Acrylic/false nails

I hasten to add I have never tried this myself but a lady friend of mine told me a while ago that, as your natural nails are covered, they become weak and soft after a while.

Now whether this is true or not, I do not know, but I would not want to do anything to damage my own nails.

Perhaps someone who knows more about the effects of false nails can comment.

Roger

As far as I know, in the UK it cost between £20-30 to get a full set of acrylic nails, Gel nails are a bit more expensive. It then costs about £10-15 every 4 weeks or so (depending on how fast a persons nails grow) to get the ridges filled in where the nail grows up from the nail bed, as acrylics and Gel nails cover the entire nail. This is only what I know from a friend who used to get hers done.
Ideally the false nails should be removed and nails left without them for a while, before being replaced, every so often, for the health of the natural nails.
The risk of damage to the natural nail comes from not having them removed professionally, as the acrylics are very well bonded to the nails and they have to be soaked off with specialist removal chemicals to limit the damage.

Nail tips only cover the top 1/3 of the nail so they can grow out with the nail, as it grows and is naturally filed down, so they don't need to be removed if you decide not to have them anymore, so there is less likely to be damage to the nail, unless you decide to remove them before they grow out naturally. Also as they do not cover the whole nail they are not as bad for the nails generally, as they allow the natural nail to 'breathe', as less of the nail is covered, so keeping them on long term is not so much of an issue.

Wow! that's more than my friend had been paying for hers, maybe the price your daughter is paying Headcase, is for the 'Gel' type, which I understand cost more, but are less sturdy than the acrylics, but apparently look more natural (though less effective for guitar playing). 
The price probably depends on the individual technician too, and how much they choose to charge....Salon prices are higher than 'freelance' technicians, due to overheads for example....

I believe that there is a totally different technique required for 'building' nails for guitar playing than those for fashion, a technician who has perfected that would be in demand for sure! As they need to be shorter, and thicker than the fashion nails that are usually created, otherwise they would still break, or wear quite quickly, especially against steel strings. The proper acrylic used is the same stuff used as the 'gum' part for false teeth, so it is pretty hard! It is just usually applied quite thinly, but if being used to make nails for a guitarist, it would be applied much more thickly, and would be quite hard wearing.

I used a  D.I.Y. kit which costs less than £10, from any chemist shop, (Boots, Superdrug etc) and is enough to do them several times over, being as it is only the fingers of one hand! I would never pay for someone else to do them for me, but it has been an interesting experiment, and adds a new dimension to my picking ability!