Do 'bad' techs give us all a bad reputation?

[carlyfaye24]

ive seen alot of posts on here about actylics having a bad rep and gel techs telling clients acrylics are bad for you!
now until i joined this site i was under this same impression, for years when i was younger i used to get acrylics done, i used to go to one of those really cheap places and pay about £20 for a full set of tips and they totally destroyed my nails, they used electric drills on them to the point my nail beds were stinging, i had the acrylics for a few years and when i took them off to leave acrylics i had rings on my nail beds where they had drilled into them (ive heard these called rings of fire before) so when i decided to do a nail course i immediatly went for gels!
id never had a good experience with acrylics and they had damaged my own nails so badly it took me about 9 months to get them in a decent state again!

i now realise that most of these people arnt properly trained, i saw them training the other people themselves and practising on full paying clients! i dont know how these places are still going and they are giving you acrylic girls a really bad rep!
we have alot of salons like that round here! they are always packed full of people! i think these kinds of places need to be shut down, i dont know how its not illegal! they do so much damage to your nails!!

x

 

[shell28]

The trouble is these places stay open because people go to them hun!! Ive had serveral people tell me im to expensive and im not at all but if they can go somewhere and pay £15-£20 instead of £30 they will its a sad fact. They learn the hard way that you buy cheap you buy twice

 

[vanessas11]

I know what you mean, I used to go to a place in Staines where they only used electric drills and thought that they were the bees knees, until I did my L & P course in Maidenhead. I then realised the hygiene just didn't exist in these cheap salons - I didn't go back there and stuck with CND.
Doing the foundation course and learning about all the different kinds of infections that were out there and how to prevent cross contamination etc.. was certainly an eye opener! Thanks Pam Rolfe, for an excellent course!

 

[geeg]

Lots of the discount type salons in fact do good work and use drills skillfully ... they are not all butchers.

I suppose my question to the poster of this thread would be ... why on earth did you keep going and putting up with pain and damage when you must have known it was happening and you must've known there was a better way?

People who do as you did are the ones that keep the bad salons open. For whatever reason you kept on going back for more you helped to perpetuate what was going on. Why?

These type of salons are not giving good salons a bad name ... I don't agree with you on that one.

I have been a supplier of the premiere nail product in the UK to the UK's best nail technicians for years and these nail technicians are BUSY ... they are still busy during this recession ... and the reason they are busy is because they are GOOD.

There are plenty of smart clients who know and recognize the difference between good and bad and who do not think all technicians are bad just because some are.

 

[carlyfaye24]

please see my red notes x

Lots of the discount type salons in fact do good work and use drills skillfully ... they are not all butchers.

I suppose my question to the poster of this thread would be ... why on earth did you keep going and putting up with pain and damage when you must have known it was happening and you must've known there was a better way? i was 14/15 and they were cheap, i couldnt afford to pay £30 every 2 weeks! once i had the bad acrylics my nails were so bad underneath they looked awful and i was kinda in the mind frame well they are bad already so they couldnt get much worse!

People who do as you did are the ones that keep the bad salons open. For whatever reason you kept on going back for more you helped to perpetuate what was going on. Why?

These type of salons are not giving good salons a bad name ... I don't agree with you on that one. i still now would never get acrylics because of my bad experience! alot of people (including me when i was younger) think this is the correct way for your nails to be done!

I have been a supplier of the premiere nail product in the UK to the UK's best nail technicians for years and these nail technicians are BUSY ... they are still busy during this recession ... and the reason they are busy is because they are GOOD.

There are plenty of smart clients who know and recognize the difference between good and bad and who do not think all technicians are bad just because some are. my point was once you have had a bad experience with a nail system you are less likely to go and get the same system done elsewhere!

 

[geeg]

Most clients don't know one system from another.

You have learned the difference and now presumably understand that it was not the system but the technicians using it that caused the damage. Use this knowledge to educate others not to use this bad salon.

If you know of somewhere that causes damage then report them to the health and safety authorities and get them closed down. This is the way to tackle the problem.

Most good technicians will offer both L&P and Gel anyway so if clients want the choice they can have it. A good technician will be skilled in the use of all different methods of application.

 

[user 25446]

There's poor quality service in all walks of life. I don't think all dentists are bad because I met the grandson of Sweeny Todd when I was 11 years old

Most customers are smart. They try something and if it doesn't work they will try someone else or ask friends for a recommendation.

If someone as you say had a bad salon experience, you don't think they will ask a friend or someone they meet where they got their nails done?

Your reputation is your reputation. Focus on that and forget the rest. :hug:

 

[littlegrohl]

my sister thought she needed gel nails before i became a tech.. when i asked her why she said.. "oh thats just what ""such and such"" told me, that my nails were the type that suited gel nails.."

I said if she prefered gel i would do them, but as i prefer acrylic how about we try them on you and then you can choose..

She has for the last 2 yrs had an acrylic nno every fortnight.. because ,as one of my clients, she trusted me enough to show her that BOTH systems have their place.

Just a little story i thought i would share..


P.S what i dont get is if a plumber did a bad job, would you go back to him, or would you find a new one?? its the same with nails.. hopefully people are smart enough to find what they need.

 

[carlyfaye24]

P.S what i dont get is if a plumber did a bad job, would you go back to him, or would you find a new one?? its the same with nails.. hopefully people are smart enough to find what they need.

but if he fitted a boiler system that broke very quickly would you get the same system again??

that was more my point, not that clients wont get their nails done at all, just are they less likely to get the same system
x

 

[littlegrohl]

but if he fitted a boiler system that broke very quickly would you get the same system again??

that was more my point, not that clients wont get their nails done at all, just are they less likely to get the same system
x

No i guess i wouldn't, but then we are talking a lot more $$

I guess as long as people have free will they will always have opinions and do as they like.. (damn free will!!)

((sorry.. tired))

 

[geeg]

but if he fitted a boiler system that broke very quickly would you get the same system again??

that was more my point, not that clients wont get their nails done at all, just are they less likely to get the same system
x

That doesn't make sense as an argument .. the system didn't break .. the person who installed it was crap. You wouldn't blame the system you'd blame the installer or pay for a better system.

Why belabor the point you are so desperately trying to make? You say you had a bad experience, blamed the system L&P .. learned later that it was the tech who caused the damage not the system but still you won't use the system ... to me that is just silly.

 

[carlyfaye24]

That doesn't make sense as an argument .. the system didn't break .. the person who installed it was crap. You wouldn't blame the system you'd blame the installer or pay for a better system.

Why belabor the point you are so desperately trying to make? You say you had a bad experience, blamed the system L&P .. learned later that it was the tech who caused the damage not the system but still you won't use the system ... to me that is just silly.

at the time (many years ago) i thought what they were doing was correct and thats just what they had to do to your nails if you wanted to have acrylics! therefor in my eyes it was the system that was flawed not the technician! now obviously i know that isnt correct!

 

[geeg]

at the time (many years ago) i thought what they were doing was correct and thats just what they had to do to your nails if you wanted to have acrylics! therefor in my eyes it was the system that was flawed not the technician! now obviously i know that isnt correct!

i still now would never get acrylics because of my bad experience! alot of people (including me when i was younger) think this is the correct way for your

This is what you said in your above post .. have I misunderstood something?

 

[carlyfaye24]

no u havnt read it wrong, i would never get acrylics, im more than happy with the gel system i use and have no reason to change. i didnt like how solid the acrylics were, i much prefer the flexibility of gels

i wouldnt risk going to another acrylic technician and having another bad experience! all my friends get gels so i have no one to reccomend someone that is good

 

[maridenia]

I totally agree with you!! Hi there from Fuengirola

 

[geeg]

no u havnt read it wrong, i would never get acrylics, im more than happy with the gel system i use and have no reason to change. i didnt like how solid the acrylics were, i much prefer the flexibility of gels

i wouldnt risk going to another acrylic technician and having another bad experience! all my friends get gels so i have no one to reccomend someone that is good

Well what you use is your choice of course, but once again you are making incorrect assumptions.

The difference between what the NSS used on you and BRANDED professional products is huge and there are what you call acrylics (what we professionals call Liquid & Powder as Gel is also acrylic) there are L&P lines that are flexible and not nearly as 'solid' as that which you undoubtedly had on your nails form the discount salon.

The L&P I wear for instance is tough, flexible, thin and light weight. Nor do my nails have to be anything more than clean and dry for the product to be applied. Not everything is the same nor should it be assumed that it is.

 

[user 25446]

Hey carleyfaye24 - are you aware that gel is acrylic? Strictly speaking there's gel and liquid & power. The nail tech who gave you the bad experience used L&P.

Don't you think as a professional you should offer your clients a choice of gel, L&P and perhaps even glassfiber depending on their lifestyle and requirements?

What if some other nail tech in town had a bad gel experience and only offered L&P, and claimed (also incorrectly) that the material was at fault and not the nail tech?

If the other nail salon is so bad, why don't you take a L&P course and make the best L&P nails in town! Sounds like there's a business opportunity there :hug:

 

[carlyfaye24]

please see my notes below in red, i know sometimes threads can be taken the wrong way, if this comes accross like im arguing i promise im not x

Hey carleyfaye24 - are you aware that gel is acrylic? Strictly speaking there's gel and liquid & power. The nail tech who gave you the bad experience used L&P. the thread was originally called gel v liquid and powder, when i say acrylic i am referring to what i used to have on my nails which was a very thick liquid and powder, my error for saying acrylic.

Don't you think as a professional you should offer your clients a choice of gel, L&P and perhaps even glassfiber depending on their lifestyle and requirements? nearly all my clients ask for gel, i dont think i would get the return on what it would cost me to train in liquid and powder. it is something i have thought about but at the moment not something im looking to do, i would eventually like to do all types of beauty but im currently concentrating on practising waxing and brow/lash tinting, i dont like to do courses too close together because there is so much info to take in

What if some other nail tech in town had a bad gel experience and only offered L&P, and claimed (also incorrectly) that the material was at fault and not the nail tech? i have never claimed yo my clients liquid and powder is bad for you! i have no reason to share with them my bad experience, just give them the best service i can

If the other nail salon is so bad, why don't you take a L&P course and make the best L&P nails in town! Sounds like there's a business opportunity there they are so cheap i couldnt compete with their prices and as i previously said i dont get many people asking for acrylics:hug:

 

[maridenia]

Todays acrylics do have the flexibilty of gels...newer technology cross weaving etc CND especially. I think you just have had such a bad expeirence in the past especially if you were subjected to the pain of "the chopshop" type salon where u leave with "smoking nails" literally.But please don't write off the Liquid and Powder systems. I have had clients for 15 yrs, with no problems at all in the past and their nail beds in tact at the end of it. Nowadays I access each client and offer the best for their lifestyle!!, be it acrylic or gel.
There is room for ALL and lets face it if the dental guy who saw the original concept of creating the nail enhancement from a monomer and polymer, none of us would be in business.

Oh by the way I'm not a Newbie, just can't change the setting....help and I can spell sorry for the typos..been doing nails for 20yrs plus and a Level 3 Beauty therapist for at least 35. And was in Chicago for 20yrs where believe me I saw this problem over and over.

Sorry, gel is a resin not an acrylic.....Acrylic is a monomer and polymer

 

[geeg]

Sorry, gel is a resin not an acrylic.....Acrylic is a monomer and polymer

I'M afraid you are incorrect with this post.

ALL enhanancement products are from the Acrylic family ... wraps, gels and L&P. This is the reason professionals differentiate between them and refer to them as L&P, Gels or Wraps. To say you use acrylic doesn't tell me what you use at all .. it could be any of the three.