I’ve suffered from weak and brittle nails my whole life. I’ve tried everything under the sun to make them not so crappy, but nothing has worked – dietary changes, vitamin supplements, nail strengthening base coats… nope, my nails hate me. My best is when I spend an absolute fortune getting my nails made all pretty (you know, so I can masquerade as a functioning adult) and the very next day one or more of my nails decides to let down the entire side by tearing, lifting or chipping. I can’t wear natural polish for more than 48 hours and gel almost never lasts a full two weeks. So, when I heard that the revolutionary IBX Nail System was coming to South Africa I jumped at the chance to try it out. The great news is; 4 treatments later my nails are singing a different tune and I’m starting to think they don’t hate me quite as much as I thought.

Bring Your Nails Back From the Dark Side.

IBX System

The IBX nail system is unique in that it penetrates the nail to work from inside the nail – not just on the surface of the nail like most other products that are already available to us. With just two products in the range; IBX and IBX Repair, this professional nail system will help bring your nails back from the dark side and leave you with strong, healthy looking nails. Trust me, if you’ve always longed for strong, chip free nails then you need to give this a go. The system is already available at leading salons in South Africa and is offered as an add-on treatment along with your bi-monthly natural polish manicure or your monthly Gelish application. It’s super quick and adds a maximum of 10 minutes onto your manicure.

It’s Like Double Sided Tape For Your Nails!

IBX System

But how does it work? The application process is super simple; the product is applied like a nail polish and then penetrated into the nail with heat from a simple desk lamp. The nail is then blotted to remove any excess product and then cured under an LED lamp. If you’re going for natural polish then the manicurist starts the treatment off with IBX Repair specifically targeting white spots as well as weak and damaged areas including splits, peeling and free edge delamination. This acts like double-sided tape for your nails and seals the damaged areas so they don’t get any worse. From there it’s on to the IBX application which helps to toughen the nail plate by fusing together the upper layers of the nail. And that’s it!

The Verdict Is In.

I’ve had four IBX treatments at my local FoxBox nail bar so far and am loving the results! Before IBX, I had very bad peeling on almost all of my nails and my nails were so weak they would bend when light pressure was applied to the free edge. I couldn’t go a few days without my nails tearing and as a result I wasn’t able to grow my nails very long at all. Now, 4 treatments in, the peeling has been greatly reduced (only 1 stubborn nail is still experiencing peeling) and my nails haven’t chipped or torn at all! I’ve managed to get some length in my nails and they are the healthiest they have ever been. I can’t wait to see how my nails turn out after 8 treatments!

IBX Nail Repair System

What’s more, IBX has also helped extend my natural polish wear and I’ve managed to get at least a week or more out of my polish when combining it with an IBX treatment (it’s magic I tell you.) I’m going to continue with the process using Gelish as I’ve gotten excellent results already and was struggling to make it to the nail bar every week. I would recommend that you do the first few treatments with natural polish so you can see the results more clearly, it also works a lot quicker because you aren’t waiting 2- 3 weeks in between your treatments.

All Aboard the Fabulous Nails Bandwagon.

So how do you go about starting your IBX journey? Depending on the condition of your nails, it is recommended that clients who wear natural polish go once a week (for badly damaged and very thin nails) or every two weeks (for nails on the road to recovery or ladies who have difficulty with nail growth) until they have completed the recommended 8 – 12 treatments. Once your are happy with your results you can maintain the results with a treatment every 3 weeks. Like I said, IBX also helps to extend and enhance your natural polish wear so it’s a good treatment to keep up with.

FoxBox at Woolworths charges an additional R80 for an IBX treatment – I find it’s the most affordable when combining it with a basic file and polish with Morgan Taylor polish for R90 (15 mins).