Lots of awful newbie questions, sorry

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bimbogeri

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Hey everyone, sorry to be introducing myself with a whole bunch of annoying questions :o , but I though it'd be the best place to ask advice.
I've just left uni doing a totally (well pretty much) unrelated degree in fashion and brand promotion, but I'd like to get into nails, at least part time. I friend recommended I try a course from Essential Nails, but being up to my eyeballs in student debt, I wanted to see if anyone had any advice before I signed up. How well looked upon would a certificate be from them, does anyone know? I'm job hunting right now as well as potentially moving 300 miles away in the next two months, so home-taught is really the only option for me, but I'm not sure if people would turn their noses up at it. Ideally I'd like to be a mobile, I'm not sure if that makes any difference. :confused:
Initially I'd like to learn false nails, then airbrushing, but I'm hoping/thinking I won't need to do an airbrush course as I've done both art airbrushing and tattoos before, I just don't know which course to start with. I think the site seems to recommend acrylics over gels or fibreglass, at least they say they are more popular with clients, would anyone agree?
Anyway, that's my major starting conundrum (sp?) - I'm not sure if I'm being a bit naive about the whole process, and would really appreciate some feedback or your own experiences. Thanks!
Lol x
 
do a search on different courses, there have been loadsa threads before.


in regards to the different systems, L&P is quite popular in general, but everyone has their own favourite. F/glass and gel (in my opinion) are easier to learn. I've just qualified so remember exactly how u feel. it can be quite confussing.

before investing your cash really look into all of the different systems to really make sure your selecting the right one for you.
 
Its always a good idea to check out the local salons to see what is popular as it differs from area to area and that will give you a better idea as to which system you want to use. Everybody has their favourite and it would be wrong to try to sway you in one direction: the only thing i would say is that l&p is the hardest to learn so quite good to start with. Once you've mastered that then the others will follow on. My advice to you would be to wait until you are settled in your new area/home and then find out who trains in the area and what is on offer - then you'd be in a better position to ask questions in that regard. Hope this helps.
 
Hi,

I trained with essential nails home course they are really good there is always someone on the end of the phone and they have centres all over the united kingdom where you can pop in and see a lectuer i would recommed essential nails to anyone.

You have a kit sent to you with nail tips and all the equiptment you need (brushes etc) you have a video to watch and books.

You also have written work to do but most of it is what your learning from the video anyway.

i started with acrylic now im learning gel they teach all systems and they also do airbrushing give them a call and see what they say about the fact you have done airbrushing before.

Have a look at www.ginawallace.com.

anything you want to know about the course send me a private message and i'll help you out if you want.

I'm also a mobile nail tech and havent been qualified for long about 4 months.
i havent had any complaints about my certificate.
 
i am doing the gel home learn have been for a few months....... you have to be very hard on yourself to put in the time i have also done star nails acrylic and personally found there is no subsitute for the class situation

in the end its your choice as to how strict you can be with your time
 
I think learning from home is fine as long as at some point you have some one to one tuition, as you can't beat a tutor watching what you do and how you do it. I am fairly new to this too and had a few problems with lifting. I explained my prep which sounded great but when my mate watched me do it there were parts that needed tweeking.

You would really benefit from a live teacher in the end but if home learning is the only way to start we all have to start somewhere, good luck.
 
Thanks for everyone's help with this one. I think ideally I'd like to do a home learn course now, then I could find some classroom tuition when I know if I have to move or not (we're in Sussex and my boyfriend's just applied for a job in Devon but they're not interviewing till the end of September.... probably a shame as I think there are nails courses in Lewes..).
I've read some of the other threads about courses and problems with people finding insurance. It's funny, I had insurance from Professional Beauty when I did temporary tattoos and they never asked what I did or what qualifications, but supposedly they won't insure people who've done home learning...? Did I just not read my policy properly and maybe I was actually uninsured, or is it that there are no real qualifications for temporary (paint/airbrush) tattooing anyway?:confused:
I've also read that some people didn't like the quality of their Essentials kits... are there any other home learning courses with better kits, or can someone recommend which products I might want to replace, and what with?
Hopefully I can keep motivated enough to do it - I have a lot of time on my hands right now to home learn, just not the security to join a course. I'm not sure if I was being a bit naive when I originally decided to do nails, probably from the amount of 'DIY' sets on the market in places like Argos - I figured there wasn't a huge amount to learn, and that it was mainly practice that got you good, but I think I was wrong!:o I'd still really like to do my best, though, so I hope home learning will work out for me.
Thanks for everyone's help. I still have to grovel to my dad for the loan to buy the course, but at least it's considerably less than another year of uni fees!
Lol x

 
bimbogeri said:
Thanks for everyone's help with this one. I think ideally I'd like to do a home learn course now, then I could find some classroom tuition when I know if I have to move or not (we're in Sussex and my boyfriend's just applied for a job in Devon but they're not interviewing till the end of September.... probably a shame as I think there are nails courses in Lewes..).
I've read some of the other threads about courses and problems with people finding insurance. It's funny, I had insurance from Professional Beauty when I did temporary tattoos and they never asked what I did or what qualifications, but supposedly they won't insure people who've done home learning...? Did I just not read my policy properly and maybe I was actually uninsured, or is it that there are no real qualifications for temporary (paint/airbrush) tattooing anyway?:confused:
I've also read that some people didn't like the quality of their Essentials kits... are there any other home learning courses with better kits, or can someone recommend which products I might want to replace, and what with?
Hopefully I can keep motivated enough to do it - I have a lot of time on my hands right now to home learn, just not the security to join a course. I'm not sure if I was being a bit naive when I originally decided to do nails, probably from the amount of 'DIY' sets on the market in places like Argos - I figured there wasn't a huge amount to learn, and that it was mainly practice that got you good, but I think I was wrong!:o I'd still really like to do my best, though, so I hope home learning will work out for me.
Thanks for everyone's help. I still have to grovel to my dad for the loan to buy the course, but at least it's considerably less than another year of uni fees!
Lol x

Good luck with whatever you decide to do but keep yourself motivated. Set yourself an amount of time each day for learning about nails. As far as being naive is concerned, well i think everyone thinks "how hard can it be to apply a set of nails" but believe me it aint as easy as it might look ;)
 
I've just suddenly thought.... Will a home course in acrylic nails really teach me anywhere near what I need to know..? Or, to be more precise, how many courses will I need to have done (home learning or otherwise) before I know anywhere near enough to actually set up a service? Are basic manicure techniques covered in acrylic nails or will I need other courses for that? If so, does anyone know where I can find them? It's just struck me how much everyone else can do (manis, pedis, acrylics and gels, in-fills, nail art), and there was me thinking I could learn acrylics, spend some time practising nail art techniques, and set up in some way. God, I really AM naive, aren't I?:cry:

(On a positive note, thanks again for the help - I get the feeling I need to do a lot more research before I work out what I'm doing!)
 
bimbogeri said:
I've just suddenly thought.... Will a home course in acrylic nails really teach me anywhere near what I need to know..? Or, to be more precise, how many courses will I need to have done (home learning or otherwise) before I know anywhere near enough to actually set up a service? Are basic manicure techniques covered in acrylic nails or will I need other courses for that? If so, does anyone know where I can find them? It's just struck me how much everyone else can do (manis, pedis, acrylics and gels, in-fills, nail art), and there was me thinking I could learn acrylics, spend some time practising nail art techniques, and set up in some way. God, I really AM naive, aren't I?:cry:

(On a positive note, thanks again for the help - I get the feeling I need to do a lot more research before I work out what I'm doing!)
I honestly dont know what the home learning teaches you - my advice would be to contact GinaWallace.com as recommended above and see what they say. I'm sure they will be able to offer advice. If you do your courses in bits and pieces though you may find that it ends up more expensive in the long run.
 
bimbogeri said:
I've just suddenly thought.... Will a home course in acrylic nails really teach me anywhere near what I need to know..? Or, to be more precise, how many courses will I need to have done (home learning or otherwise) before I know anywhere near enough to actually set up a service? Are basic manicure techniques covered in acrylic nails or will I need other courses for that? If so, does anyone know where I can find them? It's just struck me how much everyone else can do (manis, pedis, acrylics and gels, in-fills, nail art), and there was me thinking I could learn acrylics, spend some time practising nail art techniques, and set up in some way. God, I really AM naive, aren't I?:cry:

(On a positive note, thanks again for the help - I get the feeling I need to do a lot more research before I work out what I'm doing!)

My opinion and that of many others, is that NO .. home learn does not teach you nearly enough to go out and to offer a professional service with the right amount of underpinning knowledge you need regarding anatomy, physiology and no product chemistry at all! That is why insurance is not readily available to those who have done the course.

My advice is similar to Carol's above but I go further. Get settled in to your new environment and attend a proper foundation course of learning. There are good educators in that part of the country and as for price, if you are going to 'hit' dad up for a loan, then go the whole hog and get the best tuition you can with a hands on educator. If you start with home learn, you will have to go on anyway and spend more to bring your qualification up to standard. The course is not cheap considering you have no live instructor and any success depends entirely on your personal motivation. A 4-5 day class is not that much more and the Creative class has the nail trainer and the products all included in the price as do some others.

Good luck with what ever you choose. You sound an artistic type and may pick up the mechanics of doing nail enhancements very easily. As to airbrushing, ... if you know how to use an airbrush, then you know how to use an airbrush! There are some very useful and necessary tricks to learn however for using it on nails. You have a head start knowing how to use the brush.
 
I've just done a two day course in UV Gel and Fibreglass with Star Nails equipment. The learning I had (I beleive) was really good, tho' intense, and there was lots of reading and practising to do in between the two classes (they were two weeks apart). My tutor is an ex NVQ assessor, so I beleive she knows her stuff! I am also doing a one day Acryllic course with an NSI instructor on Monday. I have won an essentail nails kit from ebay, waiting for it to arrive, and I intend doing lots of practise with it! I checked with Proffessional Beauty (they insure me for other treatments) and they said I was insured with the certificate from the two day course. I am also waiting for my membership of ANT (the Association of Nail Technicians) to come back.

I would say that whatever training you decide on, you will need to do more! Everyone raves about the Creative training, and I am planning on doing this once I have earned enough money to pay for it. As you say, do your research, as you want to find a course that doesn't teach you the wrong methods (such as roughing up the nail plate - this is a definite no no!)

I beleive that if you want to have a career in nails, you can never have too much training, as new products come out all the time, and you also may slip into bad habits that regular training will help to avoid.

I would also say KEEP COMING BACK TO THE NAIL GEEK! I have found everyone here so friendly and helpful, they don't judge you, they just want to help you. After all, the more techs that work properly and safely, the better the image for the industry as a whole.

Oh, and PS as to the temp tattoos insurance, I'd say that unless you had a certificate in body painting, or the like, you probably weren't insured. When I asked Professional Beauty about my insurance cover, they said that you were covered as long as you had a certificate or something else down on paper that proved you had been trained to do the job you are doing. I am waiting for my VTCT diploma in Body Painting to arrive, this would suffice for that type of work.

Sorry to have blabbered on, but, hey, here's ME giving out advice for a change! Feels good!:green:
 
Just thought I'd add, are you intending on going to the Professional Nails 2004 show? I've just been looking at the website (CAN'T WAIT GUYS!) and Biosculpture are offering the starter kits with £100 off the regular price. This includes training, so may be worth you investigating! Just a thought!
 
Hi there..

IMO I really thinkyou should not rush in even as excited or enthusiastic you might be about nails -

Ring all the companies you can find (Look Under Site Stuff, Industry Links, Distributors) and investigate the costs, locations of training etc availability the kit you get for this....Some training companies will included a Nail Trainer (flase hand like the one seen in Home Learn) but you get the benefit of class room tution and get to practice on the Nail Trainer at home - which is the best of both worlds...

Having done a Foundation course and then completing another course for my VCTC at college now I dont think personally that doing the home learn would have benefited me as I have a million and one questions when I am learning a new skill and having to pick up a phone every five minutes to find the answers would not have been ideal for me...

So i really think you should hang on for a while if you need to save and do a foundation course with a company that Manufacturers and educates nail technicians eg Creative, ExFlow or OPi for example...

PS if you dont chose wisley to begin with it could cost you a lot more in the long run..hope this helps you make your decision....all the best, Fab Freak
 
Hi Bimbogeri & welcome to the site. I think you should definitely go to the Proffesional Beauty/Nails shows in London or Brighton as there are so many companies all under the same roof & you can ask everyone for advice on their training. Plus you can pick up information to read when you get home. I also wasn't sure who to train with. I have the Essential Nails training kit & am using that for now but hope to do training with Creative as that's what most of the guys on here seem to have trained with & then if I have any questions on it I can ask on here. Also, have a look at your local colleges. Good luck
 

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