NSS in the US

[MoMo]

I know from looking around on this site that very few of you are from the US and you talk about the non-standard salons you have in your areas. The number of salons in your area seems minimal compared to the ones in the US. Just in my city alone there has got to be between 200 and 300 and with in a 2 mile radius of my house probably about 15 - 20. I'm not saying they all practice bad prep and sanitation but every salon I've ever been to has. I was very naive until I had them done by a true professional several years back. It is very hard where I live to find a "nail salon" that doesn't charge dirt cheap prices. If you want a quality safe set of enhancements done you have to go a full service salon and spa to find one and there are not too many like that. It just seems like they keep popping up like cockroaches. I have actually seen young girls (maybe 17 or 18yrs) practicing and being trained in the salons. I know this has been talked about a million times, just thought you would like the US point of view.

 

[geeg]

It is VERY interesting to hear the US point of view because hopefully we can learn by what is happening there now and learn from it so we can cope with what is surely going to happen here.

It is happening ... has been for more than a few years now. It was an isolated problem round London but is spreadung far and wide now. Thanks so much for your perspective.

This site is getting more international by the minute and we love it. One or two new geeks (not meaning yourself) have been rather patronising though in their comments as if we all here in the UK are just 'wet behind the ears'. We have had thriving nail business here for 20 years and I may say (proudly) also boast the best trrained nail technicians in the world information-wise. Our UK technicians really value good education as I'm sure can be seen by this site. x

 

[MoMo]

As a consumer and not a nail tech I may not have the best observation, but I do know what I've seen and what's been done to me in the past. I'm always out looking for perfection as I am extremely picky so I've been to many different salons looking for that, which now I know did not practice good sanitation and prep. Luckily I never had a severe damage(that I could noticed). I'm certainly not by any means saying that all these lower price salons are bad but it seems to be getting that way more everday. If you were to open up our neighborhood phone book under nail salons 99% of the ones listed I would believe to be NSS, but I may be very wrong. Just my opinion of what I've seen.

 

[ValencianNails]

being picky is good you're looking at it from a client point of view, that's how you perceive the nail industry in your local town/city.
perfection is what every worthy nail technician should be striving towards being, or as close as is possible to perfection.
xx

 

[geeg]

Ah but according to Little Tree ...What is perfection ?, What are standards ?, who decides what is perfection and what are good standards? , How do we know ????? Man alive like Descartes you could drive yourself mad with all that. Like we don't have minds, or can't figure it out for ourselves?

Surely High standards mean ... caring for the health of the clients' nails and doing everything in our power to maintain that health. Not using anything (product, implement or machine) in such a way that would have a deleterious effect on the natural nail. Offering a high standard of cleanliness and customer service! ETC ETC ETC. We don't have to search too deeply do we?

 

[Jeni Giles]

From a school and small town point of view...not all NSS are what they are cracked up to be. There are some very talented individuals that practice very good sanitation and prep that work in some of the chain salons that don't use as high of quality product as other salons that use high quality, but poor prep and sanitation.

The demographics for salons is as vast as our country, in California there is a nail salon on almost every corner, while in Idaho there are maybe 15 or 20 salons per city (except Boise which is a metropolitan area)

As an instructor, and in the schools, we give the best education we can, and we realize that not every school sets standards as high as ours, but we realize that our graduates will seek employment at any place they can. The Non Standard Salons are often the ones who employ enough people to offer benefits such as health insurance or a retirement plan.

It all comes back to the individual behind the nail table, if they do what they should, it won't matter the type of salon, the entire industry will raise to a more professional level. As long as I make sure that my graduates are well informed and they keep up on their education as well as educating their clients for after care and maintenece, then I don't have to worry about Non Standard Salons in my area, because there won't be any!!! (there will still be chain salons that offer services at a discount, but they will be offering a "standard" service)

 

[americangirl]

I know from looking around on this site that very few of you are from the US and you talk about the non-standard salons you have in your areas. The number of salons in your area seems minimal compared to the ones in the US. Just in my city alone there has got to be between 200 and 300 and with in a 2 mile radius of my house probably about 15 - 20. I'm not saying they all practice bad prep and sanitation but every salon I've ever been to has. I was very naive until I had them done by a true professional several years back. It is very hard where I live to find a "nail salon" that doesn't charge dirt cheap prices. If you want a quality safe set of enhancements done you have to go a full service salon and spa to find one and there are not too many like that. It just seems like they keep popping up like cockroaches. I have actually seen young girls (maybe 17 or 18yrs) practicing and being trained in the salons. I know this has been talked about a million times, just thought you would like the US point of view.

I live in an area where nail enhancements are not at all popular....we have an Aveda salon that only does spa mani's and pedi's. I have to travel atleast 20 miles to see a nail salon period and in the bigger cities you see A LOT of Asian owned salons. Im not trying to be mean but it does seem the cheapest nail salons are many. I think the going rate for a full set right now is 28$ and a fill is 18$. Before i started doing nails, I used to go to these salons and even tho i never had any sanitation problems the quality of the enhancements were horrible. They were super super thick and wouldnt come off to save my soul....so i really wonder what product they use. After going to school for nails i found that if you are in HS or have a GED and atleast 16 yrs of age....you can attended beauty school so it doesnt suprise me that your seeing 17 and 18 y/o in the salon. Once i went in for a pedicure and they were going to use the SAME WATER that the previous client used!!! I was like "oh hell no".....she was like "no, its clean water".....i walked out! How disgusting!!!! And the salons are so unprofessional...their kids are running about, eating, doing homework, etc.... Many many go to the cheaper salons and may go back a few times until they see someone with enhancements done properly, they usually end up paying the higher fee and going to a real salon. This is just observing my area salons and not intended to insinuate that all cheap salons are like this .