New technician looking for advice

[CarlyAnn]

Hi all.

I am very new to the world of professional nail services having recently completed a man/ped course. Since completing the course I purchased lots of CND Shellac products direct from Sweet Squared in order to start a mobile nails service in my area.

I have started practising on friends & family for free in order to perfect my technique, however the same problem is occurring every time - the manicure is chipping from the free edge! And on my own nails (which admittedly are very thin, it chips to the extent that I can peel it of!?!?!)

I have done a lot of research however there are not many people that are having the same problem - I have read a lot about it peeling from the cuticle, but that isn't the problem I am having.

So it must be my technique??
- Maybe I am applying to product too thick, although I am aware that CND Shellac needs to be very thin and so I am conscious of not making this mistake.
- Am I not capping the ends properly? Although I am sure I do?
- Am I not curing for long enough? I do 10 seconds for the base, and then 2 minutes for the 2 colour layers and the top coat.
- Am I not prepping correctly? I file, bevel buff & prepare the cuticles.

I bought all of the correct products direct from Sweet Squared and so non of the products are 'rip-off products'. The lamp is UV CND 130 WATTS.

Am I making beginners mistakes? Or did any of you have these problems at the start? Is it a matter of practice?

I myself have VERY thin nails, and I have read that CND Shellac isn't compatible for everyone, so am I just incurring this problem? The system says its a 2 weeks manicure, I know this isn't always realistic, however I am not reaching nearly that far.

Any advice would be fantastic. Yes, I am going to attend a course accredited by CND, however I am looking for advice first so I can start practising. I am at the start of what I hope is a career as a nail tech and ss you all know the products are very expensive, the training is very expensive and currently I am not having much luck at all!

Thanks for your help.

xxx

 

[hazeleyes]

Hi all.

I am very new to the world of professional nail services having recently completed a man/ped course. Since completing the course I purchased lots of CND Shellac products direct from Sweet Squared in order to start a mobile nails service in my area.

I have started practising on friends & family for free in order to perfect my technique, however the same problem is occurring every time - the manicure is chipping from the free edge! And on my own nails (which admittedly are very thin, it chips to the extent that I can peel it of!?!?!)

I have done a lot of research however there are not many people that are having the same problem - I have read a lot about it peeling from the cuticle, but that isn't the problem I am having.

So it must be my technique??
- Maybe I am applying to product too thick, although I am aware that CND Shellac needs to be very thin and so I am conscious of not making this mistake.
- Am I not capping the ends properly? Although I am sure I do?
- Am I not curing for long enough? I do 10 seconds for the base, and then 2 minutes for the 2 colour layers and the top coat.
- Am I not prepping correctly? I file, bevel buff & prepare the cuticles.

I bought all of the correct products direct from Sweet Squared and so non of the products are 'rip-off products'. The lamp is UV CND 130 WATTS.

Am I making beginners mistakes? Or did any of you have these problems at the start? Is it a matter of practice?

I myself have VERY thin nails, and I have read that CND Shellac isn't compatible for everyone, so am I just incurring this problem? The system says its a 2 weeks manicure, I know this isn't always realistic, however I am not reaching nearly that far.

Any advice would be fantastic. Yes, I am going to attend a course accredited by CND, however I am looking for advice first so I can start practising. I am at the start of what I hope is a career as a nail tech and ss you all know the products are very expensive, the training is very expensive and currently I am not having much luck at all!

Thanks for your help.

xxx

Hello!

If the manicure is chipping from the free edge then either you haven't dehydrated or cleansed the nail plate properly, you aren't capping the free edge well enough or it's applied too thickly on the free edge!

When you scrub fresh make sure you run along the free edge with the pad. When you paint pull the brush right to the freeedge and over it during all three strokes of polish (sides and middle) do this in one stroke, this helps it go on the free edge very thinly, then if your still unsure you can remove polish from the brush and swipe lightly along the free edge in one stroke it to be sure. Make sure you get your base coat wherever you want your colour coat to be and then see the topcoat as 'sealing in the colour coats'. Also with shellac we don't buff or remove shine from the nail plate- just file and bevel!

Defo book onto the shellac training with CND as it sounds like you would benefit from it greatly.

Also you could watch videos by fingernail fixer on YouTube she makes it very simple and easy to understand, as well as watching the CND vids.

Also as you have said, if the nails are very thin and bendy shellac may not be suitable for them. You could think about using brisa lite smoothing gel with shellac as it adds strength, smooths ridges etc and makes people get longer west! Plus an opportunity for you to charge more!

HTH
X

 

[sal365]

Yes exactly what hazeleyes said! Make sure to scrub fresh the free edge and don't apply too thick. Also make sure you have removed all the blue film from inside your lamp, including under the removable plate.

 

[Maz101]

I agree with above but bit confused

What do you mean by... I file, bevel and buff????

 

[souz]

I would definite book onto shellac brings them back ASAP and forget about practising for now, you will only fall I to bad habits and waste products. If you have never used a nail product that cures in a uv lamp then you definitely need to do a course and then if you are still having problems then we can help you but without basic knowledge of curing products and prep for these products it difficult to advise you on what you could try.

My clients get at least 3 weeks from their shellac but I base that on the fact I have done all the correct training and then practised

 

[StephR]

Whats a CND uv 130 watt lamp? Is that a typo and if not was it bought from sweet squared?

The nails also do not need buffing at all prior to application of CND shellac or for removal. This is one of the biggest USP's of Shellac.

I would definitely book on to the Shellac brings 'em back course ASAP. It's very reasonably priced and you will learn a lot on the course. As Sous has said if you've never used a UV cured product before its definitely a must to do the training.

Good luck xx

 

[CarlyAnn]

Thank you all for your comments, such a great help & kind of you to take the time.

I am certainly going to book onto a course, it's my first plan of the new year!! I obviously require more training rather than 'picking it up as I go' as I want to offer a professional service - so that's exactly what I will do!!

Thanks again!
xxxxxxx

 

[Maz101]

Shellac is not a gel polish like others and it doesn't have prep it's pep, no buffiing of nail at any point and buffing will possibly damage the nail if done repeatedly and this will actually stop shellac working as well as it does on a good healthy happy nail, when a nails like this you'd need the partner to shellac brisa lite smoothing gel.

Are you using the CND lamp from sweet squared? If not then that's your first issue, training is very important and if you've done a generic gel polish course or non at all then I'd def sort out training sooner rather than later because if your doing it incorrectly on clients they won't come back, people often ask for shellac because they know its different and they know there's no buffing of nails.