Can ONE company's product be better than all others?

[AriellaGray]

Can this be possible? I've used a lot of products and have chosen what works for me (Young Nails!) after years of testing and trying out. I've been in so many conversations where nail techs will say their product is just flat out better than any other company's product.

Imagine what that claim would mean - one company out of every single nail product manufacturer out there. I mean, none of you would claim that, right? It's a matter of opinion as to what company's products you consider to be above par. And opinions are neither right nor wrong.

Just curious if you've encountered comments like that?

PS - Hi, my name is Ariella and I'm extremely enthused about doing nails, the industry and to constantly learn.

 

[CurlyQs]

Welcome Ariella I don't like it when brands directly put other brands down but I know we are all very passionate about the systems we love. Maybe they're meaning it's what they've come to love best.

When companies train their techs to believe that their product is 'more natural' and 'won't damage like other brands', now that is dishonest marketing and they only make themselves look bad.

Enjoy the site!

 

[FrenchQueen]

I think this is something we get a lot of,especially on this site. I don't mean this as a negative. I think there are a lot of techs here (myself included)that are VERY passionate about the products they use, which is great. You're right though it is all opinions. We all have different talents,skills and abilities too so even if we all trained exactly the same way there would still be variences person to person. I think the most we can ever say is "this product works better for me than blah blah" and accept that there will always be someone on the other side with a different opinion.
I for one have used several brands and every product I used was the best for me at that time and when I needed something different I moved on to another product.

 

[Mieke]

I don´t think that there is only one superior brand out there since we all have different expectations on how a product has to work for us.

 

[geeg]

I cannot say I agree that is just down to what works best for each individual ... there IS such a thing as the best in my opinion.

Take cars for instance. There ARE cars that do have superiour performance and features over other cars.

Some lesser performing car may be easier to drive than the high performance vehicle for some individuals, but that doesn't make it a better performing car. YOu need good driving lessons to learn to use a high performance car. They DRIVE differently and the driver has to learn to drive differently too.

Every individual has the right to place himself in the market where they are comfortable. Maybe using a high performance product is not your thing (or you have just never learned how to use the product in the way it should be used).

One thing is for certain, when you use the best of something and learn how to use the best of something, you never go back to the 'old' again ... and the reason is that there is such a thing as the BEST and there are reasons as to why it is the best and if YOU think you are a great technician, then there is no way you will stay using a product that can be out performed by another product. "The cream always rises to the top" :green:

 

[Martin Duffy]

Take cars for instance. There ARE cars that do have superiour performance and features over other cars.

For fear of revisiting old ground again, there obviously isn't a SINGLE ONE best car else all racing drivers would be racing exactly the same car, much of racing also comes down to skill of the driver. To reiterate a very old point there are a number of high performing ranges & it is up to the individual to choose the range that they find performs the best.

I find it very hard to believe there is a single range, which in your case is CND, that is THE one & only best product & that anyone who thinks otherwise is either comfortable using a lesser product or a poor technician because they've chosen a lesser product.

 

[geeg]

I find it very hard to believe there is a single range, which in your case is CND, that is THE one & only best product & that anyone who thinks otherwise is either comfortable using a lesser product or a poor technician because they've chosen a lesser product.

You know what ASS umming does?? It makes an ASS out of U and ME

I don't like being misquoted very much by other people nor people posting their own assumptions and making it sound like I have said something I HAVEN'T.

Firstly I never mentioned CND .... you did.

Secondly I never said nor implied that anyone was a poor technician (or a poor driver) if they didn't use (drive) a top product.

Cars or products, if an independent survey was done where all the boxes were ticked on the features and benefits of that particular product, then there would be one or two that came out on top.

Sorry if you don't like the car annalogy but I think it is very apt.

As for your mention of Racing cars is not too clever as racing and ordinary cars are two completely different animals and nothing to do with what I was saying at all. When it comes to cars specifically enginered for racing, there is not much in it at all now is there? They have to duke it out on the track and it is not always the best driver or car that wins so it really has nothing to do with my post at all.

 

[Martin Duffy]

As I said to you in my reply to your PM, if you say:

"if YOU think you are a great technician, then there is no way you will stay using a product that can be out performed by another product"

And believe a single product (in your case CND) to be "the best", then by simple logic it implies that anyone who has chosen to use a product you don't consider to be the best cannot be a great technician.

Put simply, if you say CND is the best performing product & that a great technician would in no way choose anything less, then by extension it implies anyone using anything but that product cannot be a great technician.

Correct me if there is a flaw in that logic, but I can't see what else your comment could possibly mean, unless you are now saying that there are other ranges that perform just as well as CND?

 

[geeg]

As I said to you in my reply to your PM, if you say:

"if YOU think you are a great technician, then there is no way you will stay using a product that can be out performed by another product"

And believe a single product (in your case CND) to be "the best", then by simple logic it implies that anyone who has chosen to use a product you don't consider to be the best cannot be a great technician.

Put simply, if you say CND is the best performing product & that a great technician would in no way choose anything less, then by extension it implies anyone using anything but that product cannot be a great technician.

Correct me if there is a flaw in that logic, but I can't see what else your comment could possibly mean, unless you are now saying that there are other ranges that perform just as well as CND?

The flaw in your logic is that you are adding specifics that I did not say.

Put simply, I did not mention CND.

What I said is

if YOU think you are a great technician, then there is no way you will stay using a product that can be out performed by another product

In other words, that great technicians always move up the ladder with their products because any great artist always wants to use the best. It simply would not make sense not to use the best so that one could perform at ones best.

 

[Maneater]

I don't have the experience that you guys have but in my opinion the oldest saying in the book is a bad workman always blames his tools.
If a great tec uses an average product in my opinion they can make this product look as good as any other and maybe last as good also. As for the best on the market companies are fighting to be the best all the time not just in the nail business this can sometimes be how big company's make there money for example ONS have different Powders ,they use a verity from beginner to VIP only difference is if you know what your doing and label yourself as the best you can use any of these and have great nails.
Don't know everyone will have there own opinion about this , this is mine. If we didn't have opinions we would live in a very boring world.:irked:

 

[Martin Duffy]

You have stated clearly a number of times on these forums that you believe CND to be "THE BEST" and you have said as much to me:


And as I said, if you say "a great technician would not choose to use anything but the best performing product", then you ARE saying that a person not using CND is choosing to use a lesser performing product, end ergo cannot by your definition be a great technician.

 

[geeg]

I don't have the experience that you guys have but in my opinion the oldest saying in the book is a bad workman always blames his tools.
If a great tec uses an average product in my opinion they can make this product look as good as any other and maybe last as good also. As for the best on the market companies are fighting to be the best all the time not just in the nail business this can sometimes be how big company's make there money for example ONS have different Powders ,they use a verity from beginner to VIP only difference is if you know what your doing and label yourself as the best you can use any of these and have great nails.
Don't know everyone will have there own opinion about this , this is mine. If we didn't have opinions we would live in a very boring world.:irked:

I do agree with you on one level. However, sometimes, a tool can be the problem!!

A great tech can make any product look good initially .. that I agree .. but she can't make it out last or out perform a better quality product.

 

[Tracey Roberts]

I do agree with you on one level. However, sometimes, a tool can be the problem!!

A great tech can make any product look good initially .. that I agree .. but she can't make it out last or outperform a better quality product.

This is true,, eg you buy a ring spanner from the pound shop, then get one from snap-on tools, snap-on will last almost a lifetime, whereas the 1 from the pound shop will break in a matter of months with the same amount of usage!! :hug:

same goes for a lot of quality vs cheap items, weather it be nail stuff or whatever

 

[Jolicatellas]

I don't doubt there are 'better' and 'worse' brands on the market. But the question is: Can ONE company's product be better than all others?If the answer is YES, then how do we (novice nail techs) know which one is the best without trying each of them out and what/who is the deciding factor in which brand is best? Or are there a couple of elite brands out there that far outweigh certain other brands but are as good as each other...???

 

[VHunter]

And believe a single product (in your case CND) to be "the best", then by simple logic it implies that anyone who has chosen to use a product you don't consider to be the best cannot be a great technician.

then by extension it implies anyone using anything but that product cannot be a great technician.

Correct me if there is a flaw in that logic, but I can't see what else your comment could possibly mean, unless you are now saying that there are other ranges that perform just as well as CND?

I beg to differ: simple logic does not arrive at the implication that you do, nor by does it do so by extension. There is a flaw in that logic, because YOU were implying and not she. Try taking words at face value as opposed to adding hiddent meanings or messages to them. We can twist words any direction we like, to have them mean what we want/think them to mean.

I did not understand Geeg the way that you did, and her car analogy made perfect sense. While she may feel that CND is the best for her, she may also feel that EZ Flow is best for Antony and the way that he works AND as she pointed out: there will ALWAYS be cream rising to the top.

If everyone believed as you did, and had the same thought processes; then likely this site would not be a success because those with differing opinions regarding products and techniques would be made to feel inferior.... according to YOUR logic.
Clearly, this is not the case. Elsewise, it wouldn't be a popular site, and everyone would leave soon after joining.

I have this argument with hubby all the time about not assuming, and not putting words in my mouth.... etc..... I have been known to yell at him "I'm speaking english, and yet you're translating it into pig latin with a faulty dictionary". I honestly feel frustrated for Gigi at this point.

Whether it's cars, peanut butter, a doctor, laundry soap..... there are always a couple that stand out while the rest float down. They might not even be the worst. HECK.. one brand might be at the bottom ONLY BECAUSE of lack of marketing and longevity in the industry of that product. Doesn't necessarily make it inferior. And for others... well, they are very likely inferior.

Having said all of that: do I think "ONE BRAND" can be the best?
NO.
Because A) everyone would have to agree 'what' makes a brand the best and it's nearly impossible to get everyone to agree 10000% on the specific criteria and B) For the brand to be the 'best' all across the board with every single one of their products.... I don't see that as feasible, nor possible.

Variety is the spice of life.

Do I think a brand can be 'ONE OF THE BEST'..... YES:!:

 

[geeg]

I don't doubt there are 'better' and 'worse' brands on the market. But the question is: Can ONE company's product be better than all others?If the answer is YES, then how do we (novice nail techs) know which one is the best without trying each of them out and what/who is the deciding factor in which brand is best? Or are there a couple of elite brands out there that far outweigh certain other brands but are as good as each other...???

Good question! In my opinion, there are some absolutley pants brands ... allot of perfectly adequate brands, several high end brands.

I have my own opinion as to the best of the best and others have their's. Tests have been carried out in the lab that prove to me why I hold the opinion I personally hold as well as my own experience.

Nothing wrong with giving several a try but it you are going to do that ... be fair to yourself and fair to the product and take a class with the product provider so that you can learn the most effective techniques for success as well as effective product knowledge.

 

[AriellaGray]

You have stated clearly a number of times on these forums that you believe CND to be "THE BEST" and you have said as much to me:


And as I said, if you say "a great technician would not choose to use anything but the best performing product", then you ARE saying that a person not using CND is choosing to use a lesser performing product, end ergo cannot by your definition be a great technician.

Well I am agreeing with Martin Duffy - in lurking and reading many many posts I have seen statements made like that. I too am questioning the statement above that a "great technician would not choose to use anything but the best performing product." That does, to me, say that someone NOT choosing your best product would NOT be considered a great technician.

Some can read the statements one way and some can read it another way. It's all good. Spurs on a good discussion.

 

[geeg]

Some can read the statements one way and some can read it another way. It's all good. Spurs on a good discussion.

As long as it doesn't get personal then that is just tickety boo! However the fact is I said (again)

if YOU think you are a great technician, then there is no way you will stay using a product that can be out performed by another product

I never mentioned BEST at all in this statement.

 

[AriellaGray]

That's OK if you didn't mention "best." That's not what I was looking for. Martin Duffy and I were questioning your statement that to us, implies that if someone is using a lesser product (by whose standards, anyway?) that means she or he must not think of her/himself a "great technician."

I've heard top competitors state that they have worked with many products that have been touted in the industry as lesser products and I highly doubt that they are going around worried, thinking that they are not great technicians.

For instance, what about the top competitors who don't use CND. I'm using CND as an example because you've said it's one of the best. Then pick a brand that you consider not as good as CND and imagine if a well-known top nail tech uses this brand and produces a beautiful set of ink and whites continuously for clients with no problems over time. It may change the way some people view PRODUCTS and help realize that it is the TECH who is great.

 

[geeg]

That's OK if you didn't mention "best." That's not what I was looking for. Martin Duffy and I were questioning your statement that to us, implies that if someone is using a lesser product (by whose standards, anyway?) that means she or he must not think of her/himself a "great technician."

I've heard top competitors state that they have worked with many products that have been touted in the industry as lesser products and I highly doubt that they are going around worried, thinking that they are not great technicians.

For instance, what about the top competitors who don't use CND. I'm using CND as an example because you've said it's one of the best. Then pick a brand that you consider not as good as CND and imagine if a well-known top nail tech uses this brand and produces a beautiful set of ink and whites continuously for clients with no problems over time. It may change the way some people view PRODUCTS and help realize that it is the TECH who is great.

There are also a great many good techs out there who are encountering problems which they would not have if they were using a better product line. It is not one or the other but a combination of both.

Even the best of the best nail techs cannot for instance add adhesion to a poorly adhering product nor longevity to a product that breaks down more quickly than another.