How long? Am I really slow?

[DinkyPinky]

I don't have anyone or anything to compare my timings to so I don't know if I'm really slow or not! How long approximately would it take you to do the following:

Shellac Removal with foil wraps e.t.c.

Repairing one nail that has broken off right to the free edge with a tip, Brisa Bond and thin layer Clear Brisa Gel just to give a free edge for french to all look uniform.

Shellac French Manicure including, cuticle tidy with Cuticle Away e.t.c., shape, Shellac Base, 2 coats of Romantique, Cream Puff Smile Lines, Top Coat, Oil and Moisturise

It took me 1 hour 40 minutes - is this a long time???

 

[Susie H]

I don't use gel out side of Shellac, so I would have been using L&P for the nail repair, but I would have said 1 hour for the lot, how ever, did you have a good old chat? Choose what the new Shellac was going to be, with a bit of umming and arring before the choice was made?
All of that takes time, an amazing amount of time and every time you take you eyes of your work to talk to a client, your hands stop moving, it takes a lot of practice to learn to talk to their hands:lol:
Timing isn't the most important thing hun, a happy client is:hug:

 

[DinkyPinky]

I am seriously slow then if you can do it in an hour :cry:. It takes me 20 minutes to do the removal by the time I have put the foils on, left them 10 mins, removed with orange stick and rubbed each nail with acetone to remove any remaining base coat.

Shellac french takes me about an hour.

Applying the tip, blend and gel takes about 10mins.

5/10 mins to choose colour and chat about repair options e.t.c.

I guess it's the shellac french that is taking me too much time. Maybe I take too long on cuticles and shaping. I paint pretty quick and only touch up the smiles on a few nails briefly. But 5 layers (base, 2 colour, white, top) seems to takes quite a while.

 

[twid]

I think you've answered you're own question really, its the french Shellac that's sending your timings out. I personally only do 1 colour coat with french, so that cuts the time down by a bit.

I suppose it normally takes me about 15mins for removal, I often find I dont need to soak off for the full 10mins - its always worth checking early. Get the client thinking about their colour/repairs during soak off, saves time later.

Karaxxx

 

[Bezza]

I took an hour and ten to do just a shellac French today and the. 2 hrs 20 to do a full set of gels!! Happy clients are important, but I too worry about my time and sometimes feel like saying are you sure yiu want me to finish your nails?? I'm taking so long!! I often feel like I should apologize for taking so long but if they're new to 'nails' then they might not know any different?! Either way, a fast forward button would be nice!!

 

[Karen Minx]

I know what you mean! I took 1 hour 5 minutes for a french shellac today and that was using the new CND 5 finger lamp! And i wasn't chatting.
I think i spent a long time on her cuticles because i managed to do one french Shellac last week in a clients lunch hour, because she had only allowed me 1 hour (when i book out 1 hour and 15 mins because it was a removal of Shellac and reapply) i managed to do her under one hour using the CND vintage lamp and that was removing her Shellac, dry prep and reapply of French. I wasn't chatting ... just rushing because i had no choice! :lol:
I removed her foils from one hand first and started buffing any reminates of base coat (with her concent to buff first), dry prep & push back of cuticles and painted and stuck under the lamp then went onto preping her next hand, stopping to paint the other between cures. It worked out so much quicker doing this. I also painted the french on all fingers then went back to tidy smiles afterwards, normally i would do each tidy of smile in turn. This also cut down my timing.
If youv'e not got the time to spend 1 hour 40 mins on a French Shellac ... you will get it done sooner if you really have to. :lol: If you only had an hour before your next client was due, you would of been finished in time because you had to. xx

 

[Nail Perfection]

If I do removal and new shellac it takes me around 40 mins. The quickest I have done is 30 mins (no removal). Mind you I did my sisters earlier in around 20 mins, (colour coat) we were in a rush but there was not much prep to do so I just rushed through it. I didn't stop at all for any chit chat but I feel with a client you have to chat a bit and not rush them out the door.

It reallly depends on how much prep is required, maybe you don't need to do just as much as you actually do.?

 

[DinkyPinky]

I think I probably spend too long prepping. I have always had prep drummed into me so hard that maybe now I spend too long on it! I don't like to look at the clock too much either because clients will feel like they are being rushed. How long do people take to prep 10 nails? I don't think I will ever achieve a removal and application in 45 minutes!!

 

[Karen Minx]

I can sometimes take up to 20 mins on new clients if they have really bad cuticles! I like to try and keep to 5-10 mins if they don't.

If they are regulars and their cuticles dont look that bad, it is ok to do a dry prep with a cuticle chisel. I often do this on returning shellac clients and i always do this with my regular acrylic clients. I only do a wet prep on new acrylic clients only, unless they need it like today for instance, i had a rebalance client who had 1 missing nail and for some strange reason she had a layer of tough cuticle overgrown on that one nail and not the others, so i used cuticle remover on that one nail and dry prepped the rest.

I have got into a quicker routine of; (which works for me)

apply CND Cuticle Remove to all 10 nails (i know it says best to leave 1 min for best results but i like to go staight in)

Using rounded side of cuticle chisel and gently push back cuticle seal on all 10 nails.

Go back to nail 1 and use chisel end of pusher and remove non living tissue off nail plate, wipe excess off on cotton round, wipe nail with clean cotton round, nippers if you need to, spray with water, wipe and move on to next nail. Then scrubfresh all 10. Done.

This way the Cuticle Remove has had a good minute to soak while pushing back the seals and softened up for when you remove the cuticle.

 

[DinkyPinky]

I think it is definitely prep that is slowing me up then, gonna have to rethink my routine and get a move on !!

 

[M00min]

I think it is definitely prep that is slowing me up then, gonna have to rethink my routine and get a move on !!

Prep slows me too! I have this OCD thing about cuticles! Cuticle Away has really helped though - so much more effective than the cuticle remover I had with my college kit while training x

 

[annasmum]

I am taking ages for Shellac/Gelish too. Clients never leave under an hour more like 75 min and I feel like aplogizing. I use CND's cuticle away and always send the client to wash hands with liquid soap. Could I just spray the hands with soapy water or just water to neutralize the remover?

 

[Karen Minx]

I am taking ages for Shellac/Gelish too. Clients never leave under an hour more like 75 min and I feel like aplogizing. I use CND's cuticle away and always send the client to wash hands with liquid soap. Could I just spray the hands with soapy water or just water to neutralize the remover?

I used to use soapy water to neutralize the Cuticle Away (CND Citri Soak and water in a spray bottle) but on my last CND Class the tutor told me to get rid of the CitricSoak and just use plain water in a spray bottle has CitriSoak or other soaps are very moisturising to the nail plate.