It may be tough, but it's not hard. Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps (Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps)

Member Name: foreveramber

Product:	Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps
Date:	16/12/08 (388 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's shiny, provides a protective coating,

Disadvantages: Peels off quickly, polish clumps around the top of the bottle

After many years of not bothering, I've decided to grow my nails long. Although my nails do manage to grow quite long, and I don't bite them, I have a real problem as they're very soft and break easily. I've no idea why. I eat loads of protein, calcium etc, but they've been this way all my life. As soon as they reach a certain length, they invariably break. And when they break, it's always right down level with the nail bed, so the whole nail has to be cut short. It's just something that's peculiar to me. I'm actually incredibly jealous of my son's nails. They grow unbelievably quickly and I have a real struggle trying to get the nail clippers through them. It's just not fair.

I've thought about those acrylic wrap things. People at work used to have these impressively long and decorated nails. But they were acrylic wraps. Acrylic is extremely tough but once you've had that stuff put over your nails, the nail underneath is often weakened, so I didn't want to go down that route.

I've tried many nail hardeners over the years, all promising me stronger and longer lasting nails. None of them ever helped or seemed to provide any more strength than normal nail polish. So, a few weeks ago I was browsing the nail care section to see what was new on the scene.

My eyes were drawn to this Sally Hansen 'Hard as Wraps, Hard as Nails', polish. It comes in a range of colours as well as clear. It promises to be the ideal solution for women wanting strong and hard nails but don't have time to visit a nail salon or want expensive wraps. It also states it seals and hardens nails with an instant, long-lasting wrap like surface and a smooth, shiny finish.

Its ingredients include a patented formula with Acrylic Gel and nylon.

This sounded like exactly what my nails needed. I purchased one of the small 13ml clear polishes which is packaged in a blue bottle with a brush applicator inside.

After preparing my nails, I applied a couple of coats of this polish, waiting for each coat to dry in between. My nails looked nice and shiny. I just needed to wait a couple of weeks for my nails to grow.

After two weeks, my nails had grown sufficiently long enough for me to test the 'hardness' promise. I'm sorry to say that after applying the nail polish, my nails were no harder than before. They still feel very soft and bend when I press the ends. This in turn causes the polish to crack where the nail has bent which leads to the polish gradually peeling away over the next day or two.

As to its long lasting promises, the longest it's lasted without showing any signs of peeling or flaking, is one day. I don't know if I have exceptionally soft nails or if I put my nails through a whole lot more wear and tear than the average person, but I don't feel this polish has lived up to its claims of hardening the nails at all. On the slightly positive side, my nails haven't been peeling as they often do. I don't know whether this is the effect of the polish or whether it's because I've kept my nails covered with polishes rather than left at the mercy of the elements.

Another problem after a few uses of the polish is the collection of big clumps of dried polish all around the bottle opening, making it very difficult to open. I think this occurs because each time you dip the brush into the polish then extract it again, it pulls up sticky trails of polish, like spider webs. These then clump together each time you close the bottle and dry into a sticky, hard mass.

I won't purchase this particular brand of polish again, but it won't stop me trying out other varieties. Hopefully, there is a polish out there that will do what it claims.

Summary: Doesn't provide the hardness factor as stated