Hiya Im really new to to this, only qualified in May using the salon system products. The course was not great and I have come away with little confidence in my extensions.
Re. uv gel- I always make sure my prep and application is perfect but have had nothing but problems. Nails are coming off the same day and by the end of the week they are all off, mainly due to cracking rather than lifting. I have done about 7 sets including my own and all have been roughly the same.
Fibreglass I have given up on and the acrylic isnt much better.
Im really in a muddle, the only other gel I really know about is bio sculture and as much as I would live to do the course its gonna cost a bomb and I have spent a fortune already. I am starting in a salon soon and really want to get a better gel so I wont have loads of problems, PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP???

I have heard of acrygel, star and ibd, which is best? Will I have to buy a new lamp? Should I bother doing another course?

I did a conversion course with ezflow gel it Grafton International Ltd - EzFlow Education.
The kit and training came as a whole package and was not very much at all.Other companies do the same.You may have to purchase another lamp you may not.
It is best to do a conversion as different gels may require different applications also some companies will not sell you their products without the training.
You can never have too much training and most nail techs never just do the one course.All the best ones have ongoing training and will have spent hundreds sometimes thousands.
It depends where you want to go with your career,think of it as an investment.
Also do a search on here to find the gels that have the best reputations and training.

Hi there

If you have confidence in your training then try Young Nail gels. You can order a trial kit from their website and at the same time order the DVD which is really, really great! You will receive your order the next day and their customer service is second to none! Their gel is one of the best on the market I have had mine on for 3 weeks with no lifting, chipping or discolouration! This way you are not paying out for another course, which, in my humble opinion may not be necessary at the moment. What you need is practice with a decent product that you can rely on. If after trying this you find you still have problems then that is the time to consider more training.

I do hope this helps you my darling!

Love

Sheila

Thanks Shelia and Gillian for your replies.
I have looked at both on youtube, the exflow i thought needed excess filing at the end plus i would never use an electric buffer/file on anyones nail. the young nails looks quite good especially the price.

Would like to hear more about these products and other products too before i go ordering so keep replies coming please

caz x x

I never use an electric file ive never even held one in my life.
Ezflow is a very easy gel to file and if you put it on well in application which they will teach you at the conversion there is very little filing to do anyway.
Ive never seen a video of ezflow using an efile but they do on the young site are you sure you haven't got them confused.
Not that there is anything wrong with an efile in the right hands but neither systems need them.

I have started using young nails products and bought the DVD, send me a PM if you like and we can have a chat about it I will point you in the right direction.

Zoe x

OMG, the further i go with my search the more confused i get.
what about ibd? cnd? acrygel? the edge? star nails? if anyone knows of any i should really stay away from please let me know.
I wish someone told me never to do the course i did, but hey you have got to make mistakes to learn by them right?

I can highly recomend a conversion course to CND Brisa gel

Caz, the problem is not your gel - it's your technique. You need education - sorry to say this, but if your nails fall of after one day your application is very poor.

It's not your fault - I'm sorry, but the school you went to just didn't do their job. There's a lot of schools like that unfortunately, and if people were willing to train longer and pay more (like hairdressers or beauticians) the bad schools would be weeded out.

First off, find the manufacturers website of the gel you have and call them. try to see if they can offer local support - maybe a reseller in your area who can go through the application stages with you again.

If that doesn't work or they are unhelpful, find another gel. There is no "best". Nothing that you will be able to use and the nails won't fall off. There's no short cut, sorry again. But take a conversion course which will teach you how to use their product (every manufacturer has slightly different application).

To make a good set of nails requires that an average tech makes 100 sets. But in reality, the practice never stops if you want to be good.

My advice if you have to, is find a big company - EZ Flow, CND, NSI are probably the main ones. If you live near London, you might try Kinetics as Margareta Belska is an excellent nail tech and educator - she's also a friend of ours who I can totally recommend.

Don't panic now. This is just a hiccup on the journey. Keep your cool, follow the steps I've suggested and with hard work and practice you will be running ;-)

Good luck!

Bob

Which gel are you using now?

Can you list the prep and application steps you are doing and I'll show to Iryna - maybe she can offer advice.

Are you using top gel or sealent?

Hiya Bob,

Thanks for the reply, I am using Salon System products.
The gel part of the course itself only lasted a day.

I sanitise,
remove any polish,
push back cuticles and remove,
remove the shine with a white block,
size up tips and apply and blend(if needed)
use nail prep
apply a thin layer of bonder and cure for 1 min
apply white gel to tip if french look is required and cure for 2 mins
apply pink or clear gel to entire nail, building up the stress area, cure for 2 mins
apply second layer of pink or clear to entire nail and cure for 2 mins
wipe with 'wipe off'
white block it to smooth out bumps and shape
wipe with sanitiser
buff or apply high gloss and cure for further 2 mins
apply cuticle oil

I live in the south west so training is hard to find close by.

caz

caz, take it you trained with salon services?
1 day i had lost my pro pusher cuticle tool and i went there to buy 1, i got the best in the store and it was soooo pants! so i would suggest you get a good cuticle tool 1st, mehaz, ezflow, or tu (i think its tu)
you also dont appear to be dehydrating the nail plate - cheaper products do not do a dehydrator, ezflow do 1 call ezbond and creative do scrubfresh, either of these will do
with regards to cracking, try curing longer
make sure you build your stress area and that the nail isnt too thin
in the mean time try a few trial kits, then when you've the money do a conversion, it ont be much and you will learn loads and get some confidence

Hi Caz
Nco is a really good gel to use and offers a goood range, good luck x

For further information on CND Brisa Gel conversion ring 08452106060 or look at www.sweetsquared.com the UK home of CND

Happy to send course information to you or to discuss in person.

Sounds as if you need much better education than you encountered and CND is the place to get it.

thanks for all the replies.
Im debating between young nails, ibd soak off and acrygel now.
At least i have narrowed it done to three lol.