Help! New Client - MMA

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

natalie day

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2004
Messages
93
Reaction score
1
Location
Hertfordshire - Hemel Hempstead
Hi everyone,

I need some advice please.

This evening I went to the Newsagents to put a card in the window, the lady in the shop immediatly started asking about nail enhancements. After talking with her for a bit it came to light that her nail enhancements have been done using products with MMA in the liquids (I know the salon she went to, and know they use MMA). She is not very happy with them and wanted to make an appointment with me to have a soak off and new set.

I'm really worried, as I have never done a soak off for MMA before, how long can I expect this to take and I am going to be able to apply a new set straight away?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.
 
i would personally sell her some acetone and get her to soak them off at home the day before she comes to you. That way as it takes a long time to get those sort of nails off you won't be hanging around for ages doing nothing. If you don't want to do this, you could say to her to have them soaked off by you one eveing, then you will put on a new set the evening after.

I feel its better to do this as when they have been soaked for so long, they become dry and also the nail will soak up the acetone. So if you apply a set of nails straight away you won't gaurentee the new set not being affected by the acetone the nails have soaked up.

Thats what i would say anyway, just my opinion.
 
I personally wouldnt advise anyone to soak of their own nails, they could end up prising them off rather than doing it properly. I know that MMA nails can take an age to get off (never had the experience personally though) but i would think a 2 stage appointment would be a far better option. jmho x
 
I rekon her natural nails have been traumatised enough with the drill etc already so i wouldn't subject them to a soak off. why not just do her infills and take down the length at each infill until the mma product has grown out. she may well insist she wants them removed though!
 
I advised a lady to start soaking before I got there and it took 2 hours 45 minutes.
 
I personally would not infill on NSS, they would take too long to file down and also you dont know what is going on underneath them. I would soak them off one night and give a moisturising manicure and then re apply a new set. HTH

David
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone. The lady called and booked in with me. I decided to book her in for Tuesday for her soak off and then thursday for a new set. This way I can assess what condition her nails are in underneath the enhancements so I know how to proceed. To be honest, she just seems so happy to get rid of the ''enhancements'' already on her nails that she will be happy with any professional advice I can give her.

If anyone has anymore advice they can give, it would still be much appreciated.

Many thanks again everyone!
 
there are a few posts from Gigi (geeg) in the past, saying that if you suspect file damage, a thinned and damaged nail plate, then soaking off the mma would not be the best course of action. I don't know how to copy the thread link, but if you go to advanced search, type in MMA and Geeg as the author, it will show them up. If you want to be doubly sure you are doing the right thing, i would probably drop her a email. Anyhow, very good luck with your new client! :biggrin:
 
Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd bump this up again as I am feeling a bit apprehensive about tomorrow nights appointment.

I have initially advised the client that I will remove them tomorrow night and do a new set on Thursday evening. However, I have since been doing some thinking and here are my thoughts/concerns:

1) When the nails are removed, what if they are so badly damaged that she cannot have a new set applied let alone the pro-longed exposure to the acetone for the length of time it will take to soak off??

2) Shall I just re-balance the current set and advise the client that the beauty of the nails and the longevity cannot be guaranteed had I done them from scratch? I am thinking that this could be the best option....

3) At tomorrows nights appointment (even though I have already said I will soak them off) would it be best to treat this as an initial consultation to see what the best option is for her? I can spend more time on the consultation than I normally would and try to establish the extent of the damage on the nail plate and whether it will be in her best interests to have a soak off and new set or just a rebalance? Shall I call her before hand to explain this or just turn up and state having now looked at them in more detail and having a more thorough consultation it would be best to do xyz etc etc.

Sorry for the long post, but if I can have anyone else's thoughts on this again I would really appreciate it. I want to make sure I do a good job and that she is happy with the service and realises the difference between me and the NSS and she will in turn educate her friends...!

Many thanks!
 
Hi Natalie

I really cant help much as i have never treated anyone who has had mma used on them i would suggest you either e-mail or pm gigi 'geeg' she will give you some great advice and support. So try and stop panicing she will help you.

IMO i would thin the mma down as much as possible on the first appointment (this will take a long time)
Then i would fill over it and explain the situation. However i really would ask gigi as if it were me in this situation i would check with her anyway.
Good luck keep us posted. ps some piccis would be great. A before and after shot and also a progress shot you could do it like a history you know? IT would be very help ful in the gallery.
 
Hi,

as a client, I would say whatever you do, stay calm and make sure you act like you know exactly what you're doing and you've done it 1000 times before. The worst feeling (as a client), is when you have the distinct impression that the nail tech either has no idea what she's doing, or is using you to practice on.

Good luck.
Sue.
 
I wouldn't panic, the client wants them off so soak them off. Assess the damage and go from there. Just be confident and professional. You are the one in the know. (she will believe anything you tell her)

Good luck. I hope you have set aside 2-3 hours for this soak.
 
marie111 said:
I wouldn't panic, the client wants them off so soak them off. Assess the damage and go from there. Just be confident and professional. You are the one in the know. (she will believe anything you tell her)

Good luck. I hope you have set aside 2-3 hours for this soak.
Clients do not always know what is best for their nails, nor do I think they are as stupid as you imply in your last remark.

I do not think this is good advice. It is not good to put new product on top of thin, weakened and damaged nails. It is very common to see bad Onycholysis if this is done.

Best to thin out and rebalance the set (as long as there is no visible reason for soaking off) and grow out the damage safely. Then the client can reward herself with a beautiful new set for Christmas.
 
Don't think that is quite what marie meant... perhaps " she will believe anything you tell her" is not the right choice of words but hey! We're Geordies- straight to the point etc! seriously though, thinks she means if you act professional the client will put their trust in you for the future... yes clients are not as stupid as some might think ... more under educated on the difference between a good set and a bad one - why did they go to the nss in the first place? cheap and quick probably... think Marie ( and I know I would be) will be upset at how her post was mis- interpreted...
 
Thanks Raquel, exactly what I meant. Couldn't have put it better myself.
 
Well I'm glad we cleared that up ... I'm sure you can see clearly why the remark came over to me as it did. Just shows how careful one has to be when posting. Don't worry Marie, I'm always being misinterpreted!!:) This time I did the misinterpreting.
 
Misinterpretation has cost me 3 reputation points.

Anyway getting back to the post whatever you decide to do about your mma client, good luck, you'll be fine.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I am seeing the client this evening, so watch this space tomorrow if you want to know how I get on!
 
Hi, me again!
(Sorry if you are all sick of reading about this but just thought I'd share with you how it went yesterday!)
When I got there I explained to the client that I wasn't going to do a removal but simply re-balance the existing so-called "enhancements" using my product. After having a thorough look at her nails, they were well and truly welded on so was happy about my decision to do it this way. They shape of the enhancements were not very nice at all and I was quite shocked at how cloudy they looked as well! To be honest, I don't know why anyone would want these enhancements!
To cut a long story short (I was there for two hours as it still takes me ages!), I filed them into a nice shape, thinned out the existing product slightly and re-balanced. They were not as perfect had I done them from scratch as they were still quite milky-cloudy looking, but the client likes to wear really dark polish anyway, so we finished with a couple of coats of polish. She was very happy and has booked in with me for two weeks time. She is also looking forward to having a brand new set applied in a couple of months as she wants pink and whites. Well I think I have converted her, she was quite surprised that I wasn't hurting her during the process as she said where she went last time they thinned the nail plate so much that it felt like paper! (ouch!)
Anyway, thanks for listening (or reading!!) and I feel so much more confident now and know if I get another client from a NSS in the future I know I will be able to deal with them without getting my knickers in a twist like I did with this client!
Thanks everyone!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top