Help! and hello!

[OMG!]

Hi everyone, i am completely new to this site and feel a little inadequate amongst all you "proper" technicians!

I am doing a home learn course to be a nail technician and I am finding it difficult due to not being able to ask anyone or be shown how to do things in person. To top it off, I was naive when i booked my course, thinking i needed to learn all of the systems so i have to do acrylic, uv gel and fibreglass before i can get my diploma (on top of the mani and pedi etc) which is proving to be VERY expensive!! (yes i do feel silly now but have always had long natural nails so never had any experience with false nails and whats involved).

Anyway, so i have done my mani and pedi etc, tip application, all has gone well. Ive just done the acrylics section... i did one on myself which stayed on for over a week with minimal lifting after a week. And 2 sets on my niece.. who is a nail biter and they came off within 2 days both times, she says she didnt pick them?!! i dont feel too bad about that as she is a nail biter, probably not the best person to practice on!!

Now i am on UV gel nails, I would rather do this because of the smell of acrylic, but every technician i speak to say they dont like doing the UV gel nails, that they arent as strong and acrylics are the best. I dont have much money left after all i have paid out already for this course, does anyone know of a good gel brand that is reasonably priced? I want to get decent gel ones as I think this will be my chosen system in the end purely because of the smell of acrylic. Anyone prefer gel over acrylic?

I apologise in advance for the thousands of questions I am going to plague you all with over the course of my training and beyond!! Any tips at all on anything would be great as my dvd and text book just dont cut it when it comes to real technicians and the real problems you come across.

It might be worth mentioning that the acrylic set i got free with my course and is with The Edge... is it this brand I am using that I am finding so overpowering and difficult?

I am sorry for my huge first post and if no one replies i dont blame you ! haha!! xxx

 

[dazzleuk]

My hat goes off to you learning at home with no guidance. i would watch alot of the videos people put on here. You will find them a great help. I will say one thing... when I qualified 2 years ago I said I hated acrylics and would never do a set and would stick to gel nails. To date I have done 2 gel sets (one on my daughter and one on her friend) I have done hundreds of Acrylics... many ladies out there do not like Gel nails because of the durability of Acrylics. Sadly its not always what we enjoy doing but the demand that puts things on us lol I use(d) CND Gel I bought a starter kit... and still not finished it lol

 

[OMG!]

Thanks for the reply!

Is CND one of those that you need to train with them before you can buy their products?

Which acrylic brand do you use? I've heard The Edge is not the easiest to work with so wondering, if most clients prefer acrylic, if i should try a different brand...

x

 

[Mich77]

Hi everyone, i am completely new to this site and feel a little inadequate amongst all you "proper" technicians!

I am doing a home learn course to be a nail technician and I am finding it difficult due to not being able to ask anyone or be shown how to do things in person. To top it off, I was naive when i booked my course, thinking i needed to learn all of the systems so i have to do acrylic, uv gel and fibreglass before i can get my diploma (on top of the mani and pedi etc) which is proving to be VERY expensive!! (yes i do feel silly now but have always had long natural nails so never had any experience with false nails and whats involved).

Anyway, so i have done my mani and pedi etc, tip application, all has gone well. Ive just done the acrylics section... i did one on myself which stayed on for over a week with minimal lifting after a week. And 2 sets on my niece.. who is a nail biter and they came off within 2 days both times, she says she didnt pick them?!! i dont feel too bad about that as she is a nail biter, probably not the best person to practice on!!

Now i am on UV gel nails, I would rather do this because of the smell of acrylic, but every technician i speak to say they dont like doing the UV gel nails, that they arent as strong and acrylics are the best. I dont have much money left after all i have paid out already for this course, does anyone know of a good gel brand that is reasonably priced? I want to get decent gel ones as I think this will be my chosen system in the end purely because of the smell of acrylic. Anyone prefer gel over acrylic?

I apologise in advance for the thousands of questions I am going to plague you all with over the course of my training and beyond!! Any tips at all on anything would be great as my dvd and text book just dont cut it when it comes to real technicians and the real problems you come across.

It might be worth mentioning that the acrylic set i got free with my course and is with The Edge... is it this brand I am using that I am finding so overpowering and difficult?

I am sorry for my huge first post and if no one replies i dont blame you ! haha!! xxx

Aaaaand breathe!! lol
Hi, welcome to the site. You will find so much invaluable information and help here.....it really is a kind of online bible for salon professionals, well it is for me most of the time, and there is alot of very helpful people on here!
I'm sure it must be very hard not being able to bounce questions off of real people, or see things in the flesh! I am sure you will find this site addictive and spend hours looking round it and reading etc, so don't be afraid to ask someone for help or advice!
I notice that you don't live too far away from me....I'm in Waterlooville....so if you would ever like to meet up for a cuppa and a chat about all things nails, then don't hesitate to inbox me!!

 

[Mich77]

Thanks for the reply!

Is CND one of those that you need to train with them before you can buy their products?

Which acrylic brand do you use? I've heard The Edge is not the easiest to work with so wondering, if most clients prefer acrylic, if i should try a different brand...

x

Yes you have to train with CND to be able to use their L+P or their gel, but you can open an account to purchase other nail essentials, but you need to be qualified, as you will need to produce your qualifications on request.
I have never used The Edge products, so can't comment on those, but I will say that in my experience, my clients don't really prefer one system over the other...I have many clients who have acrylic, gel and fibreglass, so it is down to the individual really, and their life style!
HTH's

 

[OMG!]

thank you for your reply, maybe i am doing the right thing by doing all three then so i have more to offer/knowledge on what would suit different people (and me!).

You probably go to the same sort of places to get your products as you are local to me, unless you go on line. i have found that apart from CND, Sallys and Capital only seem to do the Edge and Salon Systems for gels. What do you use/find the best?? it would be useful to meet for a coffee sometime to talk about all things nails thanks for the offer

Haha yes a very long winded opening from me but I thought I might as well tell my whole story LOL xx

 

[Mich77]

thank you for your reply, maybe i am doing the right thing by doing all three then so i have more to offer/knowledge on what would suit different people (and me!).

You probably go to the same sort of places to get your products as you are local to me, unless you go on line. i have found that apart from CND, Sallys and Capital only seem to do the Edge and Salon Systems for gels. What do you use/find the best?? it would be useful to meet for a coffee sometime to talk about all things nails thanks for the offer

Haha yes a very long winded opening from me but I thought I might as well tell my whole story LOL xx

I mainly use Capital off of the Eastern Road.....Sally's is useless and a waste of time, they don't stock hardly anything I use! I am CND trained, so I buy all my CND products online, but I also buy other bits and bobs from other websites because there is a much wider choice and availability on products than Capital or Sallys.
In regard to learning all 3 systems, yes I find it alot better to offer more to my clients....when I first started in nails, I only offered fibreglass, and used to get so disappointed when a client called asking for acrylics/gels and I had to turn them down, so I trained in all 3 pronto!
I'll look forward to that cuppa!

 

[OMG!]

Yes I use the eastern road Capital and have had the same problem with Sallys not having much decent stuff. Maybe worth me getting trained in CND once i am qualified and can save my earnings from the nails to pay for the course x