How long u been doing this shtick?

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How long u been stuck at this job?

  • Seems 450 years +

    Votes: 9 1.9%
  • Over a decade

    Votes: 42 8.7%
  • Between 5 and 10 years

    Votes: 63 13.0%
  • Between 1 and 5 years

    Votes: 177 36.5%
  • Under a year

    Votes: 194 40.0%

  • Total voters
    485
hi
i have been in this job now for 3 years and love every minute of it :D

What made me decide to go down this road was that i had my own nails done and i was hooked was on a training course within a month don't think that there is any other job that i could do and love so much :goal:
 
Well 10 yrs ago my sister went to Chris Logan Beauty College to become a hair stylist. I wasnt intrested in it at all. So she graduated and went straight to work in NC. SO one day after work i drove to the salon to get some highlights and while i was sitting there i really enjoyed chatting with all the women and watching them all look so relaxed with the work they were performing. I have always worked in mills. Sewing to make money and those production lines were a killer. I had become sick with endometriosis and was missing alot of work from all the pain. So i would visit her often at the salon to get hair cuts and just hang out some with her. At that time she didnt have much of a clientel so i paid her for everything she did. At that point i hadnt even thought of what i wanted to do with my life. I was already married with 2 kids and really thought my life was over. Until one day i was there sitting in her chair and i said to her "wow i wish there was something to do besides hair in a salon" she said there are other things to do. I said like what. And she went to talking about nails and how well the nail tech made money by just sitting thier polishing nails. (at that time thats all i thought there was to nails LOL) duhh me...So i went on and on about how do i get into doing nails and she told me i would have to go to school for it. I looked at her with dissapointment and said oh well thats out of the question for me. Anyways...i ended up going to school and missed alot of the classes for being in the hosipital because of the endo. I would take my kit in with me and the nurses would walk in and say sorry but you have to put that away the chemicals are too strong. So sadly i put my things away. When i would be in the class i would be sitting there in so much pain that the instructor could see it on my face without me haveing to say a word and sure enough as soon as she noticed it she would go and call my husband to come and pick me up. I would just sit and cry because i had finally found what i wanted to do with my life and this disease was takeing over now. I ended up haveing to have surgery before i was done with school. After the surgery i was a bit better and finished my course. I went on to working thinking i had all the endo behind me and i was very happy. My first few months were GREAT!!...the boom here comes the endo kicking my arse again!..SO needless to say i ended up leaving nails behind because of alot of reasons and became a manager in a casino for 3 yrs. I loved it but i wasnt happy. I wanted to do nails again. But alot of problems started with my son...so here i am almost 6 yrs later ready to give it another try. This is a passion for me so i will just have to see how it turns out this time. Geesh this is already wayyy too long!! LOL sorry :rolleyes: Im gonna stop now LOL..have a nice day all
 
It's been about 11 years for me now. I've had to take a couple breaks in there....One about 3 years ago that about ended my nail career; pinched nerve in my forearm that required surgery. Took about a year to fully recover from that. I quit the salon, but continued to do a dozen or so clients from home during that hiatus. Wasn't enough, so I returned to the salon....

And that brings us to now....Currently I'm on maternity leave. Had to leave the salon quite early in my pregnancy due to SEVERE morning-noon-night sickness :puke: and rotten back pain which started at my 2 month mark and has hung around since. Lucky me.

So, I stay as involved as I can through this board and beautytech. Don't know if I'll return to life behind the desk after baby arrives??? My biggest passion is competing which I've never really given a full on fair shot. I've just dabbled and have been quite lucky in my few times out. At this stage I really don't miss the day-to-day salon work but I miss competing alot. I don't see myself leaving this business....ever. I think my next move is to become an educator. I actually had something in the works right after I found out I was pregnant but I didn't anticipate getting so sick, so that's been put on the back burner.... :aww:

But I'll be back....

Oh, and this whole thing of my becoming a nail tech started because a friend BEGGED me to go to school because she had to fire one of her techs for one reason or another and she realllllllly wanted me to come work with her. Funny....I had no interest really in doing it, but she wouldn't shut up. I was in the process of learning to groom dogs! LOL
 
Well........I am still a newie really as its only been a year and a half... as Christie said the half makes all the difference lol.
That is why this site is fab I am still learning and will be for years to come.
I have a mobile business and its building up slowly but sure.
Take care Dawnie
 

In my case it was 'do or die'
My step mom treated me to a set of nails when I was visiting them in the USA from England - because, truth to say, I was a bit of a 'nail nibbler'.
I never knew there was anything else available but 'stick ons' from Woolworths - nail enhancement, what was that?
This WAS 20 years ago!!
Anyway, being an artistic type I thought, 'I could do this'. :rolleyes:
Well ... it was a case of if I didn't do it I wasn't going to be able to get them done in England, that was for sure.
So I horrified my dad by spending hundreds of dollars at Sallys Beauty Supply in Sarasota, Florida which my nail tech bought using her licence ... I know, I know ... it was 20 years ago and the ONLY way.
You'll all be glad to know that eventually I did do a course :p
I had seven years behind the table and had 3 nail salons (yes the first in England in my area) NO competition ... until I started training for Creative. Now all the best salons in Leeds have either worked for me or been trained at our training school - very proud of my protoges!!
Things have come a long way since those days!
It goes without saying that I loved every minute of all of it - still do!
 
I graduated & went right into Nail School in 1984. I then graced my first Salon by leasing from them. Took a 5 year break to have two kidos & went back into the BIZ. That really puts me over the Decade mark! I guess 19 years isn't too bad for a career that you love. :goal:
 
I have been doing nails for 3 1/2 years...see when you have only done nails for 3 years..you count the halfs. Like when you ask a 3 year old how old he is he says...."3 1/2" and don't dare call him 3.

I am doing nails because it is my calling..lol

Actually I was always into nails...as far back as I can remember. At one point I was going to go to school to do nails when I was 19. But that would have meant...going to school during the day and working in the evening but ..."then when would I get to see my boyfriend???" :aww: (now my husband of 13 years) :rolleyes:

So instead I kept working at the old insurance office (not my calling)...got married...had two kids...moved to Hawaii... Then when my youngest went to kindergarten I was sooo bored at home. I mean how many times can you mop the same floor and get any fulfillment out of it?

So I decided to go to school to do nails...of course now it cost $3000. (triple what it would have been when I was 19) and the school was an hour away and I had family to take care of...great decisions Christie..

But since then I realized that I have found my calling in life...I am a nail tech... A client today asked me "how can you stand sitting here doing nails all day?" I told her..."this is who I am...If I am not doing nails I am thinking about nails"

There...my life story... :)
 
Gag me with a spoon dude, you are definately an old geeser now!

Just kidding, I have done nails now for ....let's see.....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 1/2 years. Clients look at me in amazement because they think I look so young (actually they think I am a big fat liar). That is when I tell them, yeah I dropped out of Harvard, it was too easy, went off to join the Army, too hard, then then finally decided fingernails where my true passion in life....... ahhh.....just right . Yeah anyway, here's the real story.......

I dropped out of community college, went MIA and partying for 2 years, then decided to get my life back together, and nails seemed like a good choice at the time! LOL! It all became so clear.....and my mother was SO happy!
 
I've been doing nails 3 years. :huh: ...actually it will be 4 in March :eyesore:
Still learning everyday!!! And loving it I might add!
 
Well got me thinking and then thought blimey doesn't time fly when your sniffing glue???? :rolleyes:
Well i break it down so it doesn't seem that I am that much of an oldie in the business. 8)
3 years Mobile and then in our 9th year in the Salon.
But I still love it, joking aside. :D
Well must dash
Love to all
Ruth xxxxx
 

The Geek

Grand Master Geek
Premium Geek
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
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Location
Leeds, UK
All right... was blabbing today in class when someone said to me...
"Wow... so you've been doing this almost a decade?"

Suddenly, I saw myself in the shopping lane at my local supermarket buying incontinence nappies.
So I quickly retorted in my most youthful, hip voice: "No way dude, like gag me with a spoon... It won't be that long until this fall... you groove to my tune baby? Dig? Capeeshe? Rad? um groovy?"

I was curious what the range for users here was. And what the hell possessed you to do this as a living anyway?
 
3 1/2 for me too and yes that 1/2 makes *all* the difference. I think I've learnt more in that last 1/2 than I did in the previous 3!

What got me into it? Getting my nails done... I always wanted to be able to paint my nails and do nail art everyday to match my clothes... that sure wore off pretty quickly!!!!
 
LOL v interesting stories....


...I've been doing nails since I was 13, and Im almost 18. I can't really explain why I decided I liked nails...I think it was because Im a dancer, and one of my teachers was off to a competition, and had her nails done really cool; they were a baby blue and pink leopard print. I wasnt exactly on best terms with this particular teacher and got really annoyed when she refused point blank to tell me how her nails had been done.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided I would try and recreate this design onto my nails (absolubte disaster but I stuck at it!!). I had never heard or thought of nail art until this, and I soon became rather nifty with a bottle nail varnish.

I began to research into nail art on the net and to my amazement...found LOADS of other nail geeks!! Whooo!!

I was still in secondary school at this stage, and was known by most of the students and teachers there for having funky nails. All of them tried to convince me to do it professionally but I was determined I was going to be a Primary School teacher!!

So I left school with a heap of good grades, and went to college - BIG MISTAKE!!! 3 quarters of the way through the first year....I decided I didnt want to be a teacher....and I wanted to take my nail interest further.

So......halfway through my 2nd year of college.....and hating it.....Im determined about being a nail tech! Come June...i'll be out of college and getting hyped about nail courses! whoohoo!!

xxlaylaxx
 
What a great discussion!! I've been doing nails for 4 years. I worked in commercial interior design for about 5 years after college. Hated every minute of it and after I had my son, I worked part time for about 3 months. Hating every day and every minute. Finally decided to try something else, I had only had my nails done once, and I did not know much about nails. But, I thought that it would be fun and off to school I went with my little white jacket!!

So, here I am 4 years later, and I love my job. All my friends think I have lost it. But as you know this is awesome. I get to talk all day, do nails, great schedule and very challenging. I am so fixated on doing the best nails. I am always thinking about Nails. Nails, Nails.

I'm not sure what is next for me, at the present I'm an employee, so maybe booth rent or educator. But whatever it is it will have to do with nails.

:D Holly
 
I have only been doing nails for 5 months (can't even say the "half year" yet LOL). I worked for a very large telecom company here in Canada for 18 years and last October I got downsized with a very nice severance package. I had been waiting for this opportunity for years! I knew then and there I would do something totally whacked, and creative and after doing a ton of research I decided this was something I was meant to do. I'd worn enhancements for a few years and knew someone at my former company who did them as well and it was always tucked in the back of my mind that when I got the boot from my employer I would take this up. I enrolled in a 3-month nail technology course that used CND products exclusively.

I think it is one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life and at my age, everything has come together to allow me to do it (I am a huge believer in fate). I am just starting out, building up clientele, and since my severance package runs out in December I have several months to go before I will need to worry about a steady income. I'm hoping by that time I'll be somewhat settled in where I'll be working and what I'll be doing (for now it's out of the house).

As others have posted here in this thread, I now think about nails constantly. Now when I read a mag or watch TV my first glance is to the nails to see what they look like! Before I wouldn't have noticed them probably at all. The best of it is, my friends and family all see how much more relaxed and less stressed I am.
 
I have been in this biz,45, yes I said 45! First as a stylist, many, many,
many yrs. :D Then sorta, found out, I needed a sit down, job. Don'r know what pained me the most! My feet, or my legs, or my back, or my arms, or having to deal with * crazy * ladies, hairs. :twisted: Took to nails, right away, loved it, have seen it all, believe me. You know I was just called an OLD DOG, on another board, :evil: but, this Oldie, has still got it. ;) ;) I will be doing nails, till the cows come home.
Barbie :silly: :silly: :silly:
 
From one OLD DOG to another I say ... there is no substitute for experience, and age is no barrier to doing nail services.
Keep it up ... if you can!! :D
 
I was feeling a little bummed :(
Barbie :silly: :silly:
 
Hi Barbie, I know the board you are referring to, though I didn't read the actual posting. Too much drama there lately for my liking! Full moon was last week so maybe it's the aftershocks LOL.
 
I have always had fab nails with a high arch and great c curve so I have done my own for as long as I can remember, they matched what I wore and I experimented with art. I never realized people did nails as a job though...lol...I always wanted to be a psychiatrist but there was this crazy thing standing in the way of my dream called 6 to 8 years of school and I hated school. So then I just said heck with it took a few classes and was working odd jobs, met the love of my life, had a daughter, then when my daughter was 3 I was fast becoming bored with the stay at home thing; my cousin who owns a hair place was complaining that she could not find a nail tech and I said what's a nail tech? she explained, i paid for the schooling and BAM I am a nail tech totally in love with the art of nails and I also get to use some of my psychology....lol....now the crazy thing is I want to be an educator.....talk about coming full circle
 

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