Hi Geeks

i am after a little help and advice please, i have a new client who wanted gel nails (i use calgel) she wanted french and wanted the white tips so i went and did them white tips with clear gel overlay and they looked fine, the client went away the next day and after a few days the nails started to crack and buy time she came home all her nails had come off, so i went and put on another set (of which i did free of charge) and put the gel a little thicker to help strengthen them and this time they lasted around 10 days when i got a phone call before one fell off. I do not understand it i have quite a few regular clients who have gel and do not have this problem. I have sugggested th the client that we should try another system and as she does not like acrylic we are left silk, so i am going tomorrow to put on some silk nails, the thing is she wants the white tips but when i use coloured tips under silk you can feel the edge of the tip. Does anyone know of away that i can do a permant french with silk without having to hand paint them, i don't want to be messing about much as i have a feeling the client is going to expect them to be free again.

Hope this makes sense.

It sounds as if you are not building your stress area's correctly. There could be many reasons as to why the gel did not adhere well but as for the silk nails a strip of silk across the stress area and correct use of resin should ensure a smooth, well balanced nail

Give Calgel a call they will be able to offer you suggestions and soloutions for the problem, that's what they are there for after all!

The only thing i can think of is if the nails need abit more stregnth building up, unless the clients been biting at the nails this causes them to crack, just a suggestion.

You put a clear gel over a white tip? That could be the problem. I've had problems with this and not sure why gel won't adhere to white tips. I've tried everything I can think of, but the gel just doesn't stay on them. Having said this I know that nails don't just crack and they don't just fall off. With the white tips the gel just peeled off the tips.

If you are going to use resin/silk, then you need to build up the stress area and that will make everything nice and smooth when you get done.

gel peels off white tips because the UV light cant penetrate the tip and properly cure the gel, and you should be advising the client not the other way around, have you asked her why she doesn't like L&P ?

You also need to try and work out the problem before you keep offering free treatments, you can't be held responsible if it is not you at fault! i know its hard iv been there! HTH x

I have asked the client why she doesn't like l&p and it is all to do with a nail technician she use to have before me and when she put l&p on her it made her finger nails go green, so of course this has put the client of every having l & p again. I have spoken to calgel and they say it must be something that the client is doing or using that is making this happen but of course when you ask a client it is never anything that they do.

it is hard when you are just starting out as you always think that when something is wrong with your clients nails that is must be something you as a nail tech is doing wrong but at the same time it is hard to ask a client to pay you for nails that keep falling of. If you had problems with nails how long a period do you give before you say to the client that it is not you as the nail tech fault and that it is the clients fault (hope this makes sense)

I don't have problem with the clear gel ontop of the white gel, aslong as you don't calguard inbetween layers you should be fine. Calgel can peel off nails but it takes some doing it doesn't just peel (or it shouldn't anyway)

I do know that mr muscle products don't like Calgel or should i say vice versa but this is why we give our clients information on aftercare, you really do need to wear gloves when doing most things! If the clients aren't following the aftercare properly then there isn't much else you can do. Do you give the client a calgel after care leaflet?

Next time a nails comes off ask her if you can see it and you can normally tell whether it's fallen off or been forced off.

Bless you honey i know how that feels! im always inclined to think its my fault before i realise that its usually not, use the advice you have benn given by ur supplier, and try to explain to your client thet there is the same chance of that with any system but has more to do with application than the product itself. x

If gels are peeling off of white tips, then the tips haven't been prepped properly, or the bulbs need replacing.
The surface of a white french tip (or any coloured tip for that matter) must be etched/buffed prior to application of the gel. This is a must. Gel will not stick to a slippy/shiney surface.

So, applying clear gel over a white tip is NOT the problem. The technique is the problem OR the client.

If prep is not done properly OR an apex not built enough OR if product is touching sidewalls & eponychium (resulting in lift), the nails will fall off

OR

If the nails are too long for the client's lifestyle and 'way' of using her hands, or she is using them as tools instead of jewels, or sticking her hands in buckets of water with cleaning solvents to clean her house without gloves on....
(good rule of thumb: if you wouldn't stick your face in it, don't stick your hands in it without gloves).

Showson,
Please feel free to list all of your steps to your application, including all the details of your prep so that we can point out where it went wrong