I would avoid doing very pronounced C curves because it can actually damage the finger by causing the nail plate to come off the nail bed. C curve places an upward force on the nail plate.
Its best to avoid this practice because if damage were to happen, every one in the industry will take a hit because of this mistake.
6 years ago — A new client came to me as she was experiencing pain with her acrylic nail enhancements. She said that her tech kept sending her away saying that the pain was normal and then probably just because she was focusing on having nail enhancements on, she had them on for around month with two infill appointments by her tech.. and decided to try somewhere else to see if the pain stopped.
She rightly trusted her own judgement.
On seeing the nails, I could see that they had been pinched and talked through the whole procedure of application.. confirmed the hollow pipes and pinching tool use.
On removal, and as feared, she had a serious onycholosis (lifting of the natural nail plate). Sore, red, infection on the way.
I could literally see how much pain this lady was in by her face when she was talking me through things, bless her she was wincing.
Tech’s don’t realise that they are curving too much and lifting the natural nail off gradually with the curing product, it gets worse with wear, and in a very short time.. clients also do not realise this on application so won’t say anything - they trust the professional.
It’s damage that shouldn’t have to happen.
As much as pinching is lovely, unless you’re completely confident that you can do it without creating an unnecessary problem, then it’s best not to.
I was never confident with it, but never asked for it and mostly didn’t feel I needed it but that’s my own choice, I don’t think that it shouldn’t be done overall but I think there is definitely specific mastery involved in pinching so that you get the free edge curve only.. and not the rest of the enhancement, the bulk over the natural nail plate.
It does look beautiful on competition Y2K nails, and competition nails have a super long free edge, I think for me pinching would always be about competition nails - not general wear nails x
ps sorry for the long client story, just think it’s well worth mentioning.