The Forever French Rebalance

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The Forever French Rebalance

When working with Pink and white powder to create a beautiful set of French enhancements it does create a challenge for the nail technician to keep them looking like a new set, month after month after month. Inevitably the white portion of the enhancement moves with the growth of the natural nail and would ultimately disappear altogether if not replaced on a regular basis. Clients love to perpetuate the French look, they become addicted to it, so in order to provide them with the Forever French service, you need to know how to do it in a timely and efficient manner.

Most technicians find that the biggest obstacle to providing the Forever French service is the large amount of preparation and filing they think they have to do in order to prepare the enhancements for this service. Actually, it really needn’t take much more time than an ordinary maintenance appointment if you follow the guidelines in this chapter.

Many think, or have been taught, that they must file away vast amounts of product only to replace it again with new product! Why? There is no need to do this at all. There’s no need to use an electric file to carve a ‘ditch’ or ‘trough’ in the product to remove the white either. If you do this then the smile line never looks perfect again and, in my opinion, the finished nails look ‘patched up’.

Think clearly about what you have to do:

You need to thin the enhancement in the area where you renew the smile line with white. (Zone 1)
You need to replace the apex of the product in the correct new location (because of course it has moved out of position along with the re-growth of the natural nail, just as the smile line has). (Zone 2)
You need to prepare and replace Zone 3 as normal.

There’s no need to thin the product any more than you absolutely need to in order to achieve these three objectives.

Preparing the Enhancements

Two things are most important to remember.

Only remove product where you need to and
Only replace with the amount you need (which should equal the amount you removed) for the finished ‘look’. This means that your beads of product will only be tiny compared to the size of bead that you make when doing a new full set.

Assuming that the original set was done using White and Pink powder (not only a white French tip) use the following method.

Shorten the length to the original length of the full set. Once you have done this, you will see that the new free edge is now thicker than it was before. You will need to thin it out to the finished thickness that you want … no more.

Next, holding your abrasive and using the grip described in File Control – Part 1, thin out the enhancement with the pressure concentrated over the area where the natural nail smile line can be seen and just above it, where the apex is situated. You only need to reduce the thickness of the product in this area by half … no more.

Make sure that the product remaining in the former Zone 3 area it tight and flush to the natural nail.

Applying the Product

Remember that there’s still white product in Zone 1. All you need to do is to add a beautiful new smile line.

When applying the new smile line ... you only need a very small amount of product (it is going to sit on top of old product so work with a much smaller bead here so the nail does not look chunky when you come to add the zone 2 bead), then just smooth the new product into the existing old white product. You‘re not trying to cover the whole of zone 1 again; there’s no need, because it’s still white. Of course you must do your usual check to make sure the sides of zone 1 are firmly ‘clamped’ to the natural nail that is growing out underneath. This will ensure no curling away of the natural nail from the tip area. Make sure you do not file away the 'clamp' when finishing off.

Next, replace zone two with a very small bead; this small bead should fill the gap between the smile line and the new location of the apex for both strength and beauty. It is important not to oversize this bead or the enhancement will look too bulbous in Zone 2.

Don’t forget to replace the product at the sidewalls where the nail is bare.

Finally, fill in zone 3 as normal with a small bead of product and draw the bead into and over as much of Zone 2 as you need to in order to keep the apex in the correct position.

The most common fault on the part of technicians when doing a French Rebalance is using way too much new product. The result is a bulky looking nail instead of the sleek look you hopefully had before. This bulky look causes you to file and file to remove excess product and usually the new smile line gets removed along with it and you are back to ‘square one’. Removing the correct amount of product during preparation and replacing it with the right amount of new product will ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

The French Rebalance is actually an enjoyable service to perform for your clients, and they are always impressed with the fact that the whole set of enhancements looks brand spanking new and fresh and beautiful.