Help - aspiring nail technician to be!

[kajbalm]

Hi there! I'm looking for a little bit of advice and maybe some guidance from anybody that may have been in a similar situation to me!

I'm 21 years old and have recently finished a degree which just was not for me and would like a complete change of direction. Over the past few years I've really gotten into nails and nail art and am hoping to make something of a career out of it. The only thing is I am completely stuck at where to go with it. I've read up a bit about different courses online and have come across 'Essential Nails', 'Next Step Beauty' and others however I'm stuck as to where to go from here. Its a lot of money for each course I've come across and I'd like to know I'm not wasting my money before I jump into anything and that these courses aren't looked down on within the industry!

My local college is a no go with previous experience there putting me off so would prefer to find something online.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks x

 

[Maz101]

Firstly hun you need to think where you want to go with this in the future, if you want to work or open a salon then you need a nvq, if you want to go mobile or home salon then accredited good courses are ok but to work in a salon in the future or open one you will have to do your nvq, so you'd be doing things twice.

Nvq can be done at college during day or evenings or you can do it via somewhere like The Beauty Academy.

I woudnt bother with one day courses or the next step one as hear loads of bad things about courses being cancelled, not getting money back, maybe google them.

Essential nails is home training, it's not a nvq but suitable if you just doing mobile etc, but you won't be shown how to do things and it's on a hand trainer which is wey wey different to working on people, the nail trainer is very useful and I have one and woudnt be without it, but doing nails and getting them to stay is harder than it looks.

If going the mobile home salon route then I would train with a good company, you have many that do good quality training. The Creative Beauty Group, NSI, Nail harmony, CND, Young Nails to name a few, first thing you'll need is to do your manicure and pedicure and then decide what you want to do, either gel polish or some type or enhancements l&p acrylic, hard gel. Then you can worry about arty side of things.

Training is pricey but it's the routes/roots of your career and we hear of many techs starting out who do cheap quick one day courses and realise fast there no good, then costs double to retrain. Doing nails isn't easy and potentially with bad training you can do a lot of damage. Phone some of the above companies, they are all going to be happy to chat and give you information.

Good luck xx

 

[shazbaby]

Great advice Maz101 x

 

[Tink81]

Hi I am in the same boat as you, and have been researching avidly for the past few days lol, I have just contacted cnd and nail harmony and have also looked at essential nails. My main train of thought was to use essential nails as my stepping stone by doing my mani & pedi with them then looking to book with cnd or nail harmony to do l&p/gel nail enhancements, but have read on here that you may not be excepted for conversion if you train with essential nails( please someone quote me if I am wrong). It is such a lot of money to train so really want to ensure I am choosing the right option, trying to avoid college option as spent the last 3 years attending night school to redo gcse's :0(.

 

[jolie69]

Hi,
I'd agree with all of the above plus find a great company that is local to you.

I love CND and have all my nail products within their brand. However the nearest supplier is an hour away.

When I did my L&P training, I had to travel 2 hours each day and after the course when I needed some 1:1 I couldn't keep travelling and needing a model too for the day so I have ended up taking L&P off my service menu - a very costly training experience - obviously nothing to do with CND.

I prefer to see products to buy them rather than online too, and if you have to constantly pay p&p or travel/time expense to purchase, this all eats into your profits.

I could've trained more locally with an equally good company - hindsight!! lol xx

 

[mlea79]

Normally cnd or harmony should do manicure/pedicure as part of the training?

 

[Laurasnowwhite]

The Creative Beauty Group offers training from a beginners level for natural nails (min/pedi, spa mani/pedi & gel polish) plus training for beginners to nail enhancements.

From early 2015 there will be education emissaries across the UK, bringing education closer to everyone

 

[Ellie74]

I am continuing my L&P training with CND, and hope to go on to do the Shellac course in the near future. I do however think with CND you are buying into a high quality product more than anything else, and you cannot buy their products until you have passed.

I will be honest and say that this is by no means an easy course, I would have preferred to have attended my local college, however as You had to attend an 18 week manicure class before you could enroll onto the L&P course, I decided it was too lenghthy a process, youth is the one thing I don't have on my side, so for that reason I have gone onto a six day L&P course with CND.

Like many others I researched lots of other Nail Technician Courses before deciding to train with CND, however I have really struggled at times with this, every time I master one thing another goes wrong, I had to travel over 40 miles to attend, my model let me down at the last minute meaning I had to work on my own hand, the L&P course is over £600, however if you are determined, and hard working you will succeed.

The pack is brilliant and has pretty much everything you need. You get a training hand, although it is worth bearing in mind that the nail beds on this are much bigger than on a normal hand. Also take along some cheap tips to practice on, as you will be required to do smile lines there really is no need to use the expensive ones for this, a couple of things not in the pack are a good dusting brush, a nail brush for getting rid of dust and debris under the nails, and some little cutters for getting rid of the dead skin around the nail. This is of course the CND pack (worth about £300) I am unsure of other pack items.

Hope this helps

 

[gemma2108]

I'm in the same boat! It's really hard to no what companies aren't just going to rip you off, there are so many courses out there. I definitely get the impression from these forums that it's better to spend out and go for one of the well known courses. Do a mani/pedi course and then go from there. Confused.com.

 

[kajbalm]

Thanks so much for the information, I'm still searching while saving enough money to pay for the right course I choose once I'm able to. I really appreciate all the comments on this thread and hope all goes well for those who are in the same boat as me! Thanks again! x