Beginner training in nails

[jlb24]

I have been recommended this group from various people. I have been a stay at home mum for the past few years after suffering a breakdown cause by an abusive marriage. After a lot of therapy and antidepressants I have realised that I cannot go back out to the workplace in the job I use to do (accounts) and with the help of various therapy I have had for my depression/anxiety I decided I would like to do something for myself and would like to train as a Nail Technician.

I noticed a lot of people are recommending courses with CND but looking on their website the courses are individual and I cant see one for a basic manicure and pedicure. I have found a course with Next Step Beauty who offer a complete Nail Technician course which will cover manicure, Fiberglass, Silk, Gel extensions and acrylic extensions for £354. I have some questions which I hope someone will be able to answer?

Firstly has anyone done this course with Next Step Beauty? Secondly how big a demand is there for nails? If Im self employed I am worried that most of the work will be evenings and weekends (which I don't mind) but Im guessing there is not much of a need for nails during the week as everyone is at work?? Or have I got this wrong, it would be interesting to talk to someone who is already a self employed nail technician to see if they have any booking through out the week during the day time.

I am also looking at the Foot Health Practitioners course and wondered if anyone has done this and which college they recommend, also Im guessing there are pretty high start up costs as a foot practitioner as I have just found out one of the items you need to purchase is a autoclave, but haven't a clue on any of the other items I would need to purchase. Im desperately trying to get myself off benefits, put my terrible life behind me and retrain, but I do seem to be hitting my head on a brick wall getting advise on both these courses I want to go on. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Billy_grunted]

Hi, good to hear that you're focused Lovely, in a similar situation myself! Aston & Fincher was who I used, they are up and down the Country and cost was very reasonable. Keep smiling, keep positive and keep believing in yourself!

 

[Dazzlingnails]

Hey there. I am self employed and I don't work to many evenings and keep some weekends off. Lots of people have different schedules. Sometimes unless you work late during week you might need to work a satuday. There is always a demand for nails but always competition depending on where your located. Adding extra services always helps. Is the courses your looking to do online?

 

[Beautiful-you]

Hi, I've just had a quick look at Next Steps website. Am I right in saying it's an online course with 3 practical days? In my honest opinion I would always recommend a course with as much hands on practice as possible because although you can certainly learn the anatomy and physiology and theory online, nothing beats hands on experience with a tutor there to watch over you and spot if you're picking up bad habits. 3 days doesn't seem very long to learn everything from scratch. My local college runs evening nail tech courses for adults, which is all hands on. It would be worth checking with your local college.

It states the course is acreddited. It could be that it is only acreddited with one insurance company, so you might want to phone some of the recognised companies like Salon Gold etc to see if they will cover the course, which will give you more choice/flexibility when it comes to choosing your insurance.

I have a salon based at my home address and rarely work weekends. I do work evenings, but have been pleasantly surprised how many clients book during the day Monday to Friday, so don't let that put you off.

Good luck with your new venture! I love being my own boss and the flexibility it gives. Be prepared for it to take a while after your initial training to be fully competent though, producing beautiful nails is an art that takes LOTS of practice to master - I'm still striving for it! X

 

[Curlywurly82]

I had a look at my local college part time level two nail treatment course - it was for two months and four hour evening so would only total four days if it was done as a full time short course. So 3 days practice is not necessarily far off it is a content with equivalent course

 

[Beautiful-you]

I had a look at my local college part time level two nail treatment course - it was for two months and four hour evening so would only total four days if it was done as a full time short course. So 3 days practice is not necessarily far off it is a content with equivalent course

But I expect the college course would give an industry recognised Level 2 qualification which enables you to get insurance from all the main insurers? I would always check what actual qualification you get at the end of the course because even if the course is cheaper, it's still a lot of money to fork out if the "qualification" isn't widely recognised afterwards.

 

[Curlywurly82]

But I expect the college course would give an industry recognised Level 2 qualification which enables you to get insurance from all the main insurers? I would always check what actual qualification you get at the end of the course because even if the course is cheaper, it's still a lot of money to fork out if the "qualification" isn't widely recognised afterwards.

Yes I can appreciate that. When I qualified in manicure and pedicure I took months reviewing courses, researching, looking for reviews.

I only did a short course with the idea of doing a short courses spending a year or two practising on friends and family and honing skills and then going back and doing a level 2.

 

[donnamich]

If you are wanting to do an at home course i would go with essential nails. I have done a course with next step and although i passed there were a lot of things not explained well enough so i had to find out things myself on you tube etc. I couldn't imagine training in acrylic with them xx

 

[Louisa Goldstone-Smith]

I did the same next step beauty course as you state above and I did not feel competent enough to practice after having a hard time mastering the 4 systems all in one go. My case studies on models didn't turn out so great and I totally lost my confidence. I have had to start all over again with 1 system/technique at a time and then when that's mastered move on to the next. Out of the 4 of us at the course, only 1 person felt they could do this in real life.

I also suffer from depression and anxiety and didn't realise how hard it would be. I'm still not yet ready to practice until I complete more training. It could be because I'm frightened I'm not good enough. I have a course Thursday, so we will see. Good luck x

 

[Trinity]

I did the same next step beauty course as you state above and I did not feel competent enough to practice after having a hard time mastering the 4 systems all in one go. My case studies on models didn't turn out so great and I totally lost my confidence. I have had to start all over again with 1 system/technique at a time and then when that's mastered move on to the next. Out of the 4 of us at the course, only 1 person felt they could do this in real life.

I also suffer from depression and anxiety and didn't realise how hard it would be. I'm still not yet ready to practice until I complete more training. It could be because I'm frightened I'm not good enough. I have a course Thursday, so we will see. Good luck x

I'm sorry you had a bad time with your training, it's something we see over and over again here, there are no shortcuts or fast ways to great training. Hopefully you'll get some better quality training now and soar in your chosen profession, well done for not giving up. Nails is hard, so much harder than anyone thinks, and when you think you've cracked it, you have a bad day and wonder if you'll ever master it, but you will. Patience and practise - remember though, Perfect Practise makes Perfect, not just any practise it has to be right in the first place.

 

[Ericap22]

I signed up for training with next step beauty and got completely done over. The case is now with my credit card to be escalated to courts as they are refusing to give my money back, Personally is stay well away!

 

[Taw]

Hi jlb24, I did a foot health practitioner course last year. The course itself cost £2k and took a year with 10 days practical training in a foot clinic. I did mine with Stonebridge in bham, the biggest one is the smae institute in maidenhead I think, it was the original and best if you can get there. The other one is the west midlands in Blackheath. All good providers, just depends where you live. It is really expensive to set up, the biggest purchase is an autoclave you can buy good second hand from about £800 , new from about £1200 +and ultrasonic cleaner about 100 to 200. Then all the products, tools etc. I couldn't afford this either but what I did once qualified was work mobile for a year charging £15 for nail cutting and hard skin filing in people's homes. Mainly those who couldnt get out or were housebound. I also offered simple nail painting for a small extra charge. In this way I didn't need an autoclave as I used patient held kits(they bought a simple foot care kit and I cleaned it each time ready for next time.) I used mundo product range as tools only need to be sanitised and disinfected for non invasive work. I saved and now rent a chair for my fhp work. BTW it isn't industry best practice but it is still perfectly legal to use cold sterilisation products, there are plenty to choose from on the market for a fraction of the cost of an autoclave.something like glutaraldehyde based, they absolutely do the job. Would still invest in an ultrasonic though as tools need to be spotless before sterilising. A lot to think about. A fhp doesn't really do nails in the tech sense though, it's more foot health so you have to be clear about which direction you go in before investing. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Podlady]

Hi jlb24, I did a foot health practitioner course last year. The course itself cost £2k and took a year with 10 days practical training in a foot clinic. I did mine with Stonebridge in bham, the biggest one is the smae institute in maidenhead I think, it was the original and best if you can get there. The other one is the west midlands in Blackheath. All good providers, just depends where you live. It is really expensive to set up, the biggest purchase is an autoclave you can buy good second hand from about £800 , new from about £1200 +and ultrasonic cleaner about 100 to 200. Then all the products, tools etc. I couldn't afford this either but what I did once qualified was work mobile for a year charging £15 for nail cutting and hard skin filing in people's homes. Mainly those who couldnt get out or were housebound. I also offered simple nail painting for a small extra charge. In this way I didn't need an autoclave as I used patient held kits(they bought a simple foot care kit and I cleaned it each time ready for next time.) I used mundo product range as tools only need to be sanitised and disinfected for non invasive work. I saved and now rent a chair for my fhp work. BTW it isn't industry best practice but it is still perfectly legal to use cold sterilisation products, there are plenty to choose from on the market for a fraction of the cost of an autoclave.something like glutaraldehyde based, they absolutely do the job. Would still invest in an ultrasonic though as tools need to be spotless before sterilising. A lot to think about. A fhp doesn't really do nails in the tech sense though, it's more foot health so you have to be clear about which direction you go in before investing. Good luck with whatever you decide.

As a podiatrist with over 25 years experience may I suggest that you rethink your sterilisation protocols?

Gluteraldehyde based products can have an irritating vapour which can cause respataory problems. Acute or chronic exposure can result in skin irritation or dermatitis, mucous membrane irritation (eye, nose, mouth), or pulmonary symptoms.
In addition, have you considered how you dispose of the solution after you have soaked the instruments in it?

You can afford an autoclave because there are lease-to-buy options out there.

If you charge your patients enough you can re-invest in your business to buy an autoclave that sterilises instruments in pouches and there are lease-to-buy options available.

HTH

 

[Taw]

Hi I decided in the end to go with disposables and pay the waste charges, it is still less of a cost than leasing and I'm not tied into a contract

 

[Podlady]

Hi I decided in the end to go with disposables and pay the waste charges, it is still less of a cost than leasing and I'm not tied into a contract

Disposables are fine as a stop-gap but I think you may have to review your choice after about a year. All the money you will have paid for something you are throwing away could have bought you an autoclave that has a marketable value.

My NHS collegues are always complaining about the poor quality of these instruments. Sometimes they have to open 3 packs to get a pair of nail-nippers whose blades actually meet ! (That's OK I suppose if you don't have to pay for them )

In addition, the incidence of RSI among NHS Podiatrists seems to have skyrocketed since some NHS Trusts went over to disposable instruments.

 

[Taw]

Yes noted. I've done forecasts and about a year is good review point. BTW I've found the quality of disposable tools to be fine. Never binned an unused pair yet. I don't know how many clients see in a day, more than me I bet, I can understand how they get rsi. But I'm in clinic only one day a week.