Nail courses... are they teaching enough?

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chickafish

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Messages
1,974
Reaction score
53
Location
London
After reading numerous posts about all the problems newly qualified techs face, I'm just wondering if nail courses are teaching enough, and are aspiring nail techs leaving each lesson feeling confident enough in their skills? I've seen 1-2 day courses for manis and pedis, l&p, gels, ect, and I can't imagine learning all that in 1-2 days unless I've already had some sort of nail tech background and was just after refresher courses.

Looking back at my nail training school, which consisted of both classroom and practical studies, it took some people almost a year to pass. There's so much that needs practice that a 1-2 day course couldn't possibly cover everything. Maybe someone can answer these questions because I didn't take a 1-2 day course and I'm curious.

- How thorough are they with teaching the anatomy of the hands and feet, diseases, disorders, and conditions?

- Are they teaching proper nail prep? Do they teach dry prep for enhancement courses or do they just assume you'd already know?

- How much of cuticle work do they cover? Do they show proper ways to hold a nipper? Do they explain exactly what a cuticle is (dead skin, live tissue), and when a tech should push back and when a tech should nip? And also WHAT a tech should nip?

- Are techs leaving these courses masters of nail polishing? Polishing nails is pretty much like learning the alphabet. You need to learn the alphabet before you read. You need to learn how to correctly polish a nail before you learn any other nail enhancement.

- What about French manicure? What method are they teaching for doing a French/American manicure? I think I must've spent 2 weeks trying to master the perfect smile line. Do they teach about ratio? (I think it's so tacky and unnatural when people have like half pink and half white. That's way too much white! But does the tech know that?)

- Are techs being taugh how to properly use and manuever their implements? Are they showing how to hold a bottle of nail polish when polishing a nail? Are they showing how to anchor the polishing hand so you're not all shakey when polishing? What about how to hold a file?

- How much do techs leave these courses knowing about file control? How's thier shaping? How's their buffing? Do they know the difference between filing off too much and not enough?

- How familiar with the products used are techs who've taken these courses? We use quite a number of products just for a basic manicure. Do they get into detail of what each bottle is and it's role in a treatment? Or do they just say "use this for this."

- In enhancement courses, to they show you both sculpting with form and with tips? Or is it just one or the other? Do they show proper tip/form fitting?

- When it comes to sculpting (l&p and gel), do they only teach only 1 method of application? I was fortunate enough to learn both regular and reverse, and I thought that was the norm until I saw a few posts where some were just discovering the reverse application on their own. Shouldn't they teach both methods and leave it to the student to pick up whichever suits them best insteading of leaving techs to wonder whether this "new" method is acceptable? The same applies to regular applications. I know they teach the 3-ball method with acrylics(which I don't use), but wouldn't it be easier to teach different ways of application and just tell techs what they're trying to achieve (ie. how much space should be between the cuticle/sidewalls and product, how thick each zone should be especially the apex in zone 2)?

- With enhancement courses, do they go over the issue of nails popping off, cracking and lifting? Surely, they should go over the worst case scenarios so techs know what should be done to avoid them from happening and how to fix if it does happen?

- Do they cover the importance of dialogue? We could be the best of techs, but what good are we if we can't even properly handle problems that arise? When working with people, we're all bound to run into people that will push our buttons to the point where we lose our cool, but are techs prepared for that, or do they just handle it? Lashing out and snapping is not always the option.

I'm sure most of you have taken excellent courses and learned loads from them, but I'm just curious how some of these courses operate (particularly the lesser known neighborhood courses). With anything that logically would take some time time and practice to master, surely a day or 2 couldn't be enough? (Sorry for the long post. I ask a lot of questions when I'm curious.) :lol:
 
This is from personal experience having done various courses. I feel the intensive acrylic and gel was too intensive.

Hence doing a longer manicure and pedicure which im still doing!!

I just feel you dont cover all the potential technical problems in one day and you can do it for 6 month before you encounter a new problem. Luckily I have an open door policy so can contact anytime. We did however cover diseases, holding a file, cuticles etc.....

But I did feel rushed and lacked confidence.

On the other hand some courses are a day, eg threading.......
 
I think it depends on the course . some are not adequate, others are. which is why researching the right course for your own needs is so important. what is also important to remember is that we all learn in different ways, so something that would be appropriate for one student is not for another.

tigi
 
Who is to take the blame?

The teachers ?
The bosses ?
There students?
The insurance companies that accept the rubbish low standards and even accredit many many POOR quality day or little more courses ?



Supply and demand !

All of these things you listed would be fab if they wear fought first off
BUT ....
In Uk / EU and many other places there are no real governing body's ,

Most insurance company's will accept a DAY class in all 3 systems manitance and mani pedi , maintenance , juggling and tightrope walking , contra indications , COHS , good house keeping and alll the rest , they will accept it ,or accredit it LOL

And people often don't want to pay the extra for the training that takes longer ! Is more detailed and to us with hind site see as nessasery ,

*sarcastic voice of eager rookie*
"2 WEEKS ON FRENCH POLISH ?
OMG ! WHY?
I learned it all in a day ..... :-/


Often they pay twice to get a better standard after or give up there dream :(
it's a rip off but there not totally blameless ,
 
I attended full three years at college doing Beauty Therapy. I feel 2 days would never be enough, unless you already have previously got the qualification, and need a booster session, specially for someone like me.

When I attended college my a+p was fantastic, could not fail them on that.

My nail prep for enhancments could of been better after fingernail fixer showing the real way to remove cuticles and not to cut eponychium. I have no idea if my knipper holding is correct or not.

My nail polish application is pretty good, I just need to stop the shakes so I can get just that better line around the eponychium. I follow the three line system.

My french isn't the best as it's more straight across rather than a smile, but that was always acceptable on my course so never knew anything different, but I am trying to gain that smile but finding it hard.

I would never pass an assesment if I wasn't holding my varnish whilst polishing or holding my file incorrectly, File must always be held at the end.

I would say my shaping is good and file control. I am not to confident with my buffing, I have no idea if I am filing off to much or not enough. I know when I do take the off, I move once over the area, remove dust and see if anywhere needs a touch up.

I would of liked to use the better products instead of cheaper products. I was always told what it does, how it works, how to use it, what can go wrong if used incorrectly.

I have only ever know how to use tips. sculpting was brand new to me when I joined this site.

I have only ever been told if nails lift / come off it's because I haven't dehydrated the nail properly, haven't added my primer or there was an air bubble under my tips. Nothing else has been said of something goes wrong.

I am pretty good at handling my cool, I have worked in customer service before so that has taught me alot, but never once have they discussed this with us. They tell us what not to talk about, religion, sex ect ect.
 
I did about 5 days training with Biosculpture.. and while the training itself was good, and we did cover many of the things in your post I have to say that the greatest thing I felt was lacking during the course (and sometimes also on these boards!) is.. Constructive Honesty! There was one woman on our course who just didn't get it, and her practice nails were really awful - really thick, badly shaped, bulbuous and bumpy - and yet the tutor seemed very reluctant to actually tell her this and instead said things like "hmm, not bad, keep going!". I do appreciate that when people are learning, you don't want to knock their confidence too much, but even on these boards I've seen some frankly very dodgy looking nails put up for critique and posters replying saying things like "looking good there!". I really do question if this actually helps the newbie to improve - it's no wonder that some people struggle to see the faults in their nails if others won't give honest feedback.
 
I've done good and bad fast track courses and good and bad ongoing college courses.

All of the courses I've done are with the view to getting an NVQ so ultimately, they do have to cover everything so that people can do the qualification.

I think a persons success beyond qualifying comes down to how much detail the educators went into and how much reading/practice you did/do at home.

I think the biggest learning barrier can be class size. That is to say that whether it's a short or longer course, the ammount of 121 time that is realistically available with the tutor can make a massive difference. In some nail courses I've done at college (and private!) I felt that the class size was overwhelming for the tutor and that as a learner I was not able to get as much support as I'd have liked at times. On the flip side I did a massage course that was full time at a private college (White Rose which I would highly recommend to anyone) where there were about 6 people in the class and I feel that this is probably one of my most confident treatments.
 
My french isn't the best as it's more straight across rather than a smile, but that was always acceptable on my course so never knew anything different, but I am trying to gain that smile but finding it hard.

I agree with this. When I was taught French it was more like drawing a straight line rather than a curve with the white polish.

Regarding use of tools, I have pretty much self taught as I didn't feel that enough attention was paid to this aspect when I did manped at the Carlton Institute. In terms of polishing, this has come with practice and a friend sitting down with me to go over how to hold things to prevent the shakes from taking over.
 
I think I would like someone to show me how to hold the hand to stop the shakes, how ever I get the shakes with any thing intricate, nail art, applying false lashes.
 
No they are not! I spent quite a bit on a nail course, just a day on and it was rubbish! I'm looking to go back into college to learn properly as the course I did was rubbish, don't understand nails at all, I had to do 5 case studies and they were all crap but I still passed.
 
I think I would like someone to show me how to hold the hand to stop the shakes, how ever I get the shakes with any thing intricate, nail art, applying false lashes.

Balance point positioning ,
Use your pinky , rest it on the clients hand , this will stedy your hand .

Like drinking a posh cup of tea :D
 
Oh wow thank you for that mizzy_dizzy.
 
It has surprised me on how many educators out there are not half as good as they should be.

I have had various education here and there, some fantastic, and some comepletely hideous - it left me wondering how on earth some people are able to get into educating for nails, represent certain brands and to be frank, deliver some unprofessional styles of training and also provide incomplete / very low standard kits.

I am yet to come by training that is too intensive - is this maybe when you are already fairly clued up on your subjects? I think it is worth remembering that every one as an individual has a different learning style and speed, and if it means that some of us feel intensively trained in a class then I think its probably worth it - every budding nail tech deserves nothing but fab training for the money we pay :)

As for poor training, things that get missed out are ESSENTIAL - mainly grits of files and what grit to use in the differing nail stages, I mean how can a person possibly leave their training, passing, WITHOUT knowing about grits and files? Cleaning the tools of your trade and keeping them that way, it is so important! sculpting... honestly its for the best ;)

Many educators just dont cut it, I am very pleased that I was lucky enough to be able to experince great training mid way down the line. It costs to know the difference but my advice to anyone out there would be - dont risk it. Pay that extra amoount and remove the risk of being poorly educated.
 
Last edited:
I would go even further and say MOST courses are not good enough and a FEW are!

The best syllabus, small classes, enough time will not make up for a good teacher! The biggest problem is teacher quality. A really good teacher would NOT be holding too short courses where there is not enough time to learn what is needed. A good teacher would make sure all the important things are being taught and making sure that every individual actually learns and understands.

Because there is no governing body in the UK anyone can be a 'teacher' and a qualified teacher does not have to have what, in my opinion, is enough experience, learning and actual teaching skills to make a good teacher.

So many, when researching on what courses to do, are researching on t he wrong things! Price, length, location, kit included etc are NOT the right things. Reputation of good teaching and good results are what is most important
 
I did a 5 day course in l&p with a company that everyone raves about yet everyone on my course including myself complained as the educator was just not to the standerd of the amount of money wed all paid.

I have also done a one day spray tan course at a local beauty academy and have never had a complaint yet. However my friend went to collage to do beauty and my dog could tan someone better.

So my point is everyone slates the one day courses on here however i have paid the big money and been let down yet been pleasently suprised by one day courses xx
Sent from my X10i
 
I would go even further and say MOST courses are not good enough and a FEW are!

The best syllabus, small classes, enough time will not make up for a good teacher! The biggest problem is teacher quality. A really good teacher would NOT be holding too short courses where there is not enough time to learn what is needed. A good teacher would make sure all the important things are being taught and making sure that every individual actually learns and understands.

Because there is no governing body in the UK anyone can be a 'teacher' and a qualified teacher does not have to have what, in my opinion, is enough experience, learning and actual teaching skills to make a good teacher.

So many, when researching on what courses to do, are researching on the wrong things! Price, length, location, kit included etc are NOT the right things. Reputation of good teaching and good results are what is most important

I couldn't have said this better myself. I mean, we're to be professionals who follow a certain standard. You'd think people who want to call themselves professionals would have a little common sense and pick reputation over price. I mean, I wouldn't want a GP who picked a 3 day-seminar over years of practice. I wouldn't want a dentist who picked an at-home course. I wouldn't want my car fixed by a self-taught mechanic using youtube videos as reference. And I wouldn't want to hire or be a paying client to someone who had crappy training.
*sigh* If there will be a movement to try and get official standards and guidelines enforced... SIGN ME UP!
 
i think it would be good if you had to get a licence to practise like in the states. that would cut out a lot of the 'messers' for a start, and i think an annual CPD course should be a requirement too possibly linked into insurance, which in turn would be linked to the licence. the local health boards or county councils should really be over-seeing this and sorting it out for once and for all..
 

Latest posts

Back
Top