I'm finding the Shellac brush too flimsy?

[eden_beauty]

Hi Ladies

I have recently taken on shellac and to be honest I've had lots if issues with it but recently i have been finding that the brush within the shellac bottle is so flimsy and makes it very difficult to evenly and thinly apply the thick shellac.

Have any of you nail geeks that offer shellac know what I am talking about or is it just me?

Do you think it would be possible to use a brush that is more coarse allowing even spread like you woul use for applying gel?

I am also finding the shellac itself very think (even if i shake and shake and shake!!) Not only that but i find that by shaking thoroughly the shellac goes all the way up the neck of the bottle and all over the top of the brush making it difficult to clean off.....Let me know your thoughts.

I keep thinking I've made a mistake investing in shellac and possibly should have gone with something else as I have had a few clients say that it has peeled clean off etc which also worries me as does the fact that I can't seem to get on a training day for love nor money! AND the fact that there is no list of do's and don't given to us when we take on the product

I have called s2 a few times and they don't have anything they can send me about what aftercare advice to offer clients??

I am quite worried that after posting a couple of things on here regarding shellac I have been advised that deet (insect repellant) can "melt" shellac (not being funny but how would I have known this if this wasn't advised when purchasing the product) and if i didn't know it how would my clients be expected to know it? Plus I also heard thyroid meds can affect the wear of shellac? so what other meds should we be aware of?

I mean what other things can affect it? I obviously tell people to try to be careful still and wear gloves when washing up and using any cleaning products etc but i'm just not happy that I don't have a proper aftercare advice sheet that i can give them?

HELP!



Lisa

 

[Polished!]

Hi,

I think for the most part, most client's get on just fine with Shellac, my thyroid meds play havoc with anything I put on my nails (including nail polish), so I'm usually pleased to get the wear I do from it, although personally I prefer Gelish for myself as it lasts longer. Each client will be different and I find that most of my natural nail clients really love Shellac.

I have heard that some anti-depressants also give the same problem.

If you're not confident in the product, maybe wait until you have done the training or join the Shellac Lovers group on here.

I don't have an issue with the brush, but the only thing I do is to use a thinner brush for the white of a french mani as it suits me best.

 

[deanosnana]

Hi Ladies

I have recently taken on shellac and to be honest I've had lots if issues with it but recently i have been finding that the brush within the shellac bottle is so flimsy and makes it very difficult to evenly and thinly apply the thick shellac.

Have any of you nail geeks that offer shellac know what I am talking about or is it just me?
HELP!



Lisa

Hi, it's not just you. :hug: I was actually going to write to CND and suggest that they make the Base Coat brush for ALL applications except the Top Coat.

I was going to clean up an old Base Coat brush and try it with a color. I do LOVE the base coat brush!

 

[C the Results]

I am very new to Shellac so have been practicing on friends and family, I too am having peeling problems. I am putting it down to my application being too thick, 1 person after 13 days peeled all hers off and was perfectly happy with it (didn't damage her nails at all) but another one had 2 nails peel after 1 week. I am advising them all to use solar oil. I also have what I can only describe as wear on the free edge on some clients especially on their right index fingers. I am sure I am following the correct application procedure but am concerned that I over-cap the edge as when I try and flick the brush over it doesn't seem to cover. Is there a video on here of the flicking? I have watched Holly's vids but she caps seperately.
I am not giving up and will keep trying to do it really thin and see how it goes. Keep me posted as to how you get on.
Claire x

 

[Lisa S]

Have same problems to, find it difficult to apply 'thin', expecially the top coat, its like glue, and yes I do shake it. I'd say my clients are 50/50, the ones it works for only just get 14 days though and there is always some wear and chipping, others also have peeling. Confidence wearing thin with it a bit really, going to perservere though.

 

[eden_beauty]

I thought it wouldn't just be me as its happened a few times and I have tried over and over to apply as thinly as i can and the brush really doesn't help at all. I find it so irritating and hate it when a client doesn't get what we tell them they will.......but whats the story with not knowing all the facts for aftercare? Why do they not send something to us to advise as they have tested this product over years apparently so i'm sure the research is there???

 

[katiebbaby]

Shellac is not a gel, theefore doesnot need teasing into shape with a coarse brush as such. I find the brushes of cnd polishes one of the best I have tried, you do not need to drag or pull the shellac, jusr glide, keeping the brush parrallel to the nail twisting your brush as you go or turning the finger.

I really think shelllac has highlighted the fact of how many technicians can not actually do a good polish therefore are having problems with shellac, yet think its the shellac.

Any solvent when left opened will overtime become a diffrent viscosity as such, so the longer you take to polish/shellac/ the more exposed to oxygen uv light your brush/unopened bottle will be therefore resulting in overtime a thicker consistancy,,.

Its not rocket science really, light touch with thin to win this does not mean transparent lol,,,and just flick the brush as you are turning it up overfree edge or turning finger.

Shellac is a proffessional product which has won an award for being such a great product, it has been sold out and in demand, my clients want shellac and nothing else will come close for them,,, I feel if the product was in anyway inferior then the public outcry would not be as it is.

Aftercare and advice is just one of them things in which you should be regarding with any nail treatment,,,every person is diffrent shellac will on most people last 14days plus but on some will not, for various reasons, lifestyle,health.wellbeing, etc etc....do you gaurntee the life of your enhancments? or polish or minx, yes they should last but we all know sometimes they dont, as a result of client interference or service breakdown not necessarily the product itself.

HTH xxx

 

[geeg]

I wonder what kind of aftercare advise you give when you polish spmeones nails. Use Solar
Oil daily? Stay away from suntan lotions with DEET? Protect your nails where possible from anything that will cause excessive wear and tear? What's different in terms of aftercare with Shellac? Nothing.

Here's my advice ... I don't think you have made one positive post re Shellac against the thousands of posts from others who Adore Shellac and are making good money with it. All your posts are negative. If that was my experience with a product I'd ditch it and use something else.

I love Shellac .. I haven't really had a single problem with either the product or it's performance since I started using it 9months ago. If a client wants tp pick it then they can pick it, if they want to trash it then they can trash it, if they have meds that affect it then those meds will affect everything else they use too, if they ruin it with DEET then what would be different with anything else?

If a product is giving you as much anxiety and worries as this seems to be doing to you, then I'd go for something else. You have had so much help and advice and all instructions are here .... There are all of Hollys videos right here which is a class in itself for FREE .... What else do you think anyone can do for you? To me Shellac is the simplest most effective new treatment EVER produced for nail technicians and their natural nail clients. The brushes work just fine for me and my top coat is not thick like glue from leaving it open for too long, it's normal. I shake the bottle for a short while and it is no different on the shaft of the brush than it would be if I rolled a bottle of ordinary polish. Why are you expecting something so different to polish? The differences are that Shellac is instantly dry and lasts for 21 days on most people ... Other than that, it goes on like polish! Simple ... Not complicated.

 

[eden_beauty]

Yeah i get all that geeg and i have looked at the videos etc but for some reason it seems alot easier when you're looking at someone else doing it than when i'm actually doing it.

By the way i am not trying to be "negative" as you put it! This forum is for people to try to get help and advice and what i have said regarding s2 about lack of product and lack of any aftercare advice is TRUE. They have not provided this information and to be honest I have never heard of deet in suncream affecting normal nail polish. This may make you think I am a bad therapist but to be honest I am trying to be as thorough as i can in ALL my treatments so i do not see asking questions as a bad thing.

Just because some people love something does not mean that others won't have difficulties and need help but to be honest with every other treatment I have taken on and trained in there are lists of do's and don't provided so that you can ascertain why things might go wrong and this has NOT been given by s2 or cnd to people buying this product so we're all asking one another. I just think if there was something from the actual people who have designed the product given to the therapists taking on the products we wouldn't have this problem.

I am not trying to annoy those that love this product......i myself LOVE the concept but the theory seems to be better than the practice at the moment for me that's all.

Lisa

 

[deanosnana]

I think education in the products you choose is SO important! I learned tons of good info in the Shellac Attack class I took. I find education invaluable, no matter what products you choose!

 

[eden_beauty]

I totally agree deanosnana but like i said i have called and called and i've been told they have no course dates in london because surprise surprise they cannot get hold of any product! I was told in early October that there would be one beginning of november then last week as i had not heard anything i called again and was told they dont know when it will be as they have no product and are waiting on cnd to get it to them and they have been waiting for ages!

To be honest i think its very unprofessional of the company to be out of stock for so long months i was waiting for base coat/top coat and it seems their distributer is in the same boat.

 

[mizzy_dizzy]

I totally agree deanosnana but like i said i have called and called and i've been told they have no course dates in london because surprise surprise they cannot get hold of any product! I was told in early October that there would be one beginning of november then last week as i had not heard anything i called again and was told they dont know when it will be as they have no product and are waiting on cnd to get it to them and they have been waiting for ages!

To be honest i think its very unprofessional of the company to be out of stock for so long months i was waiting for base coat/top coat and it seems their distributer is in the same boat.

Do they know you at london? if so why not ask them personaly If you could take your shellac in and do a quick run through with you? ok they might charge you one to one price but education is totaly worth it

I think what you said about them being unprofessional is totaly negitive and un called for and dam well rude!,
CND are doing alot of extra work to try to fill the demand WORLD WIDE for shellac and all there other products , im sure even with all of there market reserch they could not have known for one min how crazy the need for shellac would be!
as far as I know CND are quite ethical with the making of there products in the states by people earning a REAL wage...... would you like it if they filled the mass orders by moving the production line to india or china and hiering slave children in sweat shops to mix your shellac so you can have it on demand???? :irked:

 

[eden_beauty]

I think what you said about them being unprofessional is totaly negitive and un called for and dam well rude!,

To be honest - i'm not here to argue and you are being very rude to me in this comment and you're taking what i said way too personally. What I said is fact. It is unprofessional for a product to be out of stock for months on end when people are having to turn away clients because of it and the shellac trainers themselves cannot even train shellac users because of this shortage and to be honest when i rang s2 they were quite mift themselves about the long wait for this so please stop making out i'm being negative when i am only stating the facts.

Also why are you trying to make what i said a big human rights/ ethical working argument.....i said nothing about this and it has nothing to do with the point i made so please don't try to make something quite harmless into a big debate about sweatshops and people being badly treated etc.

and to be fair as its such an amazing product and i too believe it must be but just want the correct help) why did they not expect the demand to be such?

I am sure it is an amazing product but i am just completely irritated by the lack of help from the suppliers. I can you tube as many videos as i want (and i have) on technique of application etc but nothing will beat the industrys professional trainers training me and i am upset that they weren't even able to give me a lead time on when this might happen because they themselves are waiting for product to arrive..................I just have never experienced this before.

Please don't post anything else distasteful about me being negative etc because as i re-iterated in my last post i don't want to be negative but the shellac experience has left a lot to be desired from a point of sale position.

Tks
Lisa

 

[totalbirdbrain]

I think it's a shame that you feel your first experiences with Shellac are negative. I agree that it can be frustrating when items are out of stock, it would be lovely if every company could predict how popular and amazing their products will be, I have made it a habit to check every day plus I do get a Shellac Watch email that tells me when items are back in stock.

I never did a Shellac course, I bought the products on a whim and love them, I was concerned once when I couldnt get the base coat but S2 were very helpful on what to do. Shellac has worked very well for us, yes we had teething problems in the beginning with peeling but that was down to us applying it too thickly. To be honest I haven't noticed that there are differences in the brushes?

Don't let a negative experience put you off what is really a great product, however not everything works for everybody. I can only say, stocking issues aside, I don't regret it, it took us a little while to get used to but it's improved the nail side of my business tremendously.

Hope everything works out for you!

(p.s - I've never heard about DEET either, but I have now...thats why I love this site, you can find out some very interesting information!)

 

[TweezerHappy]

I am sure it is an amazing product but i am just completely irritated by the lack of help from the suppliers. I can you tube as many videos as i want (and i have) on technique of application etc but nothing will beat the industrys professional trainers training me and i am upset that they weren't even able to give me a lead time on when this might happen because they themselves are waiting for product to arrive..................I just have never experienced this before.

You are right. Nothing will beat a class. Hopefully you will get one soon. :hug:

 

[mizzy_dizzy]

Also why are you trying to make what i said a big human rights/ ethical working argument.....i said nothing about this and it has nothing to do with the point i made so please don't try to make something quite harmless into a big debate about sweatshops and people being badly treated etc.

I am not trying to make a BIG thing about human rights ....and it dose have a lot to do with what you said about "To be honest i think its very unprofessional of the company to be out of stock for so long months "

I know you said nothing of this but the point I was trying to make is they don't have sweatshops they do things the ethical way and seem damed if they do damed if they don't as what you said basically says they need to pull there socks up and mass get on with it,
the thing is that they have got over time and extra staff ect they haven't been sold out for months they have been mass producing just every time there is stock more new techs want to try to its still growing demand for it!
but thats what happens when there is a revolutionary new product and every one wants a bit....

do you not think if they could fill the demand with out risking quality or humanity they wouldn't be doing it?

think how much more profit they would make etc ?

it will sort its self out but it takes time your not the only person waiting for it,
and if you read back on my post I did give you some advice!

if the only reason they cant teach you at London is that they don't have any shellac call them personally ask again and offer to bring your own shellac items with you! easy!

 

[eden_beauty]

Yeah i get your point and i wouldn't want them to do anything unethical either its just soooooo frustrating!

I'll give London a call again next week and see if i can arrange something. Thanks

Lisa