Bitten nails ahhhhhhhh

[Marj]

I have just re-started to do nails again within the last month........so far all i have had is bad nail biters.........I have put tips on but they never look great .............any tips on this subject would be more than welcome, as I am now so fed up I feel like packing in again:sad:

 

[geeg]

I have just re-started to do nails again within the last month........so far all i have had is bad nail biters.........I have put tips on but they never look great .............any tips on this subject would be more than welcome, as I am now so fed up I feel like packing in again:sad:

If you have been out of the nail business for some time, you may not be aware of the latest 'make over' techniques available with opaque powders etc that can totally transform the look of nail biters' nails?

Formerly it was difficult to make a 'silk purse out of a sows ear' with biters, but now with opaque powders from CND you can!! Maybe a refresher class using these would help you. If people have ugly nails it is hard to make them pretty without using new techniques or using polish to disguise or create illusion. I wouldn't blame yourself for what biters have done to themselves!!

 

[Little-Aussie]

have you tried using forms instead of tips?

 

[Marj]

Its getting to places to do these courses............I have thought about sculpting......maybe these new nail forms might do it???

 

[geeg]

have you tried using forms instead of tips?

I do not think that form sculpted nails should or would look any different on a nail biter.

A good sculpted nail looks as good and lasts as well as a well-applied tip in my opinion and one should not really be able to tell the difference between the two.

Unless the technician is an expert at sculpting, then I personally would use tips on a bitten nail. Tips offer instant shape and design and neither tips nor forms will create a make-over without using opaque powders or polish to cover.

Frankly, unless one is a pretty darned good nail tech, I'd not even attempt to do bitten nails, which are difficult, require an very good eye and a very good knowledge of exactly where to place your product .. doing them well is an expert's job. Get your confidence to a good level and then tackle the biters otherwise they will destroy your confidence as they seem to be doing already.

 

[Marj]

They certainly are.............its so hard right now

 

[Lellipop]

This may help http://www.salongeek.com/nail-application/5746-tipping-bitten-nail.html

 

[user 35377]

I wish I would remember to take more pictures! Aargh!
Anyway, what I do (and have great success with) is sculpting on biters. I use Scotch tape in 3 pieces to "pre-wrap" the nail by using one on each side at an angle ("V" shape) to help pull back those sidewalls and then the third piece straight across the bottome of the non-existent free edge. Butt it right up to what is left of the nail. Pull it pretty tightly to get all that bulging skin on the fingertip out of the way for sculpting. This allows you to put the form in the correct place as if the nail were 'normal'. I then sculpt out the nail bed in a coverage pink forming a new smile line where it would normally be and then butt the free edge right up to the pink. After this is done, I use a clear to cover the whole nail adding a little extra in the apex area and where the pink meets the white for added strength. I also only sculpt shorter rounded free edges on biters for the first few weeks so they can slowly get used to the idea of having nails and don't bust them off the first day. Let them get used to them before you start letting them grow out a little and giving them different shapes.
HTH!

 

[tonitigercharli]

Good idea! Never thought of that, keeps product off the skin too x

I wish I would remember to take more pictures! Aargh!
Anyway, what I do (and have great success with) is sculpting on biters. I use Scotch tape in 3 pieces to "pre-wrap" the nail by using one on each side at an angle ("V" shape) to help pull back those sidewalls and then the third piece straight across the bottome of the non-existent free edge. Butt it right up to what is left of the nail. Pull it pretty tightly to get all that bulging skin on the fingertip out of the way for sculpting. This allows you to put the form in the correct place as if the nail were 'normal'. I then sculpt out the nail bed in a coverage pink forming a new smile line where it would normally be and then butt the free edge right up to the pink. After this is done, I use a clear to cover the whole nail adding a little extra in the apex area and where the pink meets the white for added strength. I also only sculpt shorter rounded free edges on biters for the first few weeks so they can slowly get used to the idea of having nails and don't bust them off the first day. Let them get used to them before you start letting them grow out a little and giving them different shapes.
HTH!