Enhancements on nail biting hairdresser!

[Peachey]

Hello everyone,

As you will see from my profile I am a relatively newly qualified nail tech (June 08).

I have been asked by one of the hairdressers where i work if I will apply a full set of nails for her (1 Oct). Since I agreed to do them, I have gone over what to do and how I'll go about doing them in my sleep and waking hours ever since. My problem is, is that she is a nail eater!

Would you recommend that I use gel as she has her hands in water alot? or would acrylic be just as good? I only ask as for some reason I have it in my head that people who have their hands in water alot should really have gel (something to do with gel enhancements not being water permeable). Should I apply the tips to cover what natural nail bed she has (about 6-7mm) for strength?

Your advice would be greatfully received in the hope that I may unload this one from my head and finally get some sleep ha ha x

 

[Les]

Hi

Firstly I am newly qualified too so feel free to ignore my advice!

I have a nail biter and a hairdresser among my artificial nail clients, so may be able to give you some insight into things that work for me.

Gel or acrylic? I only do acrylic and the hairdresser keeps hers on with no problems. Having said that a non-porous gel may be better for avoiding stains but then again I know nothing about gel!
Try to do her on a day when she has not been working first so that her nails are not saturated. Got that tip from another geek cant remember who but thank you very much.

There is an excellent tutorial on here called tipping a bitten nail should be easy to find with the search facility.

Allow double your normal time for a severe biter. If you can, sort her cuticles out on a separate appointment before the day of the enhancements.

Don’t allow her to have her nails any longer than the end of the fingers – someone on here called this “active length” fantastic phrase I use it all the time now, sounds so much more appealing than short.

A rounded shape with no corners will stand a better chance of lasting. Get her to feel all round the nails when you have finished for any edges etc that she may be tempted to pick at. I am not insinuating that you do shoddy work I just know that any edge from a squoval or a square would last as long as a chocolate fireguard on my client.

See her weekly at first – you will not believe how much they will grow in the space of only one week.

Allow longer for your re-balances as well. She is almost guaranteed to lose some. THIS WILL NOT BE YOUR FAULT as there is hardly any nail bed to adhere the product to.

If you can a camouflage pink will look better with a white smile. If you don’t have camouflage then I think a natural tip with just pink looks better than a huge white smile. Don’t forget that nail lacquer will hide the large free edge and will last until her rebalance (unless she scrapes it off with her teeth!)

Take before and after photo’s – give her a copy of them so she can see how awful her nails used to be and to help her resist the temptation to nibble.

I gave a complimentary bottle of solar oil with instructions to use instead of nail biting. We also worked on identify when she bit her nails and how to make her realise that she was biting them so that she could make an effort to stop. Wearing enhancements turned out to be the best thing for that. Most importantly tell your client that it is not a crime if she does relent and have a nibble. You don’t want her too feel so guilty for a small nibble that she cheers herself up by biting the rest off!

If she starts to damage her nails by nibbling her enhancements off you have to warn her that you will refuse to do them if they get too damaged. I kinda layed it on thick about how much damage SHE could do to her nails to help her to resist temptation. Be careful though you don’t want to put her off having enhancements.

Sorry I have rattled on for ages, my nail biter was my first paying client, I get great satisfaction from doing her nails and I feel every setback that she has as if it were my own. Unfortunately her recent professional exams proved too much for her nails and we are back to the start again, but this time we know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope this helps

Leslie



Oooh multi coloured - no idea how I managed that!

 

[Peachey]

Hello there,

Really good of you to take the time to answer my questions. Sound advice i'd say, I think my problem is that I am very self critical of my work and have had very good responses to the nails i've done so far (new job, 1st salon experience!) but I know these are going to be a challenge. I would really love them to be fab as I know she is very embarassed about them. I do have the cnd opaque powder so will give that a whirl! Fingers crossed eh! If they're passable I'll put a photo on for you to see.

Thanks again

 

[number1kitty]

Just make sure you dont have the extension free edge more than 50% longer than her natural nail. Also Keep the nails short and ensure if you use a tip that there is still enough nail bed to apply the product on as this is what makes the nail stronger.

Dont allow her to bite her nails and if she bites the extensions off tell her you cannot keep re doing them as it will effect her natural nail. I have known nail biters not even aware of when they bite there nails!

Dont forget to give her her aftercare advise to wear gloves during colour/bleach application and if she washes hair! Also No opening cans or using them as tools of her trade as she will ruin them!

Kate

 

[Gilly T]

My first ever paying client was a nail biter and I made the mistake of not removing any of the well on the tip before applying them to what was left of her nail.

Product adheres better to the natural nail than a tip so try to remove as much of the well as possible before applying. With a 6-7mm length nail bed, if you don't, there won't be much product actually on the nail plate, it will all be tip and they will be likely to come off very easily.

You probably know this already but every little helps doesn't it. Good luck

 

[Peachey]

Every little bit certainly does help. Thank you, very much appreciated x