Mandi
Well-Known Member
A few weeks ago I performed a manicure (as part of my college course) on a girl who had acrylic L&P nails from what I suspect is a NSS.
She was waay overdue for a rebalance( but couldn't afford it)..it had been 4 weeks since the set was applied, but she has amazingly long nail beds so that was not much of a problem. She had managed to prise the acrylic off of one hand and had absolutely shredded her nails..ouch! fortunately for her her natural nails are very thick. It turns out that the tech used an electric file on her natural nail and I could see where it had taken layers off, creating a ridge, at what would have been the cuticle area when the set was applied
The other hand had no lifting whatsoever (after 4 weeks remember) and was airbrushed.
I did my consultation and told her I would not be able to remove the acrylic as I did not have time, but that I could blend the ridge of acrylic so it was not so much of a step and reduce the free edge so it matched her other hand....would gently buff her other hand so there were no shreaded bits of natural nail hanging off (
) use toughen up and then paint all 10 nails an opaque colour to disgusie and make them look all the same.
I took the airbrush paint off and immediately noticed that all 5 nails had air bubbles everywhere! After quizzing her it turns out that the set took less than an hour...nail prep was rough and performed with an electric file...was a fairly cheap set money wise...minimal filing and no buffing of acrylic and air brush over the top (had to disguise all those air bubbles!) I also think it was a one ball method application although not sure.
When I tried to file down some of the acrylic (it was very thick too) it was rock solid and difficult to file and was a bit stinky..indicators of MMA...but as I am not experienced diagnosing this I am not sure (have only used to brands of L&P)
So through out the manicure I tried to educate my client...told her what the tech had done to her nails by using the electric file...showed her the air bubbles. Didn't comment on the one ball V 3 ball method...told her how I work...why I would charge more but justifying it by telling her all the extra steps I go through to produce a great looking set of nails but also to protect the natural nail. Gave her advice on removal and strongly recommended she go to a salon instead of shredding her nails again! I didn't offer to book her in for me to soak them off cause as I susspected MMA I didn't want to deal with the hassle. I also talked about after care....phew! I did a lot of talking!
So the end result was ok..but she was very pleased! ( I could still see the ridge etc) but they were 100% better than when she came in.
I thought I had done a great job of educating her...imparting knowlege...I was well aware of not putting other techs down due to race...just telling the client to be aware of what should and shouldn't be done to the natural nail. I explained why she had airbubbles.
So my problem is; one of the lasts things this client said to me, as she was admiring her freshly manicured nails, was "I'm never going to go to that salon again!!" with a derogetory (sp?) comment about race ...My face fell! I had tried so hard to "educate"
So after this very long winded post I want some advice on how to educate cleints about safe work practices with out bringing NNS and race stereotypes in to it? Did I do wrong to say what I did? Would have it been better to say it a different way? or to just not comment? Did I tell her too much sending her brain into overload and her only cherry picking what info she could understand or wanted to hear? Any advice/constructive criticism would be very welcome
She was waay overdue for a rebalance( but couldn't afford it)..it had been 4 weeks since the set was applied, but she has amazingly long nail beds so that was not much of a problem. She had managed to prise the acrylic off of one hand and had absolutely shredded her nails..ouch! fortunately for her her natural nails are very thick. It turns out that the tech used an electric file on her natural nail and I could see where it had taken layers off, creating a ridge, at what would have been the cuticle area when the set was applied
The other hand had no lifting whatsoever (after 4 weeks remember) and was airbrushed.
I did my consultation and told her I would not be able to remove the acrylic as I did not have time, but that I could blend the ridge of acrylic so it was not so much of a step and reduce the free edge so it matched her other hand....would gently buff her other hand so there were no shreaded bits of natural nail hanging off (
) use toughen up and then paint all 10 nails an opaque colour to disgusie and make them look all the same.I took the airbrush paint off and immediately noticed that all 5 nails had air bubbles everywhere! After quizzing her it turns out that the set took less than an hour...nail prep was rough and performed with an electric file...was a fairly cheap set money wise...minimal filing and no buffing of acrylic and air brush over the top (had to disguise all those air bubbles!) I also think it was a one ball method application although not sure.
When I tried to file down some of the acrylic (it was very thick too) it was rock solid and difficult to file and was a bit stinky..indicators of MMA...but as I am not experienced diagnosing this I am not sure (have only used to brands of L&P)
So through out the manicure I tried to educate my client...told her what the tech had done to her nails by using the electric file...showed her the air bubbles. Didn't comment on the one ball V 3 ball method...told her how I work...why I would charge more but justifying it by telling her all the extra steps I go through to produce a great looking set of nails but also to protect the natural nail. Gave her advice on removal and strongly recommended she go to a salon instead of shredding her nails again! I didn't offer to book her in for me to soak them off cause as I susspected MMA I didn't want to deal with the hassle. I also talked about after care....phew! I did a lot of talking!
So the end result was ok..but she was very pleased! ( I could still see the ridge etc) but they were 100% better than when she came in.
I thought I had done a great job of educating her...imparting knowlege...I was well aware of not putting other techs down due to race...just telling the client to be aware of what should and shouldn't be done to the natural nail. I explained why she had airbubbles.
So my problem is; one of the lasts things this client said to me, as she was admiring her freshly manicured nails, was "I'm never going to go to that salon again!!" with a derogetory (sp?) comment about race ...My face fell! I had tried so hard to "educate"
So after this very long winded post I want some advice on how to educate cleints about safe work practices with out bringing NNS and race stereotypes in to it? Did I do wrong to say what I did? Would have it been better to say it a different way? or to just not comment? Did I tell her too much sending her brain into overload and her only cherry picking what info she could understand or wanted to hear? Any advice/constructive criticism would be very welcome
