last straw.

[littlegrohl]

One of my clients is doin mmy head in.
every time i see her her nails just get worse then worse. when she came to me initially she had ehnancements on, and i was shocked at the damage to her nail plate.. not wanting to do further damage i rebalanced and sent her off.. i realise now she is the problem.. absolutely no respect for her nails.

I have to ask myself why she continues to waste her money.. here is a pic i took from my last appt with her, which was when i took off her remaining enhancements and gave her a mani.
I should have done this weeks ago, but she is very forcefull by nature and near demanded they be fixed.
I booked her in for 2 week appts and everytime they looked like this or worse.. sometimes i could see she had ripped them off.

I REFUSED to have anything more to do with her unless she agreed to let me treat her natural nails for a while.. now im pretty sure i wont see her again, she is a prime candidate for a nss cash cow, but weeks and weeks and weeks of seeing her damage not only her own nails but my lovely enhancements have caused me to make this stand.

please.. tell me i did the right thing. or if not give me some advice as to how i should handle it from here...


thing is this..... i dont think i am the first tech she has been to and i feel my rep is at stake.. i blame no one but me as i should have handled her properly and done this from the beginning, but at the same time.. if i knew then, what i do now, i would have.

 

[minky]

That really sucks , gosh they have broken bits on the edges,
and they look like they have healed a bit too
Ill bet they were way worse than that a week or so ago .

It seems pointless doing them if she is just going to ruin them again by doing what shes doing and causing such bad damage,
you gave her some sound professional advice and offered her a really good alternative,

I hope she has listened to you as it shows that you care about her natural nails too,
I am sure she will be back .

If she behaves herself and lets you take care of her natural nails for a while will you still do them for her when they grow out a bit ? :hug: x


.

 

[nailzoo]

I have clients that bite their nails of, smash em, pick em, maul the surrounding skin. It's just one of those things.
If she comes back i'd do her another full set (just to make them more appealing to her eyes) and try and grow them out to a decent length.

Why don't you give her a call and see how she is handling her natural nails?
This will give you the opportunity of getting another set on her, at least that will cover the damage.

I hate clients that destroy my work, but they are also my bread and butter.

 

[Bagpuss]

I had one like this....rightly or wrongly this is what i did and it worked.....http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/48201-picker-client-what-do.html?highlight=problem+picker+client

 

[oey]

I had one like this....rightly or wrongly this is what i did and it worked.....http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/48201-picker-client-what-do.html?highlight=problem+picker+client

And how has she been the last 12 months Angie?

 

[Bagpuss]

just the same...no more picking.

I didnt see it as loosing £ on the infill...i saw it as saving ££££ on keeping her as a client.

 

[chantell simone]

i think clients like this are very very frustrating

you want to tell them to bugger off but at the same you want to help them

 

[oey]

just the same...no more picking.

I didnt see it as loosing £ on the infill...i saw it as saving ££££ on keeping her as a client.

Well done - And what do you charge her now for an infill?

 

[Bagpuss]

Well done - And what do you charge her now for an infill?

same as everyone else...£25...it was only that once i did it for 1/2 price.

 

[littlegrohl]

my main concern is the damage she is doing to herself..on the side of her nail you can see where she has ripped it off!!
I cant honestly say that they are getting better if anything, they are getting worse.
I will ring her and suggest that now that it has been a week i would love to see if we can sort her out with a new set.. and maybe offer them at half price?
i do feel a bit rotten that i didnt do a set on her, but the amount of muck in and around her fingers made me thinka nicegood clean up and was a better option.
thankyou so much for your advice.

 

['chelle]

ooooh, I have a client who picks, she has NEVER had a rebalance, as she has no nails left by the time she is back to see me, and her nails are in such bad shape. However............ I can sympathise. I would HATE to be my own client as I am the worst picker you ever did see. if I get the slightest bit of lift anywhere, I am in there, picking, chewing, you would think that since I have the products to hand that I would soak off but no. I dont know if its a nervous thing or what, but I have really learnt my lesson this time as I have given myself a bacterial infection in 3 nails. I only have myself to blame, and so I'm wearing my nails natural for a while as they are also very weak from having the top layers ripped off due to biting my enhancements off.

I know you will all be very shocked reading this, being a professional I should be leading by example, but I think I've just taken it for granted that I can do my own nails whenever I like. I certainly dont follow my own advice, I'm a stickler for proper maintenance when it comes to clients.

Well, my new salon opens in just over a week, and I will want to wear enhancements while I work, but I will leave it until the day before until I apply them, and I will keep them short and plain to avoid any temptation to pick.

Anyway, at the moment I look like a 60 a day smoker, because my nails have gone yellow due to the infection, so I will be warning my clients of this outcome should they be tempted to pick!!

So, am I the only one out there that doesnt take their own advice? Are any of you reformed pickers? If so, how did you get out of the habit???

 

[sj1973]

just the same...no more picking.

I didnt see it as loosing £ on the infill...i saw it as saving ££££ on keeping her as a client.

good point...the client is not wasting money she is till giving you her money so YOU dont lose out!!!....i like what you did aswell...1/2 price good idea....xx

 

[littlegrohl]

I had one like this....rightly or wrongly this is what i did and it worked.....http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/48201-picker-client-what-do.html?highlight=problem+picker+client

omg gel pimp!! I COMPLETELY GET THAT!! Thats how i feel (but l&p)
This thread reelly helped, thanks.. i am seeing her today for a chat, at least she has agreed to come and see me, and was pretty receptive on the phone.
thanks again.

 

[littlegrohl]

So, am I the only one out there that doesnt take their own advice? Are any of you reformed pickers? If so, how did you get out of the habit???

NO!!! LOL
even when i was a client i didnt pick, and i have had some pretty average enhancemnets before. but i get where you are coming from, hope your nails get better and good luck with your opening!

 

[littlegrohl]

HELP!! way out of my depth on this one.

after sitting down with her for a cuppa and a chat, i ended up giving her a deluxe mani, because i could see the visable torment she was in.
lots of oil used today guys...
apparently she suffers ocd, (obsessive compulsive disorder) which she attacks her skin and her hair.
she finds that having enhancements save her from having bald spots and scabs on her arms.
omg! I refered her to a place that helped me in the past.. and said i would be more then happy to carry on fortnightly giving her enhancements but only if i can see no real damage is being done to her hands and nn. i explained that i would be asking advice on a forum i use and i would be (to an extent) repeating what i have been told.

i felt awful splashing her pic on here and told her i had done it, she was fantastic.. a very spiritual person, she believes that our paths were meant to cross and that ..."by the way my nails suck at trying to pick off.". apparently, that was a good thing for her as her skin and hair have been given a break!



OK so not being very spiritual or very comfortable for that matter I told her that if she goes loopy on me ill cut off her fingers!.. :lol:

we will see how it goes from here.

 

[estherlou]

to be honest when i just read this thread that was what i was thinking, for some people picking at fingers is like an addiction, really hard to break and then like all habits in times of stress they can start up again.
i have got a couple of nail biters on board for enhancements and it can be frustrating. its difficult as you don't want the enhancements you're applying to aid the client in damaging their own nails by their own actions but at the end of the day if they are making an informed choice in doing that its up to them.

of course there are extremes and you have to draw the line.
You could look at it in a different light and say, this client comes in for regular facials and then squeezes her spots and smokes like a chimney, of course you will give your professional advice and try to guide her in what to and not to do but will you stop treating her.

i imagine clients like this have enhancements to try and break their habit so that for at least a week or two of the month they have lovely nails.

this job is never easy is it, good luck with her in the future, she sounds like a nice lady xx

 

[jax]

This thread has been great to read because I have a terrible destroyer client. Her nails were awful when she first came to me months ago but they are worse now! I thought if we both made a massive effort to have her nails look great for a long period she might start to reduce her biting etc. After about 6 weeks of weekly rebalances, and a couple of ad-hoc repairs, I did her last set at Christmas and told her I couldnt do anymore except manicures for at least 3 months, (she's only got about 2-3 months of growth anyway).

She was spending a fortune with me that she actually couldnt really afford, and she was wrecking her nails with no sign of any improvement.

Nail destroyers scream 'I NEED A PSYCHIATRIST' to me (thankfully not literally), and I'm not talking about little nibblers, I mean when someone obliterates their nails and fingers its like self harming almost.

Anyway she is not a happy bunny with me. but I really tried and I presume she really tried too. I'm sure she doesnt consciously want to destroy her fingers and spend a fortune.

Good luck with your client. xx

 

[beautynails]

Check out this one Chel
http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/63405-taking-p.html

 

[Mrs Geek]

HELP!! way out of my depth on this one.

after sitting down with her for a cuppa and a chat, i ended up giving her a deluxe mani, because i could see the visable torment she was in.
lots of oil used today guys...
apparently she suffers ocd, (obsessive compulsive disorder) which she attacks her skin and her hair.
she finds that having enhancements save her from having bald spots and scabs on her arms.
omg! I refered her to a place that helped me in the past.. and said i would be more then happy to carry on fortnightly giving her enhancements but only if i can see no real damage is being done to her hands and nn. i explained that i would be asking advice on a forum i use and i would be (to an extent) repeating what i have been told.

i felt awful splashing her pic on here and told her i had done it, she was fantastic.. a very spiritual person, she believes that our paths were meant to cross and that ..."by the way my nails suck at trying to pick off.". apparently, that was a good thing for her as her skin and hair have been given a break!



OK so not being very spiritual or very comfortable for that matter I told her that if she goes loopy on me ill cut off her fingers!.. :lol:

we will see how it goes from here.

I think you have done a great job here. Not only have you taken the time to think about this client and help her... you have helped her in a personal way too and she has opened up to you... you may have helped her more than you know. Well done for being a great nail professional and a decent human being!!:hug:

 

[aliceellen1974]

totally agree with mrs geek you have acted in a very kind and professional way - wish there were more people in the world like you! x