I had a client who wanted her acrylics ( which she has been having for a long time) removed and shellac applied. After socking and removing her nails were in quite a shocking condition from drill trauma from having infills etc. I applied the shellac, but the end result wasn't great due to her nail plate not being so smooth in areas. Did I do the right thing in applying shellac in the first place? What would you have done? I am seeing this client again today. Many thanks x

I would have kept the acrylic on and overlayed with gel. Keep doing this until the acrylic grows out and you are only overlaying the natural nail.

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Thank you for your advice. Presently I only offer natural nail treatments. I just wasn't expecting her nail plates to have been so bad. X

depends how bad the nails were? I would've probably left it a couple of weeks to see how her nails did if they were really bad. If they were just bumpy i would've applied a clear overlay of gel or acrylic to even out her nails first then shellac'd
Is the shellac she had done still on? It doesn't do so well on clients with ridges. It goes without saying tho any problems and trauma to the nails that is bad then you'd know not to apply anything if it hurt the client or would subsequently cause more damage and that it would be better to keep her nails free from anything for a while. But contraindications aside and if its cosmetic only and you can do some tidying up for the client then i always do. There's no right or wrong answer really you just have to use your own judgement, and advise your client on aftercare to help her nails along

You could always keep adding layers of shellac until its smooth... Surely it wouldn't take more than 4-6. Full shellac (4 coats) cleanse. LIGHTLY buff till smooth, another base and top. I don't make a practice of it, but I have done it for two fingers on a client with a natural split down her nail. I switched to a builder soak off gel for her base now, tho.

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There was a post on SG that suggested doing base, cure, top coat, cure then doing Colour coats and final top coat. Apparently the first application of top coat fills in the ridges.