How can I stop a picker picking?!

[NailGal]

Hello everybody,
Hope you can advise me on this! I have a wonderful client, who is loyal and faithful to me, who applies solar oil like no other and does all she can to maintain her nails.....except....she is a picker!!

She always has either Shellac or Gelosophy done when she visits and her nails grow very fast (good old solar oil!) but this means she has a strip of bare nail at the re-growth area fairly quickly, which she cannot, CANNOT resist picking! As soon as she can get a nail onto the edge of the coating, she will pick away until she lifts it, and then peels it off in strips. I had told her this is thinning her nail as she is peeling off along with the Shellac. What can I advise her to do? Anyone got any experience of this?

 

[Chickafish]

Well, the more she's thinning her nails, the weaker they get. Pretty soon they will be too weak to support the Shellac and they will just chip. If she wants to continue having her Shellac without running into problems she best stop picking at them!

 

[NailGal]

I know Chickafish, it's driving me nuts, and she knows she's wrecking her nails, but she just can't stop - she is compulsive with this once she has started!

I even suggested she wrap cling film over the Top of the shellac when she's most vulnerable to picking, to give her something to peel off! She tried this, but obviously as it isn't stuck down, she doesn't get that satisfying peel!

Does anyone know of anything she or I can do to prevent her pulling the shellac off at the re-growth area of the cuticle? This is the only place That tempts her to pick...could she paint a little clear polish here to prevent her picking and lifting once she has a bit of regrowth?

 

[poppit]

Well, the more she's thinning her nails, the weaker they get. Pretty soon they will be too weak to support the Shellac and they will just chip. If she wants to continue having her Shellac without running into problems she best stop picking at them!

well said, very true!

 

[SBeauty10]

I totally understand. it seems to me that there is nothing more you can do, you are obviously providing a good quality service but you can't help what happens when they leave your salon. after 8 years in the business i have come to realise this. don't beat yourself up over it, i know it creates more work for you when she returns but she will continue to do this however much you tell her.
Apart from being a good therapist you can only give good advice. x good luck

 

[Chickafish]

I guess one advantage to this client's picking is, if her shellac chips, you'll know why!