Do you mind clients watching you?

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min11

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Dec 12, 2005
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Hakadal, Norway
This is silly I know because its a part of the job but I find with clients at the school or even on other trainees my hands really shake of they watch everything I do. Even doing my own polish if someone watches me the same thing happens. In class I actually had to in the end ask them to please not watch me so closely or I never would have gotten the job done.

I'm just wondering if anyone else felt the same early on or still does. Is it ok to ask a client to not watch when I do the nail polish? I notice most look all over the place when the acrylic is going on (and their hand move all the time too) but they watch like hawks when the polish goes on if they wanted it or after a manicure.
 
i used to be like that...with my smiles only really tho, ull stop shakin once ur confident, so by the time u have paying clients im sure u wont need to ask them to look away!
 
it's the feeling of being under pressure Min, nerves kick in and we can be afraid of making a fool out ourselves by making a mess, especially with darker polish.

the same thing happened to me the other day, i was using a mega bright red polish on my client and i was petrified of getting it everywhere, so i warned her in a jokey way that i might have to tidy up afterwards... as it happens i was so aware of making a mistake it was a near perfect application...
why? because i'd taken the pressure off myself by warning her.

don't let the nerves get to you too much, clients will want to watch you apply polish as it's a skillful job which takes a lot of practice to get right.
deep breath and away you go :hug: xx
 
I felt like that in the beginning too, but didn't think it would sound right to ask people not to watch me so closely. I just worked through it. It's all part of looking confident (even if you don't feel it at first).

If I sense they are examining something just a little too closely I usually ask them very casually if they noticed something. That way, if there is something they don't like or would like changed, it's addressed right then and there. Clients range from being afraid to say anything, to being outright rude about it. If you approach them first, then you can control the situation.

At least that's my take on it.... hope this helps!

Laura x
 
It is a confidence thing. The more experienced you become, the less concerned you will be with people watching. Try and block them out and just focus on what you are doing. Explain to clients and I am sure they will understand. Confidence is everything. Keep practicing and you'll soon worry less.:hug:
 
Put a bag over their head - works every time!
 
Sassy Hassy said:
Put a bag over their head - works every time!

what an excellent idea!! lol!!!:lol:
 
I was like that when i first started doing nails,but butterflies have gone now the more clients you are involved with the butterflies will start to fade and as you perfect your skill you worry less about clients watching you.



Florentina Alexander
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Nails At Last
 
If my hands are a little jittery, I tell them "whoops, too much caffeine today" and they chuckle. Usually no problems.
But, if I'm doing nail art on one client, and another is sitting near by and gets up to watch, I tell them very honestly "I get shakey when I have an audience, I dont know why, I'm just weird that way and I'm sure s0-n-so doesn't want me to make a booboo". Because I call myself weird, I dont offend them and they usually just sit back down again and stop hovering.

Hovering makes me NUTS. Whether I'm at a computer and someone's watching me type (dont know why people do.. they're always interested in how fast I type without looking at the keys lol) or whatever. Can't stand being watched LOL

If I ever enter a local comp, I have no idea how I'll manage it LOL
 
I am like this to, i was doing a pedicure on client who is also a good friend and as soon as i started doing polish i couldn't stop shaking, it didn't help that she had leaned as far over as she could to check it out !

When i worked in salon i used to spend most of the treatment convincing them to have light polish. I have learnt this can backfire though because you will always get someone that is intent on having a really bright colour & you then spend most of treatment panicking about the colour & shaking like a leaf when you get to the end :cry:
 
I always get shakey with new clients - once i've done their nails once i'm fine.

It doesn't bother me when they watch me - not that i can stop them - but if there is a bigger audience (especially ones that ask loads of questions), i can get a bit flumoxed (sp?).

My biggest nightmare are little kids rumaging through my nail stuff and trying to politely tell them not to:mad:
 
I used to hate having an audience but it doesn't bother me now. I had a girl in a few days ago who sat with a friend stood either side of her, all watching every small step! Didn't bother me as I'm now confident in my work. I also have a few clients who are trained techs & I figure they wouldn't come to me if they were unhappy, so why worry? Your confidence will grow & you'll be fine.
 
It dosn't bother me at all when my client watching or I have an audience ..I rather enjoy it I can explain what I'm doing .....expecially the nail art .I break it up by layering the shapes and they like to see how it all comes together .....the more the merrier!
 
bless you hun, hope you get this sorted! There have been some great comments on here about this, but it really will get easier with time and lots of practice!
 
Yes when doing nails or facials for family and friends they always have some other family members or friends with them who like to watch! Its probably a good thing because i might get more clients but it does make me nervous!
 
I get really anxious about life full stop, but it isn't my hands that shake when I get nervous - beads of sweat continually run down my face and the more I am aware of it, the more I sweat, Like Sandi I warn my clients why I am like that (nervous about doing a bad job) and usually it becomes an icebreaker and they say aww don't be nervous in front of me :green:

Debbie xxx
 
yep it happens to me too, i get very nervy and shaky and get a butterfly feeling in my tummy, especially with someone i am doing for the first time. also when doing nail art i alwasy seem to be able to do beautiful work on my practise tips and my own nails but when it comes to doing the same thing on a client my hands start shaking really bad. sometimes i feel like sipping on something to calm my nerves. i get it realy bad though and i would love to get over it. even on someone i know i get nervy. maybe i am just a nervouse wreck?:cry:
 
Sassy Hassy said:
Put a bag over their head - works every time!


:lol: :lol: :lol: I can see my tutor being well impressed with that!
 
Snugglepuss said:
I get really anxious about life full stop, but it isn't my hands that shake when I get nervous - beads of sweat continually run down my face and the more I am aware of it, the more I sweat, Like Sandi I warn my clients why I am like that (nervous about doing a bad job) and usually it becomes an icebreaker and they say aww don't be nervous in front of me :green:

Debbie xxx

Your like me, if I am building up to going out with a group of people socially I get just the same. When I'm in class I have gotten so nervous I cant eat and get incredibly hot and bothered knowing I have a client in class that day but once she's there I'm fine. I think what started it was that in the beginning you 'share' a client with another trainee, one hand each, you have to compare constantly to make sure you have matching lengths and all kinds of things but thats ok, make you aware of detail I suppose. The first client I had was one with terrible bitten nails, pitted the works, talk about in at the deep end. We did a great job but she was constantly trying to tip her fingers so she could see and snatching her hand away to look only to announce the smile line was higher one side than the other by which time the white was setting and wouldn't work properly anymore. It turned into a really hard job but she was really thrilled with the result. I always think now I'm not nervous but once it gets to topcoat time or polish I get shaky.

Thanks so much guys, you've helped heaps. x
 
I actually don't mind my clients watching me at all - I think it shows that we are in a very skillful profession and they are just intrigued as to how we do what we do! - it can be a bit off putting sometimes when you're working on one hand and they're sitting looking really closely at the hand you've just been working on. But again I think they just think its amazing how we do what we do! xx
 

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