Gel on bitten nails

[Suzanne1118]

A client booked in for gel nails and told me she bites them so I asked her to try leave them for at least a week so theres something to work with.

So in she came and said she couldnt help heself but bite them. Well I was a bit shocked by them. I advised her to get them Shellaced even just base and top coat to let them grow for a while but she insisted she wasnted gel extensions.

When I put the tip on I had to file away the points of the curves as there wasnt enough nail, thats how bad they were.

I told her that they might not last as there isn't much to grip onto but she said she didnt mind.

THEN, she said she wanted them quite long, AND wanted a 'skinny' french tip on the top. I explained to her that you would be able to see through the pink where her nails started and it wouldnt look well and that shes better off with them shorter so the white could cover her skin above her nail (if that makes sence) and also they would be stronger and last longer.

No, she insisted on having them long with a skinny white.

At the end she seemed happy but said 'ah I hate that you can see through the pink to where my nail ends'! Grr...

Two days later she 2 of her nails 'popped off' and i had to fix them. This client is slowly becoming the pain in my ass.

What would you have done honestly? Did I do anything wrong? How do you normally deal with nail biters?

 

[elmo]

I would say to her that you did advise her this would happen but she did choose not to follow your advice.
It's not your fault chick, some people just won't listen x

 

[cheznails]

From what I can see you advised her to what was best but she chose not to take that option. I would do one repair but no more. If she wants to keep paying you the money to repair them every few days that's up to her.

She seems like a client that isn't going to listen to what you tell her.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using SalonGeek

 

[Suzanne1118]

Thanks for the replies, I was beginning to think it was me! There is nothing that can be done to make long extensions last on someone with very little nail bed is there? And to make them look well? She really knocked my confidence!

 

[cheznails]

My mom bites her nails all the time and I have tried two methods with her. I use l&p by the way. The first time I did them she hadn't stopped biting them and the tips of the finger was baulbus from the saliva but i attempted to sculpt,elongated the bed, then did white tips, with in a few days they were all off.

My second attempt she kept them out her mouth for two weeks, I gave her a manicure a week before. Then when I came to sculpt the acrylic, she had a much better nail bed and even a little free edge. Been just over a week and they are still on. Don't know if this little story helps lol but I suppose if they are serious about having nice nails they will keep them out their mouth.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using SalonGeek

 

[mum]

I'm afraid this is a bit of both :sad:

A nail biter can't just stop for a week otherwise they would stop for ever. Tips ALWAYS need pretailoring before applying to a nail biter. The skin needs 'bridging' and the tips need blending.

As for the see through aspect, if you are only using a clear overlay over the 'nail' they need to be polished to cover all this up. For the look she wanted you needed to use an opaque, colour matched powder or gel to hide all of this.

It is madness for a bad biter to have enhancements longer than her finger as they WILL break. If she still wants this after you have explained this then you make sure she understands that you are not responsible for breakages and she must return in a week.

 

[vitality]

You can get coverage pink in most brands to cover any gaps and sculpt it on, I find sculpting lasts longer on nail biters than tips.

 

[MissJulesBeauty]

You can get coverage pink in most brands to cover any gaps and sculpt it on, I find sculpting lasts longer on nail biters than tips.

Completely agree with this, I use NSI and Purely Pink Masque works a treat for hiding the gaps even when doing tip and overlay you can fill in just above the smile line to extend the nail bed x

I hope you are charging this lady for repairs? At the end of the day your work is destined for failure due to so many factors... She is not taking your advice, nail biters are not used to length and so don't tend to treat them as carefully as you should, the length is too much for someone not familiar with having nails, she may well pick and nibble at them, no freedge to work with... I could go on.

When I get nail biters like this, I offer to do extensions either sculpts or tips. I make them fully understand that the nails are going to last nowhere near as long as they should due to the minimal nail I have to work with, I also advise that I will only do them if we keep the length to an absolute minimum. In exchange for their cooperation I offer half price repairs for the first 7 days and half price infills after two weeks. I also like to take before pics and after pics on all visits so I can show clients what their nails looked like etc.

If you can convert a nail biter you will have a loyal customer for life... Some are so much hassle though lol x

 

[Suzanne1118]

Thanks for the help. I use young nails and the build pink, its just not pink enough to cover though. I only know how to do tips, i'd love to learn how to sculpt though, wasn't in my course.

Some clients are more work than their worth!

Silly me I didnt charge her for fixing two nails but I will explain to her any more and she will be charged as she didnt listen to my advice and i will try to convince her to let me take them down as they will keep breaking.

I'll know what to say in future so thanks for all the help.xxx

 

[vitality]

It's definitely worth doing both, I use Young Nails and they have a coverage sculpting pink

 

[Suzanne1118]

It's definitely worth doing both, I use Young Nails and they have a coverage sculpting pink

Oh i didnt know that, duh :o Ill look out for it, thanks

 

[mum]

Thanks for the help. I use young nails and the build pink, its just not pink enough to cover though. I only know how to do tips, i'd love to learn how to sculpt though, wasn't in my course.

Some clients are more work than their worth!

Silly me I didnt charge her for fixing two nails but I will explain to her any more and she will be charged as she didnt listen to my advice and i will try to convince her to let me take them down as they will keep breaking.

I'll know what to say in future so thanks for all the help.xxx

You didn't comment on my post. You say you know how to do tips but did you pretailor?

Sculpting is definitely worth learning. Until you do it is perfectly possible to use tips on a bad nail biter with good results.

Now opaque powders and gels are so widely available these are the solution to hide biters horrible bits

 

[Susie H]

Well done for getting a set of gel nails on her, I really don't think I could.
Do you do l&p? If you do I would do a reverse sculpt on her.
I think it was Ruth who did a tutorial on this (Nails of London)
Normal prep, then smear a drop of cuticle oil onto the skin that should be covered by nail plate.
Apply your pink at the end of the nail and pat down to zone 3 holding your brush nearly flat to the nail so that the belly of your brush is pushing the pink over the oiled skin, hold the finger down so that gravity helps the acrylic to settle over the skin. You want there to be just enough skin at the end of the nail to place a small amount of white.
Once hard use your file to shape the pink into your oval shape,so that when you butt the white up to the pink the smile is already created.
Now slip your form under your shaped pink acrylic free edge.
Place your white bead onto your form and push it up to your pink acrylic, don't worry if it goes over the pink, when you file to shape you can file through the white to reveal the crisp smile.
I have found with a nail biter that it's better to keep the form on while I shape then cover the whole nail with a thin layer of clear acrylic, remove the form and buff to a shine. I never take the acrylic further then the end of the finger, nail biters are not used to having a nail there so they catch them more, they need it explained to them to use a spoon handle to open a drinks can etc.
Also, a nail biters natural nail seems to grow more quickly so to start with they need to come in every week for a tidy up and rebalance.
Finally, any client who says they want something I know they can't cope with is told politely, that it's my reputation on the line and I'm not prepared to have my rep trashed when their nails break, look a mess etc and if they can't work with me to build up to what they want then they need to go else where to get their nails done.
Final point my repair price for one nail is the cost of the set divided by 10 plus £1. I find it helps to keep the nails out of their mouth when they know how much a repair will cost.

 

[Suzanne1118]

You didn't comment on my post. You say you know how to do tips but did you pretailor?

Sculpting is definitely worth learning. Until you do it is perfectly possible to use tips on a bad nail biter with good results.

Now opaque powders and gels are so widely available these are the solution to hide biters horrible bits

Oh sorry hun, yes I do pretailor tips but I had to take away half the 'points' if that makes sense as there wasnt enough nail to stick it to.

I havn't done acrylics since college, would they be better suited than gel for nail biters?

 

[Suzanne1118]

Well done for getting a set of gel nails on her, I really don't think I could.
Do you do l&p? If you do I would do a reverse sculpt on her.
I think it was Ruth who did a tutorial on this (Nails of London)
Normal prep, then smear a drop of cuticle oil onto the skin that should be covered by nail plate.
Apply your pink at the end of the nail and pat down to zone 3 holding your brush nearly flat to the nail so that the belly of your brush is pushing the pink over the oiled skin, hold the finger down so that gravity helps the acrylic to settle over the skin. You want there to be just enough skin at the end of the nail to place a small amount of white.
Once hard use your file to shape the pink into your oval shape,so that when you butt the white up to the pink the smile is already created.
Now slip your form under your shaped pink acrylic free edge.
Place your white bead onto your form and push it up to your pink acrylic, don't worry if it goes over the pink, when you file to shape you can file through the white to reveal the crisp smile.
I have found with a nail biter that it's better to keep the form on while I shape then cover the whole nail with a thin layer of clear acrylic, remove the form and buff to a shine. I never take the acrylic further then the end of the finger, nail biters are not used to having a nail there so they catch them more, they need it explained to them to use a spoon handle to open a drinks can etc.
Also, a nail biters natural nail seems to grow more quickly so to start with they need to come in every week for a tidy up and rebalance.
Finally, any client who says they want something I know they can't cope with is told politely, that it's my reputation on the line and I'm not prepared to have my rep trashed when their nails break, look a mess etc and if they can't work with me to build up to what they want then they need to go else where to get their nails done.
Final point my repair price for one nail is the cost of the set divided by 10 plus £1. I find it helps to keep the nails out of their mouth when they know how much a repair will cost.

Wow thanks so much! Yes money might make her keep them out of her mouth