Filed through to nail bed and made it bleed

[hazeleyes]

Hello!

I too struggled to file off right at the start during my training. Luckily for me it was at the very beginning, and it was on myself so I quickly (and painfully) learned when to stop filing! I didn't go right through to the nail bed but I did file my nail pretty thin in one part and it burned and was so sore! Underneath was a red patch and I had to wait for it to grown back! As it reached the top my nail started splitting vertically from the free edge because it was so thin! Grrrrr I used fibreglass and was really gentle with it for a few weeks and thankfully it grew out and was fine!

Lesson learned though!! Now I'm super careful I go slow in good lighting and I've never made the same mistake again!! As I file I keep wiping it over and checking if as I go! Oh and I switch to using a white sanding block when I get right down to the thinnest layer of gel!
With practice I can now tell by touch feel and visually if I am filing nail or product I also file next to the lift rather than on it that the gel goes so thin that it flakes off leaving no damage.

I didn't know you could also soak it off at the end when it gets thin but now I know I will certainly do that if in doubt!

Good luck, we learn from these mistakes and they make us better in the long term!

 

[Knucks]

I love this site so much. What a wealth of knowledge!
Well done Milly for being so honest because what a benefit it has been to you.

Good luck x

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

Hey! well done for being so honest I think this will help lots of other geeks.

This is why I've changed to Brisa lite , I hated the filing down of hard gel and I was petrified of knackering the natural nail. Hopefully when I've had more experience i might return to hard gel but for the future I am Brisa lite sculpting for now.

 

[totalbeautyabz]

I did this today on a new client . Please bear with me. This is long.

Ok, so, she's been going to another nail tech and always has gel extensions and a gelish colour put on. She lost an extension and booked in with me as her nail tech has moved across town. I've trained in OPI axxium gel (not long qualified!), and I was trained to buff off any gel colour as you can't use acetone on gel extensions. So, there I was being careful filing with a 180 grit file. The red comes off......to reveal a pink underneath. She's not been removing previous colours before doing infills and further colour. Get to the next finger. Remove the red, carefully start removing the pink......blood. I've filed down to the nail plate. There was no gel under the pink. I mean WTF??? She's got no gel under the pink at all. She's applied the colour, THEN infilled. I apologised profusely. The client was fine about it and said it wasn't my fault, it was the other tech. I feel awful, though. However, she insisted on an extension and overlay over the damage. I made sure it was thoroughly cleaned. Not sure I've done the right thing?

 

[totalbeautyabz]

Oh, and to also add, the girl never takes off the extensions and starts again. She lets them fall off. The client has re-booked to get them all off in 2 weeks and will start again with me x

 

[Perfecttennails]

I was always to taught the never completely file all of the gel off the nail. You would leave a thin layer and either build on the nail again or if they are going natural, let the thin layer grow out.
I would be hesitate to try and completely remove the enhancements because you don't know what damage is lying underneath.
You can soak gel colour off of gel enhancements, providing the previous person has not used plastic tips. If it is a sculpted nail. then it will be pure gel and this cannot be broken down by acetone, however if there is a tip then this will melt if you soaked it off (had this happen to me, not good
I think you did the right thing to put an overlay on the nail to protect the damage. I would be reluctant to take the enchancements off Hun, I would infill them until the previous crap has grown out or grown the out with regular appointments of taking the length down until it has been grown out completely if she just wanted Gelish x


💕💅 Keep calm and make 'em Gelish 💅💕

 

[totalbeautyabz]

I was always to taught the never completely file all of the gel off the nail. You would leave a thin layer and either build on the nail again or if they are going natural, let the thin layer grow out.
I would be hesitate to try and completely remove the enhancements because you don't know what damage is lying underneath.
You can soak gel colour off of gel enhancements, providing the previous person has not used plastic tips. If it is a sculpted nail. then it will be pure gel and this cannot be broken down by acetone, however if there is a tip then this will melt if you soaked it off (had this happen to me, not good
I think you did the right thing to put an overlay on the nail to protect the damage. I would be reluctant to take the enchancements off Hun, I would infill them until the previous crap has grown out or grown the out with regular appointments of taking the length down until it has been grown out completely if she just wanted Gelish x


💕💅 Keep calm and make 'em Gelish 💅💕

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. You've no idea how much I appreciate it. Yes, I was taught the same, to leave a thin layer, however I didn't realise there was sod all gel underneath that pink colour.....as there was on the previous nail. You think I should just infill them? As for soaking off, yes it's a plastic tip that's on there. However, if she does want them all off and start again I could do that.
I won't be touching the enhancement I did on the damaged nail. Thank you for confirming I did the right thing. Xxx

 

[Perfecttennails]

Lol I'm no expert so don't quote me, I would infill the enhancements as I wouldn't want to be responsible for what's lurking underneath. Just let the client know you will have to slowly take the colour off as you don't know what the previous tech has done to them and you don't want to damage her nails. I am sure she will be happy you are doing what's best.

For the ones without gel under you could very carefully soak it off and the ones with enhancements l, I would either infill until the skanky product has gone or file it all down and leave a thin layer then start again with new enhancements or just Gelish them. From the sounds of the one with no gel, there's a lot of stuff going on underneath so your client will need you to do what's best to repair the nails not just keep covering it up and making it worse and she will respect you for doing that.
I have done this before and a client whinged about shorter nails but she is thanking me now with her naturally long nails x


í ½í²•í ½í²… Keep calm and make 'em Gelish í ½í²…í ½í²•