Rescue Beauty Lounge (the salons and the products) get universally good reviews on MUA. On a related note, many of the nail boarders on MUA swear by taking Biotin for peeling nails.

Anne,
I am surprised that Ji did not ask you what you do for a living or if your parents/siblings have the same problem. Do you have ridges?
If you work with anything drying, that will surely cause your nails to peel. What do you do for your job? Do your wear gloves to clean? How often do you wash your hands? What type of soap are you using? Do you use cuticle oil? Do you tap your nails? (this is something that you may not even realize you do)
Polish removers will NOT destroy your nails unless you are soaking in them constantly.
Polish removers evaporate quite quickly, so again, unless you are soaking in it, I highly doubt that that is the cause of your peeling.
If your polish has a high content of formaldelyde, say OPI for example, that will dry your nails severely.
There would be NO reason to only go with a base and top coat. If you use Essie, why not use Essie color, base and top? The color is not causing  your nails to peel.
The ONLY remover you should use is 100% acetone. This is for natural AND artificial nails. Any tech who tells you different has not kept up with his or her education and is going by OLD school methods and old myths in the industry.
You need to use a GOOD cuticle oil daily, as often as you can. It is pertintent that you use this. You will NOT see a difference for at least eight months, as it takes this long for nails to grow out.
If you opt to take Biotin, you will need to take it for a long time before you will see any results. I have been taking it for eighteen months and am finally seeing results in nails and hair.
Ji needed to ask you much more.
buenos noches,
Lynnette
 
 

ps--- I see she recommends taking your own implements to the salon. If you came to my salon, I would NEVER use YOUR implements. Any professional that recommends this has NO clue to what they are suggesting.
I would not use anything a client brought in because I do not know if they SANITIZED it, used it on their kids/husband/dog...... Yes, SANITIZE  and NOT sterilize. There is NO need to sterilize implements in the salon.
If you go to a salon that uses saved implements with your name in a box or uses what YOU bring, you are leaving yourself open for trouble, as in infection.
Please be careful about what you read and believe.
Any professional who cares about the client would never suggest taking implements to the salon. This is industry standard. Did any of you see Nancy King on Rachel Ray?
L

Anne: It's almost funny because, again, you have responded to Lynette's information with exactly what I would have written about my own nail care regimen. The only thing I'm not doing is using Nailactan. What can you tell us about this product?

I am just SO frustrated because my nails can be so great ....as long as I don't use polish or removers.
Thanks again, Anne, and definitely let us know what you think of this product. You've got me hoping!

Sounds like fun!
BTW: My next manicure/pedicure will be for a wedding my husband and I will be attending near the NYC area in August. Unfortunately, I'll have to have my nails done here, four days before the wedding, because of our travel schedule. I am not liking that delay! The "kicker" is that the day before the wedding, I could go to the Rescue Beauty Salon instead, since we'll be staying in Manhattan, but there's no way my husband would understand me trapsing off for a few hours to this great salon while he sits around, with all the NYC attractions right outside our hotel.   Oh, well!

Karen,

Go for it! After all, you need nice nails for the wedding :)

I don't know about metal files. The ones I've tried were too rough for my nails. I use glass files, and really like them.

Okay, ladies: You've got me fired up to do this! I'm going to call the salon tomorrow and see if Ji does manicures herself and if she has availability on the day I'd be in town. Let the bargaining begin!!!