How Often Should You Get a Manicure?

Here’s how often you should get a manicure and the benefits of having them.

Manicures are a great pamper session, a nice way to break up the week to take some time to show some TLC to your hands and nails. It is essential to take care of your hands and treat them as you would your skin or your hair. But, how often should you get a manicure?

It is recommended that you get a manicure every 2 to 3 weeks; however, there is no set amount of time needed between manicures; it is purely down to preferences. In this post, I’ll be sharing more on how often you should get a manicure, what a manicure is and what it consists of, and its benefits.

How often should you get a manicure?

Although there is no set time between manicures, 2 to 3 weeks is a good amount of time between your manicures. This allows you enough time to enough of the benefits of your manicure, but it’s not long enough for your nails to grow out; having a manicure done every few weeks will keep your nails in good condition both health-wise and appearance.

This is only guidance; however, it is totally down to preference; when you feel like your nails need a manicure and when they start to show signs of needing a manicure.

If your nails grow fast or are prone to get chipped, you may need to get them done sooner than 2 to 3 weeks; however, if your nails last in good condition for a while, you can stretch out the time to 4 weeks. In my opinion, you shouldn’t go any longer than 6 weeks between a manicure as your nails do need regular maintenance to keep them healthy and strong.

What is a manicure?

A manicure is a beauty treatment for your nails that helps improve the health and appearance of your nails and hands. It’s good to get manicures as it keeps your hands and nails looking polished and fresh; it helps encourage growth and strength in your nails and skin. A manicure consists of multiple steps that are both maintenance and relaxation.

A standard manicure consists of nail trimming, shaping, filing, buffing, cuticle trimming, applying cuticle oil and or a hot oil treatment, and a hand massage.

Application of Cuticle Oil and/or treatment. At the end of a manicure, you can paint your nails, which is completely down to you and what you want. Many people that get manicures regularly choose not to get their nails painted at the end and opt for a clear polish instead.

Benefits of a manicure

There are so many benefits to a manicure that many may not even realise; it’s good to get regular manicures for multiple reasons other than helping your nails grow and get stronger.

For example, manicures help keep your hands and nails clean and prevent infections. If you don’t clean your hands and maintain them, dirt and bacteria can build up and get stuck in and around your nail beds. If it builds up too much or gets underneath your nail bed, it could cause infection or serious nail issues, leading to serious long-term damage. 

Manicures are also good as they encourage blood circulation. The movement from the massage stage of the manicure encourages the blood flow to and around your hands, giving you a circulation boost.

This is particularly good if you have circulation problems or tension in your muscles, as it’ll help lessen these issues and improve your health. It can also help improve mobility, which is good for people with conditions that affect mobility or older people.

Besides the health benefits manicures have, they are also good for your mental health. Manicures are a good way of taking time out of your busy life and focusing your time on yourself, and relaxing.

Not only does a manicure force you to take some time out and pamper yourself, but the relaxing massage is great for de-stressing and reducing anxiety levels. Regular manicures can be great for your mental health; they may be the relaxing experience you need every few weeks.

Do you need to wait in between manicures?

No, you don’t need to wait or have a break between manicures; in fact, there is really little benefit to having a break between them. The whole process, from trimming your nails to treating your cuticles, is very beneficial and will improve your health much more than it can affect it.

With that being said, if you are happy to get a manicure consistently every few weeks without taking a break every few months, then go ahead; you will definitely see the results of it.

However, if you start to see obvious signs of damage from the manicures, you should think about taking a break. For example, if your nails are weak and break easily or your cuticles are getting sensitive and irritated after manicures, take a break from manicures to allow your hands and nails time to heal naturally.

Acetone and alcohol can also be dehydrating, so if you feel this is taking a toll, this is also a good reason to take a break. But don’t worry about this too much if it isn’t affecting you, as the benefits of a manicure outweigh the damage acetone and alcohol can have.

Summary

There are so many benefits to having regular manicures; if you can, it would be good to take the time and invest in manicures every few weeks; there are really no negatives to them!

I hope this has been helpful and given you a better understanding of manicures and how often you should get them to get the best results for you. If you want to play safe and make sure your hands and nails are consistently kept in the best condition, then it’s best to get manicures every 3 weeks.

If you want to know how to keep your nails healthy and help them grow, check out my post, healthy nails: 11 natural nail care tips.