It may surprise you what a huge number of people have never worked with a brush, before learning to do nails, and yet the brush is a nail technician’s primary tool!!

Doing nails well is an art form. It is not just a mechanical task. But for many, they never move beyond the mechanical to the higher form of art. Why? Because they never really learn the fundamentals of working with, or better yet, how to make their brush, work for them.

A brush is a tool; pure and simple. Working with different parts of a brush produces different effects. There is a flat side, a round side, a point, a belly … all have different functions and all produce different effects on the ‘bead’ of product, which you create with it. Different pressures on each different part also produce different effects. So it is paramount that if you are going to make that brush an extension of yourself and make it do what you want it to do, and produce what you want to produce, then you have to know how it works inside out and feel totally comfortable and fluent with it.

First you just have to know how to hold it! It has to feel as comfortable and as easy in your fingers as holding a pen. You are going to grip the brush with only the thumb, index and middle fingers (just as you would hold any writing implement). Pick up the brush and pretend you are writing your name with it. In fact … write your name with it while it is dry. Did that feel comfortable? Are you holding the brush too far back? Move your fingers up to the metal part of the brush (the ferrule) and grip it there and try again. Chances are this feels more comfortable and is more like your normal pen grip. Also notice how you are nicely balanced on your forearm and the heel of your hand as you write.

Once you get a grip on your brush, it is vital that you always hold and use it in the same manner. In this way, your brush will become ‘trained’ to your way of working. Never loan a trained brush to anyone else to use; it is far too personal an item to pass around the salon.

Balance is another key to working effectively with your brush. You cannot work fluently with your brush, If you are balanced on the heel of your hand; it is too restricting. You have to balance on something else instead while you work. It is impossible to do artwork if your brush hand is not balanced on something. I have so often seen students and amateurs struggling to produce a smile line while their hand and arm are in mid air!! It cannot be done. Balance is the key.

Think about how you apply nail polish to another person. You do not do it with your hand in mid air! Most of us naturally balance on a finger of our other hand (the hand that is holding the client’s finger). You do exactly the same when using your brush to apply a bead made of liquid and powder or Gel.

For those for whom this explanation does not ‘click’ I will describe what I mean.

A nail technician should only ever use 3 digits on each hand while she/he works. The thumb, index and middle finger of ones left hand for holding the client’s finger, and the thumb, index and middle finger of ones right hand for holding the brush. (The opposite for lefties). NO other digits should ever be needed for holding. This nicely leaves the ring and pinkie finger of each hand that can rest on each other for balance. Find what is the most comfortable position for you.

It could be you rest your pinkie finger on the pinkie finger of your other hand, or rest the pinkie on the ring finger or whatever, as long as your hand is balanced and not waving about in the breeze, leaving your three other fingers to use and work with the brush.

As you work with your brush you will be doing a variety of things with it. It’s not all brushing!! In fact there is very little actual brushing done when applying nail products. You will be:

• Pressing or patting
• Smoothing or stroking
• Pushing or pulling
• Nudging
• Detailing or perfecting

All of the time for each individual movement, you will be turning or altering the angle of the brush in your 3 fingers as you work (more about this in part 3) … it does not stay static in one position. You must learn to be very fluid and easy as you work with a brush. How fluid you become will absolutely determine how round and beautiful and natural-looking the finished overlay you create will be.