task is. Soda cans, hair clips, phone cases, makeup compacts, you name it, there are tons of things we grow accustomed to opening with our nails. But with acrylic nails, if you adopt the same technique, you’ll surely ruin your nails. Try using the side of your finger instead, and it’s usually just as effective. Otherwise, hopefully someone else is around to help you get into that Diet Coke.

3

Scratching That Itch

Okay, okay, we know! You should probably leave that itch alone before you make it worse, but come on! Scratching your skin with your nails might cause your nail to pop off, or it can wear down on the polish at the tip of your nails. Tip: avoid scratching altogether, get a back scratcher!

4

Applying Potted Lippy

You know those darling little pots of lip balm? The ones we use with the tips of our fingers to dig into for a little moisturizing action? Yeah, those. Try getting into one of those with your new nails! The joke’s on you! To avoid nasty under-the-nail scum on your lips, go for it with the top of your nail or the side of your finger if it fits.

5

Putting on Jewelry

Or anything that has a small clasp is more annoying now that you have long nails. From here on out, you’re going to have to wait for someone else to do it for you because it is damn near impossible. Unless, of course, you have a half hour to spare for trying to put your jewelry on. And even then, you still may fail.

6

Putting Small Earrings On

Certain things that you never even had to think about before suddenly become a cumbersome chore with long acrylic nails, like putting earrings on. You can put some small studs in before you get your nails done and leave them forever, or you can struggle every day with your tiny, dainty earrings to find the pierced hole and insert the earring without dropping it.

7

Buttoning Just About Anything

How to type with acrylic nails becomes less of a professional concern once you realize that buttons are now your sworn enemy. Now you’re late to work because you can’t get dressed anything like the able bodied adult woman you once were. Avoid buttons like the plague as often as you can.

8

Flossing

Wrapping floss around your finger and maintaining the level of hygiene your dentist dreams of is already difficult without long nails. Now you’re poking and prodding at your gums without really getting anything cleaned. Go for the floss picks now, they’re much easier to control in your hands, and you won’t hurt yourself!

9

Wearing Fake Eyelashes

Like flossing, applying false eyelashes is already difficult enough. With your long nails, the only real option you have is to use a tweezer to apply your lashes, which can be tricky, if not scary. Take your time and try not to poke your eye out.

10

Putting Your Contacts In

My heart goes out to you if you have long nails and need to wear contacts every day. Kiss the days of popping your contacts in with swiftness and grace goodbye. Now you’re working with a potentially blinding situation. Maybe it’s time to go back to glasses!

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