Hello Geeks,
Apologies for making my first post (after much lurking) a whingy one but I could really use an expert opinion on this one and I know that you can't swing a cat for hitting a professional on this site!
Long story short, my hairdresser (who is amazing and luckily has her salon so close to my house I can see it from my front door) decided to rent her spare room to a nail tech and gave some of her regulars a voucher for a free manicure. I had mine yesterday afternoon and well, the only pleasure I got from it was realising I'm not as bad at doing my own nails as I thought I was. I didn't complain at the time because it was a freebie and I'm horribly shy but if these aren't normal practices, I'm worried about the impact it could have on my hairdresser's business. This was also my first "proper" manicure so I was hoping some of you lovely Geeks could have a look at this list of things that happened and tell me if they're complaint worthy or I'm just being a fussy baby.
- I asked for my cuticles to be tidied up, she used a metal scraper (sorry I don't know the name for it, it was quite wide though) from the top of my nail to the nail bed and pushed. She then cut the skin around my nails with nippers and this weird little knife thing; some of my nails bled and now a good twelve hours and four coats of Solar Oil later, they're still red and incredibly sore.
- I asked for my nails to be filed as short as they could go (I'm a guitar player) and shaped evenly. She used a super abrasive nail file (the grit side was so harsh you could see bumps on it - was this for acrylics maybe?) didn't remove any length and didn't even my nails up as they're all different lengths (not in a "different lengths just so they look the same" kinda way either) and the edge of my nails was rough enough to catch on my clothes.
- Before painting my nails, she used a really harsh buffer (I have an OPI one at home and even on the roughest surface, I could rub it across my face and not have any problems - not that I make a habit of facial buffing) and didn't remove all of the leftover nail residue before putting the polish on. Edit; My nails feel really soft and weak as well now, related to the buffing?
- Nope, didn't miss a step there. She didn't use any kind of base coat and didn't allow any drying time between the two polish coats either. She just painted pinkie to pinkie and back again. The polish she used (China Glaze's "Bogie") is one that I have at home and it's a definite three coater but I only got two.
- She applied a top coat, warning me that she'd had some problems with this on natural nails and then put my fingers under a UV lamp. Does this sound like she's used the wrong one?
- After that, she applied cuticle oil (which stung horribly because of my poor eponychium - yay for expanding my vocabulary through pain) and I left.
Now, remember me saying that I live so close I can see this place from my front door? I hadn't even crossed the road that divides the two streets before I noticed how smudged this polish was and that it had chipped off in two places on my thumb. As the day's worn on, more and more of it has fallen off but because of whatever she used as a top coat, I just can't get the stuff off (Orly Extra Strength and even 99.9% acetone hasn't shifted it at all) and my nails look horrendous now. Where the polish has come off, my nails are horribly stained and because Bogie is a deep purple, this staining looks like I've trapped my fingers in a door!
I know that just being unhappy with the service should be reason enough to complain but I feel terrible right now and I wouldn't feel comfortable complaining about something I don't know that much about as I'm not qualified in anything beauty related.
I'd be really grateful for any advice regarding this situation or just what to do with my poor nails now. Thank you!
Apologies for making my first post (after much lurking) a whingy one but I could really use an expert opinion on this one and I know that you can't swing a cat for hitting a professional on this site!
Long story short, my hairdresser (who is amazing and luckily has her salon so close to my house I can see it from my front door) decided to rent her spare room to a nail tech and gave some of her regulars a voucher for a free manicure. I had mine yesterday afternoon and well, the only pleasure I got from it was realising I'm not as bad at doing my own nails as I thought I was. I didn't complain at the time because it was a freebie and I'm horribly shy but if these aren't normal practices, I'm worried about the impact it could have on my hairdresser's business. This was also my first "proper" manicure so I was hoping some of you lovely Geeks could have a look at this list of things that happened and tell me if they're complaint worthy or I'm just being a fussy baby.
- I asked for my cuticles to be tidied up, she used a metal scraper (sorry I don't know the name for it, it was quite wide though) from the top of my nail to the nail bed and pushed. She then cut the skin around my nails with nippers and this weird little knife thing; some of my nails bled and now a good twelve hours and four coats of Solar Oil later, they're still red and incredibly sore.
- I asked for my nails to be filed as short as they could go (I'm a guitar player) and shaped evenly. She used a super abrasive nail file (the grit side was so harsh you could see bumps on it - was this for acrylics maybe?) didn't remove any length and didn't even my nails up as they're all different lengths (not in a "different lengths just so they look the same" kinda way either) and the edge of my nails was rough enough to catch on my clothes.
- Before painting my nails, she used a really harsh buffer (I have an OPI one at home and even on the roughest surface, I could rub it across my face and not have any problems - not that I make a habit of facial buffing) and didn't remove all of the leftover nail residue before putting the polish on. Edit; My nails feel really soft and weak as well now, related to the buffing?
- Nope, didn't miss a step there. She didn't use any kind of base coat and didn't allow any drying time between the two polish coats either. She just painted pinkie to pinkie and back again. The polish she used (China Glaze's "Bogie") is one that I have at home and it's a definite three coater but I only got two.
- She applied a top coat, warning me that she'd had some problems with this on natural nails and then put my fingers under a UV lamp. Does this sound like she's used the wrong one?
- After that, she applied cuticle oil (which stung horribly because of my poor eponychium - yay for expanding my vocabulary through pain) and I left.
Now, remember me saying that I live so close I can see this place from my front door? I hadn't even crossed the road that divides the two streets before I noticed how smudged this polish was and that it had chipped off in two places on my thumb. As the day's worn on, more and more of it has fallen off but because of whatever she used as a top coat, I just can't get the stuff off (Orly Extra Strength and even 99.9% acetone hasn't shifted it at all) and my nails look horrendous now. Where the polish has come off, my nails are horribly stained and because Bogie is a deep purple, this staining looks like I've trapped my fingers in a door!
I know that just being unhappy with the service should be reason enough to complain but I feel terrible right now and I wouldn't feel comfortable complaining about something I don't know that much about as I'm not qualified in anything beauty related.
I'd be really grateful for any advice regarding this situation or just what to do with my poor nails now. Thank you!
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