Pros and Cons to using a drill for nails (2025)

I use one from time to time but only ever to remove the bulk when doing a bebalance and NEVER go near the natural nail, go for a good quality one, i use a Kupa electric file and i find it works well.

If a electric file is used properly then i don't how it can cause any harm, i have seen badly damaged nails due to miss use of an ordinary nail file, so it's all about how you use it.

xx

Hello there! I use a kupa drill - I mainly specialise in sculptured nails so for me its an important piece of equipment. I only use it to drill underneath the nails to thin them out and to drill in my 'well' when doing backfills. Its also quite handy to use for creating nail art - I drill off a diagonal corner and fill it in with coloured acrylic to produce a triangle on the corner of each tip.

I have seen customers nails that have been damaged with electric drill use - i.e when the drill has been used on the natural nail (eeeek!!!!!) this on many has caused irrepairable damage like 'rings of fire' etc.

They can be quite danagerous if used incorrectly and there is definately a skill to master in using one competently. The key is to NEVER hold the drill bit in the same spot on the nail for more than a milisecond - CARNAGE!

I did a drilling course at NSI, but bought a second hand drill from ebay to practice on my own nails at home (wouldn't recommend using a second hand drill on a customer!)

xx

A nail drill is certainly not a 'must' by any means. If it were I wouldn't have been doing nails by hand for 25 years.

You can go two ways:

1. Do perfect nails with your brush and spend very little time finishing by hand or,

2. Do imperfect nails with your brush and spend more time filing with an efile.

It is completely misguiding to say a drill is a must have item, that is just one person's opinion not a fact. It all depends on whether you employ good effective techniques by hand and how you work. The better you work with your brush, the less you have to file ... end of story.

I can easily clip off excess length faster than drill it down and with allot less mess ... I personally would never use a drill to shorten the length. Who needs the dust? Who needs the mess? I do not make thick enhancements so I do not need to spend any time to de-bulk that which is not bulky in the first place.

There is always more than one way of doing things. The skilful way using effective techniques and talent or the less skilled way and use a drill to correct the over use of product or a less than skilful application. Both work for the end result, but one will break down faster than the other .. I'll leave you to guess which one.

IMO using an e-file to take down product and length is a must. This keeps the nail from getting thick (no matter how thin you apply, doing fills applys more product) and it helps should you get a nail or two not shaped exactly right. Some product will crack if you cut it to take down length so an e-file helps with that. Dependng on what product you use, some will have more dust than others. I use a buffer to finish file. As always use what works best for you!!

Winemom - sorry for the delay in replying back to you. So much going on with the holidays. I've been using swiss carbide bits and love them. One is cone shaped and is designed to be used around the cuticle area w/o having to worrying about hurting the client or creating rings of fire. Really cleans up that area quite well and it shaves off the product so you can take down the thickness before applying more product. The other one I use is an X cut bit. I use it for gel because the gel doesn't get gummed up in it as much as the other bit. Not sure where you can find these in your area. If you want the information where I get mine, send me a PM and I'll give you the link.

Recently saw a post from Vicki Peters that she has a new book/dvd for sale on information about e-files, bits, how to use, etc. Might check that out. Here is her link:

www.vickipeters.com