Hey Guys, great discussion and some great info. Just wanted to chime in with a couple things:

Just because a product is primer less, doesn't mean that it forms a covalent bond. The strongest type of bond you can expect from acidic primers (and most acid free primers) is a hydrogen bond.

A good example is Radical. It is primer optional and in the UK the vast majority of professionals never used primers with great results. They achieved great adhesion from a great prep routine and a product that was naturally attracted to the nail plate. Though not covalent bonding, it is still primer less and it still sticks like my eggs to the frying pan on a Sunday morning (which is to say that it sticks almost too well!).

However Retention+ came along and introduced a patented covalent bonding technology that meant you could achieve a substantially stronger bond using no primer at all as long as the plate was properly prepped. Acid Free Primer came along to lend that covalent bonding technology to Radical. Think of Acid Free Primer as Retention+'s adhesion in a bottle to enable Radical to have the same level of permanent adhesion.

Why would you use Acid Free Primer with Retention+ then? In many cases it may not make a difference, however in some cases, it can help pre-wet the surface of the nail plate making Retention+ naturally more attracted to the nail plate. That is because like surfaces attract! Acid Free Primer will wet the surface of the plate much more effectively than Retention+ by itself. Therefore you can get better coverage if you need it.

Where it won't help is when lifting is not a result of poor wetting and coverage, but because there is still oil or moisture on the plate.

Most primers are acid based (even many that claim to be acid-free) which helps remove oil and moisture from the plate when it isn't prepped properly to begin with. The acid often will be used as a lazy prep tool (hence why so many budget salons use mass amounts of it instead of simply prepping the nail). If it is being used as a lazy techs cleansing tool, then if you remove the step from the technicians process, they will inevitably still leave oil and shtuff on the plate which no amount of Retention+ will stick to.

So in a nutshell, primer less doesn't mean covalent, acid free doesn't mean acid-less (or hydrogen bonding) and my eggs suck on a Sunday morning!

HTHs!

Well I thought I'd cracked it....back to the thinking cap or frying pan.

Hey Cathie

I thought you pretty much nailed it - the only clarification was that not all acid free primers give covalent bonds. You also dont really need to 'squish' product to the nail regardless of if the system is primerless or not as it wont really make or break the adhesion. What pressing does is help to eliminate bubbles which is good regardless of the type of system you use!

Anyhoo, these are pretty common misconceptions - your other info was great!

Thanks for all that info GMG and Cathie, I love this place for exactly that reason!
Things are defo getting clearer for me on the Primer front. I primarily use primer as well as CND prep routine to provide an extra level of adhesion. Belt and braces as I've heard it being referred to. Interesting point about not all primerless systems being covalent bonding......must check mine.

I suppose the recent threads on primer have scared me a little. It seems likely to me that at some point in my career I will spill a bottle of primer. The size and shape of the bottle makes it very easy to tip over and because it is used on every client, chances are at some point it will happen. I'm guessing that every nail tech who regularly uses primer over a period of time would have a spill at some point.
It might just spill on the table or it might land on me but even worse it might land on my client.

What if it lands on a clients jeans for example? What do you do in this situation? Will primer burn every skin type or is it just whether someone is prone to being sensitive to this chemical? Is Primer the most potentially hazardous substance nail techs use? ie, is there any history of Monomer causing these kinds of burns when spilled? What does acid-free primer mean? Is it less potentially hazardous?

Just to add a final point. I find the bottles primer comes in an accident waiting to happen. They are so light and fiddly and can knock over so easily.......or am I just a bit giddy!! Thankfully the lid has always been on..so far.

If you use it correctly, the primer and bottle shouldn'y be fiddly, I have never found it that way (I can see left handers finding it fiddly)....use it sparingly as you have been taught and straight after use put the top back on.

I've never ever spilt any primer on either myself or a client and I hope I never will...the bottle is open for no more that 7 seconds (to be precise lol)....maybe in earthquake conditions I may be unlucky!

I love that word, fiddly, my daughter uses it all the time

I've spilled my bottle of primer before; it's sitting on my right, and I dip back into it once or twice, and BAM! I pull the brush toward me before it's cleared the bottle! ARG. Never spilled it on anyone, but made quite a mess on my table. What I do now (when I use primer, which is virtually never now that I've got the ratio down pat) is stick the bottle in my roll of forms (CND acid free, and CND Performance forms). It fits perfectly, and keeps the bottle from tipping accidentally.

If I have a bottle open (a bottle with brush) I hold it in my left hand while I hold the clients hand, & apply with right hand, if the lid is off its never on the table its always in my hand, no chance of spilling it ever, same deal with polish.

I know this is an old thread but I thought I had read somewhere that acid primer was no longer being sold. Have I just dreamt this?

Actually that's not quite true, using to much primer (acid or non- acid) can't lead to poor adhesions, not to mention discoloration of enhancements.

Actually what GMG said is perfectly true.

Rightly or wrongly, many techs do prime not once or even twice but three or more times IN THE HOPE that it will do their prep for them. It may not work as far as making the product adhere better (and the GMG did not say that it did) but it is what they believe works.

Also you have put 'can't' when I think you mean 'can' ... haven't you?

Thanks for the correction Geeg, yes I meant to say can...... I totally agreed that some techs think that primer is what make the nail stick, and the more is the better...... I just want to point out that it's not true that you will get better result using more prime than needed.

I am in complete agreement with what you say and so is the GMG!