Did you choose nails first?

[jodipodi]

:hug:Hiya geeks just wondering how many of you chose nails all the way from day one and knew thats what you wanted to do or did any of you start out as a beauty therapist/hairdresser and change your chosen path along the way? What were your reasons for this? xx

 

[g5m_sh]

I worked in the Civil Service for 5 years, then decided i needed out... Done a nail course with CND and haven't looked back.

Don't do as much nails now, as i am concentrating on the training side of my business now. But i still LOVE to do them. I am gonna go on to do my Masters next year, and i would love to think i was one day training nails.

 

[jodipodi]

Do you love nails most Gemma or do you have another favourite....Im having difficulty at the mo with hairdressing at college and find Im starting to veer more towards nails(i think lol) xx

 

[g5m_sh]

I go though stages... i am right into waxing at the mo... but thats because i am using a new wax, and i have been shown a whole new way of doing it.

But i love doing Tans & lashes... i only really do it if i love doing it. There is nothing worse than doing something that you don't like.

Next on my list of things to do is Make-up!!!!

 

[jodipodi]

Would you say nails are next in the popularity after tans? xx

 

[g5m_sh]

Yes, i defo make more money doing Tans, then nails/waxing

 

[katinde]

I go though stages... i am right into waxing at the mo... but thats because i am using a new wax, and i have been shown a whole new way of doing it.

But i love doing Tans & lashes... i only really do it if i love doing it. There is nothing worse than doing something that you don't like.

Next on my list of things to do is Make-up!!!!

I'm starting to see that you're right when you say there is nothing worse than doing something that you don't like. I have been working in the courts for 5 years , and finally have just had enough of seeing people sad and going through horrible things all day, and am ready to do something I love again. I always loved doing nails, but I am one who loves to keep learning and adding new things.

 

[bella_nails]

Do you love nails most Gemma or do you have another favourite....Im having difficulty at the mo with hairdressing at college and find Im starting to veer more towards nails(i think lol) xx

I never went to college after school and done hair/nails or beauty, i went and gone art & graphic design, after a year i decided it wasnt what i wanted to do its really what my parents wanted. so i went into full time retail work then i realised that i should have done it at college and asked the tutor to change but was too late. i worked in reatil then office job for about 4 years and then decided that i knew i had a passion for it so when to college (part time) and started with a manicure course then went on to Bio Sculpture. Ive done a few beauty courses like massage, waxing etc but im now thinking of going to part time college to do hairdressing and just do that aswell as nails.....what do you think to that?

 

[jodipodi]

Its not that I dont like hairdressing Im just peed at college which is causing me to think about what I want xx

 

[jodipodi]

College for me at the moment is really getting me down but its not due to hairdressing itself its due to the fact that theres not enough practical hands on and theres not enough staff:student ratio. Hairdressing itself is fab I love it but feel let down by my college and think myself and some other students feel we have been given false hopes. In my own opinion I feel on the job training is a much better path to take xx

 

[UKRed]

When I left school, I wanted to be a childcare assistant in a special needs class, but I got told that I would have to do Maths and Science A-Level to be able to get on a teaching course so they sorta steered me into the direction of Art and Design.
I did AVCE Art and Design and AS 3D design, in year 2 I dropped 3D design and did Graphic Design instead and then quit college to start full time work as a graphic designer. I then went from graphic design to office jobs to bar jobs, then went through a phase of trying to get an apprentiship in childcare or mechanics. Then something clicked and I went to Bolton College enrollment day and just said 'I want to be a nail technician' and they showed me the course and I did it, then I found this site..... then I found NSI.... and now here I am! :lol:

 

[jodipodi]

Sounds familiar UKRed! I started in art/design first then onto hair, lack of childcare forced me to quit,did bar jobs here and there and restarted hairdressing last year when the kids went into full time school. Love hair and beauty but never gave nails a thought until I came on this site!!! Now its really making me question my choice of path......just dont want to fail my mam or myself by quitting hair Think it boils down to my original and deep down love for art,thats why I chose hair but nails have really surprised me xxx

 

[UKRed]

Sounds familiar UKRed! I started in art/design first then onto hair, lack of childcare forced me to quit,did bar jobs here and there and restarted hairdressing last year when the kids went into full time school. Love hair and beauty but never gave nails a thought until I came on this site!!! Now its really making me question my choice of path......just dont want to fail my mam or myself by quitting hair Think it boils down to my original and deep down love for art,thats why I chose hair but nails have really surprised me xxx

I'm the opposite, I love doing nails, but I am feeling the urge to do hairdressing and makeup but I hate college

 

[1999judy]

:hug:Hiya geeks just wondering how many of you chose nails all the way from day one and knew thats what you wanted to do or did any of you start out as a beauty therapist/hairdresser and change your chosen path along the way? What were your reasons for this? xx

Hell no!! I was an artist dahhling...had the funky hair and clothes and everything:lol:
Got into this quite by accident in a weird way tbh.
It's the story of my life

 

[jodipodi]

Hello again Judy, hows things? Yup me too- funky hair and dare to be different clothes! lol....how did you start out then-did you build up your skills then go into nails or dive in at the deep end as soon as you were qualified? xx

 

[1999judy]

Hello again Judy, hows things? Yup me too- funky hair and dare to be different clothes! lol....how did you start out then-did you build up your skills then go into nails or dive in at the deep end as soon as you were qualified? xx

I worked as a graphic artist...made redundant and worked as a civil servant for many years...boring as hell.
Only in my 30's did I decide to become a nail tech
But yes, me being me, rented a room in a salon as soon as I did my mani pedi and nail art courses just to get the experience.
Never regretted any of it.
I continued to learn more as I went along....:hug:

 

[jodipodi]

Glad to hear no regrets hun, would love to do nail art but wouldnt know where to start are there actual courses you can take? I hope my foundation L&p and spa mani & pedi will be enough to get me going, i have my spraytanning aswell but Im going to go all the way with the training as I go along methinks xxx.

 

[redsadie]

Hi Jodi

Don't give up the hairdressing hun, it'll set you up for life!

I never had any inclination towards nails or anything beauty related. I left school to work for McDonalds . Did various jobs over the years, mainly retail and telesales, but then I had my nails enhanced for the very first time about 2 years ago. Well, that was it for me, I knew what I wanted to do and I knew I could do it too, I just had to figure out a way of affording what I consider to be the best training!

I found this site almost two years ago and saved like mad, only for the tax man to decide that he hadn't had enough out of me in the past and most of my saving went to the now Prime minister GB

So I went on with my job, well paid, good hours but oh so boring. Decided in April of this year when most of my workmates got made redundant that I'd better get something behind me, but wasn't in a position to go to college. Scrimped & saved, took a spray tan and warm wax course in July and enrolled on my Foundation enhancements course which I began in August (last day Oct 9th :green

Good job I did the tanning & waxing as I too got made redundant at the beginning of August

So nails is what I want to do, but have had to do things in the meantime that mean I still have money coming in (Jobcenter no good, say I'm not entitled to a bean). Hairdressing is another option i would like to explore, they say everybody needs a hairdresser but I'll have to save for my course and do it two days a week from next September.

Sorry for the waffle :o but the short answer is, yes I wanted to do nails but only recently knew that's what I wanted, and have nearly achieved that goal

xx

 

[jodipodi]

Redsadie, thanks for that. I dont really want to give up hairdressing hun but the way things are turning out at the moment I just cant figure a way forward? I have 4 options;
1- waste a year of college and go in at the deep end with nails and tanning.
2- stay at college and try to manage renting a space aswell.
(but this means I wont get help with start up grants when it comes to my own salon)
3- stay at college unhappy and wait for july to come - if I do this I will still not be a decent hairdresser for at least another 2 year as college training just isnt adequate and wont make me a hairdresser it is ( taken me till now to work this out) merely a stepping stone to becoming one
I am itching to be out there with the public and doing what I love, if I follow through with this course then I feel the hair will become a ''hobby'' with friends and family-I wont have the skills to use in my own salon and in the be all end all of things I am going to have my salon if it damn well kills me!
4-The sensible option but maybe I think the 'please my family' option is completing college and trying to do nails on the side until july then maybe continue my hairdressing 1 day every week in a salon while I go onto nails professionallly in my own salon but I think this will just complicate things even more! Grrrr too many options but no answers! lol xxx

 

[katie1808]

Wow, it seems that I am very different to a lot of geeks on here. I studied IT at College and Uni and I have been in the IT industry for 8 years, I am starting to think about starting a family and would like to do nails part-time along with free-lance Web Design.

I have always loved doing my nails and about 10 years ago taught myself airbrusing and I love that. I gradually started offering friends airbrushing but found that most poeple need nail enhancments before I can put a airbrush design on... So that's what I am up to at the moment, learning L&P part-time.