Having both acrylic nails and a sporty spirit might be difficult. You cannot risk breaking your beautiful acrylic nails, nor can you stop bowling. But, can you bowl with acrylic nails?
In this article, we’ll talk about the answer and the complications you can face when bowling with acrylic nails.
Worried when we said ‘complications? Well, we’ll also tell you how you can protect your acrylic nails while bowling. So keep reading.
Can You Bowl with Acrylic Nails?
Yes! You can bowl with acrylic nails, and you won’t have to skip an arcade day for fear of ending up with broken nails damaged by holes in bowling balls.
However, if you are aiming to become a pro bowler, knowing the right bowling technique and taking proper care of your fake nails is necessary. Also, it goes without saying that a larger bowling ball will be less likely to break your fingernails.
Is Bowling with Acrylic Nails Possible?
Bowling with acrylic nails is possible. But having excessive long nails might be a problem. You do not want to stand in the bowling alley with your beautiful manicure and worry about ruining both the fun and your long acrylic nails.
Therefore, we are here to help you with nail care tips and tricks that you can use to keep your fake nails safe and emerge as the bowling winner!
Problems You Can Face When Bowling with Acrylic Nails
Stressing about losing your acrylic nail to bowling is justified. There are quite many problems that you might face if you are planning to go bowling with acrylics. Let’s go over these problems –
1. Cracking and Chipping of Nails:
Cracking or chipping your nails during bowling is one of the most common bowling problems you can face with acrylic nails. It is relatively easy to fix when you chip your pretty nails. However, it’s not a pleasant experience to keep re-doing your freshly done nails.
Moreover, chipping is still manageable. But if you end up cracking your nails – it can ruin the structure of your nails and even cause you pain around the nails.
2. Ruining Your Bowling Game:
If you are a pro bowler and tend to be the best player in your local bowling alley, having acrylic nails on will keep you in constant worry during your game and might lead to bad bowling scores.
It is very common to get your nails cracked or chipped when throwing the bowling ball.
3. Nails Breaking in Finger Holes:
If you have long fingernails, you might want to avoid the finger holes present in the bowling balls. Otherwise, you might end up breaking your nails or even have them get stuck inside the bowling balls.
So, be extra careful when bowling with lengthy nails.
4. Finger Injuries:
Even though you think that breaking your nails in the bowling alley is not a big deal and will heal quickly, the scars might stay on your skin in the long term.
When your acrylic nails tear or break, they might pierce into your skin to the point of bleeding if you are not being cautious.
5. Ending Up with Chapped Nails:
Bowling balls can be very heavy. A bad bowling position or poor handling of the bowling ball can lead to you having chapped nails. Chapped nails leave behind marks and even make the edge of your natural nails rough.
Now that you are familiar with the issues that can take place when you are out bowling, you should start being careful. And hey, we are here to help you specifically with tips that you can use to keep your nails protected.
Let’s explore how you can bowl without stressing about breaking your fresh acrylic nails.
Techniques to Protect Your Acrylic Nails While Bowling
How you handle the bowling ball and what technique you use with your long nails are crucial in determining how the game is going to be. Please read about our bowling tips and best practices to have a good experience when you are bowling with acrylic nails.
1. Using the Granny-Roll Technique:
Using the granny rolling technique is one of the classic and effective ways to keep your acrylic nails safe and not affect your bowling game.
This technique involves using both of your hands while walking toward the bowling line. You then have to stand by spreading your legs and squatting your knees. There’s a reason this technique is known as the granny roll!
You are then supposed to take and swing your bowling ball from between your legs as you roll the bowling ball away.
We have broken this technique down into more straightforward steps for you:
- Hold the bowling ball using both your hands
- Walk towards the line
- Spread your legs out to maintain balance
- Swing it backward between your legs, then release it into the alley
Now you know that this technique is not for grannies only; you can also use it! Although this technique is not suitable for bowling matches or league bowling, you can still use it to have some fun at the arcade on a Friday night.
The Granny Roll technique is designed for you to keep your nails in good shape and offer you good bowling scores.
2. Using a Larger Bowling Ball:
If the granny-roll technique is not doing you right, you can opt for a bigger bowling ball. A bigger bowling ball will come with larger holes.
Larger holes will enable you to have a comfortable grip on the ball and help you with more area when making the throw. This reduces the risk of breaking your nails since the ball is less likely to hit your long nails.
On the contrary, it is also true that the bigger the ball for bowling, the heavier it is. Therefore, if you want to become a pro-bowler, you will need to get some upper body exercise done to handle the weight.
Practicing with heavier balls is the best way to keep your game strong.
3. Using a Bowling Ramp:
You will find ball ramps available at most of the bowling alleys. While they are mainly designed to make bowling easier for younger people and the differently-abled bowlers, you can also use them.
These ball ramps are made from metal and equip a particular platform where you can keep the ball before you swing it towards the ramp. You will only need to fix the ramp towards your aim for the ball to go.
Nail Protecting Tools You Must Have
If you are willing to spend a bit on some nail products rather than frequent nail treatments or manicures, look at these nail care products below that will take care of your nail health and let you enjoy bowling.
1. Pre-Cut Protective Tapes:
Many pre-cut protective tapes are available to protect your nails from breaking, calluses, and blisters. These tapes come with a light and gentle adhesive made from soft cotton fabric. You will not have to worry about cutting these tapes yourself and can even carry them easily in your bowling bag.
2. Fingertip Bandages:
The name indicates that these bandages are breathable and help cover your fingernails. You can buy them separately or just grab some from your first aid kit.
3. Protective Tape:
These tapes are simply the non-pre-cut version of a bowling tape that you can get. This bowling tape should be wrapped around your fingers as per your convenience to avoid direct contact with the balls when you bowl with acrylic nails on.
4. Finger Cot:
Using finger cots to reduce the risk of cutting your finger is a great way to protect your nails. Finger cots are pretty flexible, cut-resistant, and can help keep your long acrylic nails in their fixed position.
5. Right-Hand Wrist Support:
Lastly, we highly recommend this product that you can use to protect your nails while bowling. It helps you control your bowling action, lessen any potential accidents and even help extend the span of your bowling time. Furthermore, it prevents the chip and crack of your beautiful nails.
Since it enables you to keep your wrist in the correct position, you can be positive that you will play the best game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can bowl with gel nails. As long as you take care of your nails, the gel nails will hold tight to your fingers and not disrupt your game.
However, the risks of chipping your gel nails will remain. Thereby, we recommend you use protective tapes to safeguard your long nails.
The answer is subjective. Whether or not you can play in a bowling league depends on your skillset and bowling abilities. Having acrylic nails on will disadvantage you if you are in for the pro-competition.
But if you still opt for playing with nail extensions, you should definitely safeguard them with tapes or cots.
Final Thoughts
So, can you bowl with acrylic nails? We are sure you know the answer now. It will be a tricky sport, but you can go ahead and play if you trust your bowling skills!
Our word of suggestion would be that you take care of your nails. Whether acrylics or your natural long nails – you should drink plenty of water, eat sweet potatoes, and even take vitamins to maintain them properly. This way, you will be able to keep your nails strong and have the best bowling experience.