Every time I get my nails done, I love the look and feel of those long acrylic nails. It makes me feel feminine and artistic.
However, I have to admit the struggle is real while typing. So, after trying out numerous techniques and enough experience, I am here to share some of my favorite tips and tricks to master typing with long nails.
The effective way to type with long or acrylic nails is to avoid fingernails and typing with finger pads. It is also essential to maintain the correct posture of your hands and wrists and focus on precision.
However, there’s more! Scroll down to learn the best nail shape for typing and gaming, different tricks to type faster on a mobile screen with long nails, and more.
Table of Contents Show
How to Type on a Keyboard Effectively with Long and Acrylic Nails?
Here is some advice on how to type with long nails, and if you follow them, you’ll be able to maintain your lovely long nails even if your main job is typing.
1. Type With Your Finger Pads
If you are new to typing with long and acrylic nails, try to change your habit of directly hitting your keyboard with fingernails.
Instead, tilt your hands’ angle slightly and use the “pads” of your fingers rather than the tips. It would be best to feel like you are leaving a perfect fingerprint on each key as you type.
This technique will also help to protect the nails from getting damaged or breaking.
2. Adjust Your Posture
Let’s be honest here. We all have picked up weird postures and habits to make typing comfortable and more accessible. But, unfortunately, those idiosyncrasies coupled with long acrylic nails can turn into a slow agony as you type.
So, it is worth looking back at the fundamentals of typing more effectively on the keyboard. Here are some classic tips for organizing quickly and easily:
- Make sure your wrists, arms, and fingers are not feeling any stress. You can do so by resting your hands slightly flat on the keyboard.
- Try to exert the least amount of effort as you type. For example, do not blend your fingers more than necessary.
- Ensure you follow the hand placement chart designed for the QWERTY keyboard.
3. Use Ergonomic Keyboards
As mentioned earlier, a good posture can go a long way, from improving your health to helping you type effectively with long and acrylic nails.
However, it can be exhausting if you think about aligning your wrists properly every time. For this reason, many companies have come up with ergonomic keyboards.
These keyboards are designed to promote good posture and help people type better. For example, you can see one of the popular ergonomic keyboards Logitech Ergo K860 Keyboard, in the picture below:
As you can see, the keyboard has a split design and pillowed wrist rest. It also comes with stroke keys and an adjustable palm lift. All these features lower muscle strain and help you type more efficiently, even with long nails.
The following ergonomic keyboards are also suitable for typing with long nails:
- Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop
- Kinesis Freestyle Edge
- Matias Ergo Pro
- Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Wireless Keyboard
4. Focus on Precision
The first time I got my acrylic nails done, I felt like I was typing slower than a toddler. But trust me when I say it gets better with practice.
Nonetheless, the trick to typing better with long nails- natural or acrylic- is focusing on precision rather than speed. In addition, it is much easier if you accept that you are starting over.
Try to be as meticulous as possible for the first week or so without typos or wrong inputs. Once you master the precision, it gets easier to increase the speed.
Even one word per minute is not a bad start. So, don’t feel discouraged. Your persistence and patience are going to help you the most.
Type on the Keyboard Using Typing Mate
If your long nails keep sliding and getting stuck on your computer keyboard, consider getting a ‘Typing Mate.’
Typing-Mate is a nail cap designed to help women with long fingernails type efficiently on any keyboard.
The nail cap fits on any natural or acrylic nail and comes in a set. It will prevent your nails from sliding or getting stuck on the keyboard.
All you have to do is put the cap on top of your nail, and you are ready to go. In addition to the comfort, it will protect your nails from breaking while you type.
How do you Type on a Mobile Screen with Long and Acrylic Nails?
When it comes to the mobile screen, typing becomes a different game.
If you are used to tapping and typing on your phone with your fingertips, you must make changes to typing faster.
Below are some tips for those with a hard time texting with long and acrylic nails.
1. Change the Way You Hold Your Phone
Many people hold their phones in one hand and type with only one thumb. Meanwhile, the other majority hold the phone with both hands and type with both thumbs.
Similarly, some hold their phone in one hand and type with the index finger of the other hand, including me. I have also seen many women placing their phones on surfaces and using an index finger to text.
Try switching to the latter two alternatives for effective typing on a mobile screen. For example, using an index finger will make you feel comfortable and reduce errors.
If you use the first two alternatives, you will make many typos.
The phone’s keyboards are small, and thumbs are usually wider than other fingers. So, your long nails will make it extra tricky to text or tap.
2. Use a Stylus Pen
A stylus pen is arguably the best way to type on a mobile screen with long nails. You don’t have to worry about breaking your nails or using the wrong finger.
The precision of using a stylus pen is much better than using your thumb or index finger. The experience is also quite similar to writing with a regular pen.
You can buy a universally compatible stylus pen or one that is only compatible with your mobile’s brand.
You see below a Digiroot Universal Stylus, which works on iOS and Android devices.
Besides typing, you can also draw, play games, and work using a stylus pen, making it extra appealing.
If you want to use a stylus pen to type on your tablet, mobile, or other touchscreen devices, you might have to change how you hold the pen.
The long acrylic nails create discomfort when you grab the pen in a traditional style. The better way of holding a pen with long nails is to ensure your thumb does not touch the pen’s surface.
Since using a stylus pen is similar to a regular pen, you can get the idea of how to hold a pen correctly with long nails from the video below.
3. Use the Side of your Thumbs
It is always difficult to carry around a stylus pen or type with one index finger. So, although it can be difficult at first, you can learn to use the side of your thumbs to type on your phone.
The long acrylic nails are usually curved. So, it can be challenging to touch your phone screen directly with your thumb.
The trick is to use the inner side of the thumbs when you grab the phone with both hands.
With this technique, you will be using the left side of your left thumb and the right side of your right thumb as you text.
Do Long Nails Make You Type Slower?
If you type with your long nails- natural or acrylic- without following the hand placement chart of the QWERTY keyboard, your typing speed becomes slower.
Unfortunately, this approach will also make it difficult to improve the speed.
However, if you use finger pads instead of nails, you will eventually get used to them, and your speed won’t get compromised. But remember, practice is vital.
Is Typing With Long Nails Harmful For Health?
Research published in the International Journal of Biomedical Research found that typing with long nails for an extended time can create health hazards.
The hands and wrists get into unnatural postures while keyboarding with long nails.
On top of that, nails do not provide the same control as the fingertips. The lack of accurate control and unnatural posture of hands can lead to repetitive stress injury.
The best way to reduce the health impact of typing with long nails is to avoid typing with fingernails and using the flesh of the fingertip.
What Nail Shape is the Easiest to Type With?
Different types of nails have different impacts on your typing. You can compare the difficulty level of different nails shapes in the table below:
| Type of Nail | Impact on Typing |
|---|---|
| Round nails | It is best for the beginner typists. The nail shape is natural and makes it easy to type with. |
| Oval nails | This type of nail is recommended for practice. It is neither too easy nor too difficult to type with. |
| Stiletto nails | If you are an office worker who types frequently, this type of nail shape is not for you. It is quite challenging to work with. |
| Square nails | Typos and wrong inputs are difficult to avoid with this type of nail shape because of its extra width. |
| Coffin nails | This type of nail shape is not recommended for typing due to its wider and longer shape. |
As you can see from the comparison above, the round nail shape is the easiest to type with among different popular nail shapes.
Best Nail Length for Typing
The best nail length for typing depends on whether you have short nail beds or long nail beds. The nail bed is the soft tissue beneath your nail.
If you have shorter nail beds, your nails can look extremely short when you cut them to their maximum limit.
On the contrary, if you have longer nail beds, your nails will look reasonably long, even if you cut them to the maximum.
The best nail length for typing is 5 mm from the tip of the finger.
So, if you have shorter nail beds, you must first grow your nails up to the tip and let them grow 5 mm more for extra flare.
However, 5 mm nail length is best for ladies who spend most of their day typing on the keyboard.
If you only type sometimes or are pretty experienced with long nails, you can type comfortably, even with 8-12 mm long nails.
What is Nail Shape Best for Gaming?
Unlike typing or texting, gaming requires a slightly different use of our fingertips.
Although the round nail shape is best for typing on the keyboard, the stiletto-style (pointed) nail shape is a better alternative for gamer girls.
The reason being the rounded or square nail shapes get stuck into the gap between the keys of the gaming controller. In comparison, stiletto-style nail shapes give you a much better movement.
Final Takeaway
Typing with long and acrylic nails is difficult for anyone initially. However, you do not need to sacrifice beauty for comfort with the proper technique and enough practice.
Following these tips and tricks, you can also become a maestro at typing and texting despite having long nails.
Remember to type with your finger pads and maintain a good posture for effective results.
