2 hrs 30 mins to remove gel by another salon

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ButterflyGal

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I had a new client come in today who wanted gels removed and a reapplication.

She has had her gels done elsewhere which i believe is a Non Standard Salon.

And it took me 2hr30 mins to remove them, i dont use the e-file so i had to hand file them :(

She had to rescheduled her appointment for Saturday to get her new full set done.

Is this normal!? for a buff off gel? without the e-file??

I think i did them once and it only took me i think 1 hour which is fair enough.

Thank God i use CND BL for my clients
 
Removal time for these 'unknown' gels that are so difficult to remove depends on the type of gel and the thickness with which it has been applied. I have had the pleasure... Not :rolleyes:of removing inches thick of gel. Okay, I am exagerating, but you know what I mean. Perhaps what you could do next time is to remove the bulk of the gel with an electric file to get rid of the thickness and then use your hand file as you get closer to the nail plate.

I hope you charged your client for the 2 and a half hours removal service as you should be paid fairly for your time. Well done for doing it, as gruelling as it can be, but chances are you have a new client who won't be tempted to go back to an NNS salon no matter how cheap.
 
Well unfortunetly i dont own an efile, and surprising enough it wasnt that thick! Just very tough to file.

I dont know if i was doing it right but dont think i want to remove gel nails again that are not done by me.

I charged £20 for the removal, usually i charge 10.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app
 
Which grit file did you use? Well done I would have gotten sooo bored doing all that filing!


Laura xx
 
Haha thanks.

It was the hotshot file which i believe it 180 grit?

Guess i should of used 100 or 80 grit, not sure if i have any tho.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app
 
Hotshot is 100 on one side and 180 on the other. Bet you needed a few hotshots to get through them! You poor thing!

Can I ask why the client wanted a complete removal and reapplication? If she had a full set of nails on why not rebalance them?
You could have spent that time, less probably, re-designing the shape and length, applying Brisa Lite Sculpting Gel to the growth, repositioning the apex and applying a beautiful new colour?
 
I stand corrected, but i was using the hotshot file and now needs to be put in the bin! Lucky i have bought new ones.

And i was thinking that wee fee but wasnt sure if i could do so as its product that i dont even know of, then using BL ontop and would it not cause problems? :)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app
 
I had a similar task on my first mobile client. They were awfully thick...the shape was dreadful and it had taken the girl 30mins to apply the full set...the woman's fingers heat spiked badly when she had done them as when I put her a new set on she asked why it didn't hurt :| took me 2hrs to remove along with 3 files...if I'd of known what state her nails were in I'd of told her to have them removed first x
 
Unless there are signs of bacterial growth or other problems going on under the gel then it is usually okay to rebalance over a hard gel.

Regarding the pricing for removal, you could stipulate in your pricing that you allow X amount of time at X cost for a product you have applied. Extra time spent removing a gel will be charged at eg. £10 per extra half hour. This way you would have been paid £50 for your 2 and a half hours of labour.

I would not recommend turning away potential business as you lose the work and a customer who may end up going to competitor or prying the gel off herself and damaging her nails. The removal time, as laborious as it is, also allows you the opportunity to educate your client.
 
I stand corrected, but i was using the hotshot file and now needs to be put in the bin! Lucky i have bought new ones.

And i was thinking that wee fee but wasnt sure if i could do so as its product that i dont even know of, then using BL ontop and would it not cause problems? :)

You are right to be cautious! There are pros who choose not to remove other's work.
Official CND protocol would recommend not removing or maintaining anyone else's work if you want to guarantee the best results from your CND systems.

But we know in reality that turning away a client in need is a bad move.
Whether removing or maintaining another tech's work you are taking the exact same risk - you being blamed for the other techs improper work. Even if you remove the product carefully and properly, if that previous tech filed all hell out of the client's natural nail she could blame you as you did the removal, she didn't know they were damaged until YOU took them off. With a rebalance you run the risk of there being service breakdown through no fault of yours, again, the client could blame you or your product.

In cases like this I make sure the client understands that I should really turn her away and tell her to go have them removed at the place she had them done, but that I'm happy to help her if she is happy to let me try my best to work with what she's got. I also have a wee letter as an addition to the client record card which states:

I _________________________________, herby consent to a Nail Enhancement Rebalance performed by Fiona Wallace.
I understand the product and application technique used to apply my current nail enhancements is unknown to Fiona and she accepts no responsibility for damage that may have been caused to my natural nails by another nail technician/salon.
I understand and intend to follow professional aftercare advice.
Signed ____________________________________ Date _________________


This isn't exactly legally binding, but it lets the client know I'm serious. I would also state that I charge full set price when performing a rebalance on someone else's work (to cover me incase it takes a lot of time), then if the rebalance turns out not to be any more time consuming than usual just charge her for a rebalance, and the client is delighted.
 
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You are right to be cautious! There are pros who choose not to remove other's work.
Official CND protocol would recommend not removing or maintaining anyone else's work if you want to guarantee the best results from your CND systems.

But we know in reality that turning away a client in need is a bad move.
Whether removing or maintaining another tech's work you are taking the exact same risk - you being blamed for the other techs improper work. Even if you remove the product carefully and properly, if that previous tech filed all hell out of the client's natural nail she could blame you as you did the removal, she didn't know they were damaged until YOU took them off. With a rebalance you run the risk of there being service breakdown through no fault of yours, again, the client could blame you or your product.

In cases like this I make sure the client understands that I should really turn her away and tell her to go have them removed at the place she had them done, but that I'm happy to help her if she is happy to let me try my best to work with what she's got. I also have a wee letter as an addition to the client record card which states:

I _________________________________, herby consent to a Nail Enhancement Rebalance performed by Fiona Wallace.
I understand the product and application technique used to apply my current nail enhancements is unknown to Fiona and she excepts no responsibility for damage that may have been caused to my natural nails by another nail technician/salon.
I understand and intend to follow professional aftercare advice.
Signed ____________________________________ Date _________________


This isn't exactly legally binding, but it lets the client know I'm serious. I would also state that I charge full set price when performing a rebalance on someone else's work (to cover me incase it takes a lot of time), then if the rebalance turns out not to be any more time consuming than usual just charge her for a rebalance, and the client is delighted.


Great stuff! Excellent to have that in writing. I need to start getting serious like this too. I really shy away from removing other tech's work unless its a regular client who has been elsewhere while on holiday or some such. I would hate to be blamed for someone else doing the initial damage, which I see all too many times.

"accepts" not "excepts". Sorry! :o
 
Thank you Fee! You're a gem :) x
 
I think you need to rethink your file situation! It is not unusual to use several files on 1 client. It seems that you are surprised that you've used 1 file and have to bin it?

On hard gels like it seems you were presented with, it should be obvious very soon that it needs several heavy duty files (with a careful touch) are needed to get it off quickly. That length of time is too long and not really the clients fault.

Have plenty of 80/100 in stock for this situation and don't file down to the nail plate
 

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