Nail Files, Buffers and Tools

Grit numbers

Grit describes how coarse the abrasive is, and lower numbers are coarser. An 80 or 100 grit is aggressive and is for shaping acrylic and hard enhancements only. A 150 to 180 grit shapes enhancements more finely and is the coarsest thing that should touch a natural nail. A 240 grit and above smooths and refines. Buffers run from 400 up into the thousands and produce shine rather than removing material. Using an 80 grit file on a natural nail shreds it, and that file being the one that came in a kit is why so many people do.

Files

Emery boards are cheap and disposable and lose their bite quickly. Glass and crystal files are the best choice for natural nails, since they seal the edge as they file rather than fraying it, they last for years, and they wash. Metal files are too aggressive for natural nails. Whatever you use, one direction only, and replace it when it stops cutting, because a worn file drags and tears.

Buffers

A four-sided buffer block works through progressively finer surfaces to produce a shine without polish. Used lightly and occasionally it looks excellent. Used often it thins the nail plate, since every pass removes a layer, and there is no growing that back quickly. Buffing to shine more than once a month is more than most nails can afford.

The rest of the kit

A cuticle pusher, rubber-tipped or an orange stick rather than a metal one for home use. Cuticle nippers only for dead tissue. Straight-edge clippers for the free edge, which cut cleaner than curved ones and put less stress on the nail. Small sharp scissors. A brush for dust. That is genuinely everything most people need.

Hygiene

Metal tools should be washed and wiped with alcohol between uses, and never shared between people without that. Files, buffers and orange sticks are porous and cannot be properly sanitized, so they are single-person items and should be replaced rather than cleaned. This matters more than people think: reusing a porous file across different hands is how fungal and bacterial infections travel. If you have a set for yourself and a set for family, keep them separate.