Help with overgrown cuticles/eponychium - very stubborn ones!

[Bev Rose]

I have an enhancement client that comes every 3 wks for her appointments.
Since I have been doing her nails (July 07), we have had problems getting the cuticles/eponychium to shrink back & stay.

Each time I see her, they seem to have grown down with the acrylic and are really stubborn & stick to the nail bed, when I prep I use CND cuticle remover and leave it a min or two to soften & then gently push (or try them back, but they hardly budge. When I do move them back a bit, that part that has come away seems 'baggy' and I've NEVER cut them, but I'm blooming tempted to!!

I adviced the use of CND Cuticle Eraser alongside her usual solar oil routine, which is daily - she's seriously trying. This has not worked. She's been using it for about 6-8 weeks, with no results.

Please, can you tell me what else I can buy for her to get rid of the tough things once & for all? I'd be assuming she'll have to continue her home routine of using it too?

Thanks Geeks

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[~Emmsybabes~]

Sorry I cant offer advice hun,
But I was wondering if anyone could answer if
in severe cases like this would it not be ok to trim the eponychium as a one off,
And then continue with the aftercare to keep them from returning ?

Don't shoot lol,

 

[Susie H]

Sorry I cant offer advice hun,
But I was wondering if anyone could answer if
in severe cases like this would it not be ok to trim the eponychium as a one off,
And then continue with the aftercare to keep them from returning ?

Don't shoot lol,

I was wondering the same thing:lol: I have seen this done by a lady who nvq trained at the collage, she uses her nippers to take the cuticle away after she has rolled it back with her buffing pad.
Then she sells the client cuticle oil and tells them, after they have washed their hair, so the skin is softened, to rub the cuticle oil in with circular motions of the thumb and then to gently use the ball of the thumb to push the cuticle back in the same way she does with the buffing pad.
I've never done it, not had the need:hug:

 

[oey]

In the salon where I used to work the owner had eponychiums like this - she always did her own nails and did cut the excess growth off (which always seemed loads), but I thought that they always grew back just as much because she did cut them. I always suggested leaving them and treating with cuticle products etc but she insisted that it wouldnt make any difference.

She never got any infections that I know of or any bleeding but I dont think I could ever cut them back on a client just in case.

Would be interested to find out if there is a solution to this.

 

[geeg]

If the eponychium is tight to the nail PLATE, then really you should not push it back. Why do you want to?

Your job is to remove CUTICLE from the plate and then apply your product to the PLATE. Your product does not have to go under the eponychium.

However I have certainly seen my eponychium shrink with the regular use of Solar Oil and if this is not happening then I suggest you leave them alone and where they naturally want to be.

 

[Bev Rose]

If the eponychium is tight to the nail PLATE, then really you should not push it back. Why do you want to?

Your job is to remove CUTICLE from the plate and then apply your product to the PLATE. Your product does not have to go under the eponychium.

However I have certainly seen my eponychium shrink with the regular use of Solar Oil and if this is not happening then I suggest you leave them alone and where they naturally want to be.

Hi Geeg,

Obviuosly, I don't want to put the product UNDER the eponychium.
I just wanted to know if there was another product/something else I could do to reduce them. As what I've advised her doesn't work for her.
I just feel like I'm not helping her at all...

 

[adelekeegan1]

I had a client like this - eponychium like an elastic band and almost immovable.

I retailed solar oil and cuticle eraser which she bought begrudgingly (really mean)
when she came back there was little change. I said that she wasn't using them enough and she admitted to using them twice a week (on grounds of economy)

I told her off and since then she has used them every day. It took about about 3 months but they have turned into 'perfect' cuticles and she is thrilled.

Sadly she is still as mean

 

[geeg]

Hi Geeg,

Obviuosly, I don't want to put the product UNDER the eponychium.
I just wanted to know if there was another product/something else I could do to reduce them. As what I've advised her doesn't work for her.
I just feel like I'm not helping her at all...

These things take time. If you must raise the eponychium then that skin is going to take time to shrink but shrink it will.

Your only other option is to not raise/push back the eponychium and let it lie where it is and then you wont notice this 'baggy' bit. Certainly CND Cuticle remover will not have any effect on it as it is not cuticle and is living so it wont remove. If you trim or cut them, they will only grow thicker and be ragged.

 

[Bev Rose]

Ok,
I would NEVER cut them, it goes against my grain. I know what it does & why it should not be done. I have told her that I will not cut them & the reasons why.

So, she feels having used the products I have advised her, that they don't work. There is NO change & that is true, there is no change at all.
She does not really feel she wants to buy the same product again only to find that - again, she has no results. She is a lovely lady & is not 'tight' or begruding.
She even wondered if having her enhancements (which is NNO these days) removed, would it help the product to work better on her?
I said no, but would gladly remove them if that's what she would like. I suggested that the products she is using are applicable to the eponychium (cuticle to her) and that the enhancement is not on that area, so should not make a difference.

So, have I to tell her to buy another tube of the product and keep perservering?

I have no doubt that she is true to her word about how often she uses her solar oil & CND eraser - which is 5-7 days a week. Once a day, in the eves before bed.
I feel i should give her the next tube foc, to prove a point, if that's the case!

 

[Bev Rose]

My lady is coming tomorrow, so I just wondered if anyone could give me some other options for her?

I will suggest she perserveres with CND Cuticle Eraser & Solar Oil together as this will work eventually.

I just thought that there may be something else that could work quicker. There's lots of tech on here....what does everyone do with this type os stubborn eponychium?

 

[Enhanced-Barbie]

Would increasing her 'dosage' to twice daily (once in the morning and once at night) help?

 

[fanella]

i have a pencil shaped pumice stone which i use after cuticle remover and before cuticle oil, it smoothes and softens the harder cuticles and fast and effectively removes any dead attached to the nail bed, you have to be careful with your application so as not to damage the matrix, but i get the same results as the good old days when cutting the cuticle was standard practice

 

[geeg]

i have a pencil shaped pumice stone which i use after cuticle remover and before cuticle oil, it smoothes and softens the harder cuticles and fast and effectively removes any dead attached to the nail bed, you have to be careful with your application so as not to damage the matrix, but i get the same results as the good old days when cutting the cuticle was standard practice

Your still getting mixed up between that which is cuticle and the eponychium.

You can remove cuticle with your pencil thing but you cannot remove eponychium with it.

It was standard practise to cut eponychium not cuticle.

 

[blossom]

My lady is coming tomorrow, so I just wondered if anyone could give me some other options for her?

I will suggest she perserveres with CND Cuticle Eraser & Solar Oil together as this will work eventually.

I just thought that there may be something else that could work quicker. There's lots of tech on here....what does everyone do with this type os stubborn eponychium?

TBH I would leave it be, Bev, tell her that as much as she wants it to not be there,that is where it naturally wants to be and although you can soften it with oil, essentially it's not going to budge.

If she is a bit tight anyway, she's not going to fork out for another tube of something that didn't help her last time, even though she used the whole tube!

It's like me wanting long nails beds when mine are fairly square - it ain't gonna happen! lol

Carry on enhancing her nails for her and delighting her with your nail work - you're a nail tech, not a miracle worker! lol

 

[Bev Rose]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Much appreciated.

I guess somethings we have to live with.:hug:

 

[smiler13334]

Have you tried manicures? or failing that when ever the client has a bath etc and her skin is nice and warm etc advise her to push them back and gradually they will stop being 'flappy' I agree with you about cutting. That generally hardens the area and not nice.
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