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    Here’s What Happened When We Tested 5 Pinterest Nail-Drying Hacks

    Does cooking spray ACTUALLY dry your nails?

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    Hi! We're Farrah and Nina. We both love painting our nails, but when it comes to waiting for them to dry, we are impatient as hell (who isn't?). After scouring the internet, we decided to try a few popular hacks to speed up the drying process and see if they actually worked!

    Here's what we tried:

    1. Pam cooking spray

    2. Hairspray

    3. Ice water

    4. Hair dryer

    First, we painted our nails with one coat of paint to see how long it would take to dry. We used Sally Hansen polish because that's what we had lying around.

    It ended up taking roughly four minutes. We would test each method by applying a light pressure with our finger to see if the paint would smudge.

    The first method Nina tried was drying her nails with Pam.

    Nina thought she may have sprayed a little too close to her fingers, as evidenced by the layer of cooking spray on her nails. Ew.

    She let her fingers stay shiny so she wouldn't smudge the polish, and she was AMAZED at how fast they dried! The Pam also gave it a nice ~shine~. She was also able to quickly wash off the extra greasiness since the paint was set.

    The Pam loses a point for making my fingers greasy, but honestly it was such a minor inconvenience. So worth it!

    The second hack Farrah tried was using hairspray to dry her coat of polish.

    The hairspray left a weird texture on Farrah's nails because she sprayed it a little too close. Also, it was STICKY AF. After a full minute, she checked the polish and it WAS 100% dry, so she was able to immediately wash off the stickiness. However, it wasn't worth messing up the entire paint job.

    This hack gets points for getting the job done, but also has points deducted for the weird texture it left in the paint.

    The third hack Nina tried was dipping her wet nails into an ice bath to dry.

    This was WAY TOO FUCKING COLD. Nina couldn't even keep her hands in for five seconds. It was literal torture. As you can see on her pinkie, the five seconds wasn't enough time, because the paint smudged. If you're going to try this, make sure you can actually stand to keep your fingers in the bowl.

    The ice bath lost any points it could’ve earned for making me almost lose my fingers. Worst hack.

    The final hack Farrah tried was using a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

    Farrah dried her nails on the cool setting for one minute, but they were still wet. She tested them again after two minutes, and they were STILL wet. After three minutes — you guessed it — still wet. Basically, a hair dryer definitely is not a miracle worker for wet nails.

    This loses points for drying them almost as slowly as the control, but throwing in a few points because I actually felt productive doing it.

    Final thoughts:

    Nina's thoughts: The hairspray and the Pam were definitely the best hacks. I actually ended up using the hairspray hack later that night on my feet. It's an excellent time saver. I would definitely try the Pam trick again, but I might cover my fingers to avoid the grossness.

    Farrah's thoughts: As much as I thought the hair dryer would speed up the process, it didn't. You're better off saving energy and letting them air dry. I was honestly shocked the hairspray and Pam worked so quickly! They're something I'd definitely consider using more in the future.