Isn’t it disturbing to wait to dry nail polish for a long time? Regular nail polish takes time to dry. It is pretty annoying to wait too long for the drying process. That’s why people use different methods to dry nail paint. From this perspective, this question might arise – can you dry regular nail polish with a LED light?
You can dry regular nail polish with a LED light. The light waves from the LED lamp help to speed up the drying process. Generally, regular nail polish dries because of the evaporation of the liquid part of the nail polish. So, LED light helps the evaporation process and dries nail polish fast.
Though the drying time is not that fast compared to average time, you can use this light to save a little time.However, you might have heard about using a LED light for drying nail paints. But all nail paints or polishes are not the same. To know about different nail polishes and their drying process, you have to know about them carefully. So, let’s see the details about it.
Can You Dry Regular Nail Polish with a LED Light?
Generally, people often use LED light for drying purposes of nail paint. But you have to know that this light directly doesn’t dry a liquid on its own. The heat from the LED light will speed up the evaporation of liquid.
You might know that regular nail polish has different types of chemicals and liquids. The nail paints contain some volatile compounds. The liquid part and its volatile compounds of it dry by evaporation, and the dried part of polish remains on the surface. So, this natural evaporation takes time to dry.
If you use LED light to dry the nail polish, it will provide heat from the LED light waves. This heat will speed up the evaporation of the liquid part. As a result, it will take less time to dry the nail polish.
But the speeding up will not be that fast. On the other hand, exposure to LED light for a long time can cause skin problems. That’s why you can use LED light to dry nail polish if you are in a hurry. Otherwise, you can dry the nail paint in natural air.
What Nail Polish Works with LED Light?
You know that nail polish can be of different types. All of them don’t have the same chemicals and ingredients. So, all nail polishes will not work with LED lights. For example, if you use the regular one, it will also take some time to dry instead of the help of LED light.
Generally, gel or gel-based nail polish works best with LED light. Gel or shellac-coated nail polish will dry faster under a LED source. Evaporation and curing dry the liquid of nail paint. If the liquid is gel-based, it will evaporate even faster.
Gel-based nail coating contains a polymer that requires curing. LED light helps to cure this polymer. That’s why if you apply gel-based nail polish or apply a gel coating over regular nail polish, it will dry faster.
Does LED Lamp Work on Normal Nail Polish?
LED lamp doesn’t work significantly on normal nail polish. Generally, normal nail polish doesn’t have any polymeric materials. So, it also doesn’t require curing. Normal nail paint needs natural air to dry.
However, LED light can help if it provides heat to the nail surface. Heating makes evaporation faster. That’s why the heat from the light source will make the drying process fast. But the speed-up rate is not that significant to notice.
If the nail paint is shellac or gel polish, it must need curing by LED or UV light. Sometimes, people use a coating of gel polish over the normal one. This time, LED light can be excellent to use for drying nail polish. But normal nail polish will not have significant change with LED.
Does All Nail Polish Dry in LED Light?
No, all nail polishes don’t dry in LED light. Most nail polishes don’t dry faster by this light. Generally, nail polishes have two types of elements; solid elements and liquid components. The liquid elements take time to dry. LED will help dry the liquid elements but not that significantly.
If you use this light on gel-type nail polish, the light will cure the gel or polymeric material of the gel-type polish. Among the gel-type, this light will help cure poly gel, gel color, etc., and nail polishes. But regular or normal nail polishes will not dry comparatively faster with this light. The drying time will be almost similar to the natural drying process.
So, gel and shellac nail paints will dry faster in the LED light. But traditional nail paints will not get a faster drying facility noticeably.
How Does LED Lamp Dry Regular Nail Polish?
Regular nail polish doesn’t get a significant change in drying time because of LED lamps. But LED light can help reduce a little drying time. The only benefit that you will get from the light is the heat.
Generally, nail polish contains solvents. These solvents dry by evaporating process. When it comes to regular nail polishes, the solvents must need natural air to dry. But sometimes, people use LED light to dry regular nail polish.
Though they don’t see a big difference, they notice a little less time of drying while using this light. This happens because LED lamps produce heat. By heating up the nail surface, the evaporation rate is accelerated a little bit. Thus, the LED lamp dries regular nail polish.
How Long Should You Apply LED Lamp to Dry Nail Polish?
How long you should apply a LED lamp to dry nail polish depends on the lamp and the thickness of the nail paint. Generally, most manufacturer claims that the light dry nail polish within two minutes.
It can take more or less time, but it will be around two minutes. However, the thickness of the coating is also another factor. If you apply the nail polish with a thin coating, it will dry faster. But if the coating is thick, it can take more than two minutes to dry the nail surface.
You might think of keeping the light for a long time to dry effectively. But you should not keep the nails under the light for more times. Exposure to UV or LED sources for a long time might affect the skin.
If you are still confused about how much time you should use LED light to dry the nail polish with LED, you can read the user’s manual and apply the light according to the instructions.
How Long Does Regular Nail Polish Take to Dry?
Regular nail polish takes a little longer time to dry because it dries by natural air. Depending on the nature of the nail polish and its thickness, it takes five minutes to an hour to dry. However, the average time for the drying process is 15 minutes.
The drying time depends on the rate of natural air passing speed. For example, if the natural air has a regular flow, it can take more than 15 minutes. But if you can arrange a fan, it will dry within 5 minutes.
People also use LED or UV light to dry the nail polish. But regular nail polish doesn’t dry significantly faster with this process.
See How to Dry Your Regular Nail Polish with a LED Light:
Final Thoughts
Nail polish is one of the most popular and beautiful elements to enhance the beauty of your nails. But the drying time of regular nail polish is slow. Waiting for a long time to dry the polish is a matter of patience. However, people use LED light or lamp to dry it on the nail nowadays.
Though this light helps to produce heat and speed up the evaporation of the polish, it is not sufficient to make it quicker. Sometimes, people apply gel or shellac coating on the regular one. For this, LED light can help to cure the polymer of the gel or shellac.
Otherwise, natural air is enough and safe to dry regular nail polish. If you are in a hurry, LED light can help by providing heat to the nail surface and making the process a little faster. But the change is not noticeable significantly.
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