Nightmare Rebalance

[ruby-nails]

This morning I had my first paying customer for a rebalance. I have to say I was dead nervous because it has been 3 weeks and I was worried about what they would be like, however she turned up with 9 nails on and the broken one only happened two days ago when she was doing up her jeans - so I'm chuffed with that.
The problems started after I had debulked the product (which took 1 hour, is that normal?)
I could see the client's natural free edge was discoloured and jaggedy, not growing normally, and it was further down than the natural free edge should be.
This is what I think caused it... please tell me what you think...
Before I put her full set on 3 weeks ago her nails were very badly damaged through her gels being forced off. I think the free edge is growing weird because of that. The three left fingers are the worst and to begin with I thought maybe the tip had lifted underneath the free edge so I took one off on her other hand to reapply a new tip and it was her real nail. So then I had the apply the white too far down her nail to cover the natural free edge because I can't get to grips with the flawless pink yet. I felt sick through the whole thing because I was so nervous that they were going to look terrible. I don't think she was happy with them as she wouldn't give me a feedback quote for my testomonial diary. Please share your horror rebalance stories to make me feel better. xx

I have got pictures of them but I'm not sure how to put them on here. I can email them if you want to see.

 

[IllumeGirl]

You did well considering she had gone 3 weeks I do take a hour with a french rebalance before i start applying product..which ends up being 2 by the time i am done..i talk too much:lol:
What you describe is onychloysis and yes it would have been caused through trauma..if they were badly damaged maybe IMO she should have had a course of manicures before the set?
A coat of negligee or beau can give a similair appearance to custom blending..this would have helped.
I would have kept your smiles at the usual placement and polished one of the fore mentioned colours.
It was a bit mean of her to not give feed back..at least negative..then you wouldnt be left worrying.
Definitley keep an eye on her nail health..if she comes back i would probably talk her into a soak off/mani before the condition worsens..which often it does.
P.S i would share rebalance nightmares with you..but dont want to relive them,LOL:hug:

 

[Bagpuss]

email me a pic [email protected]

I have had a few nightmare rebalances...but with each one you learn something new. x

 

[Bagpuss]

seen the pics and i think it looks like onycholysis...if you would like me to add the pics on here for you i will try. xx

 

[blossom]

Pics would be good . . .

Don't worry, we all have some horror stories up our sleeves, as Angie says you learn from it. I know that sick feeling that you said about though!

I think an hour to debulk is a lot. I do the whole French rebalance in about 1hr 10/15 mins and I don't use an electric file. But then taking longer doesn't really matter too much, I think it's more about the end result, so don't worry too much about how long it takes. :hug:

 

[VHunter]

I once had a client with similar problems, but she hated the e-file, and I debulked as much as I could. But she just wouldn't tolerate the e-file.
PLUS she was convinced that she had what we call "gel-resines' (dips). She was insistent that I refill with gel-resine. I showed her the difference.. and she says no, that's not gel-resine. I got out my books to show her the different systems and how they are applied (you can't argue with books, right?). She points to the acrylic that's what she had done, which I knew.
I explained that's acrylic. She says "well, I told my tech that I hate acrylic, so she didn't do that".

Anyway... big discussion... I proved my point by pulling out more books and magazines.... that she indeed did have ACRYLIC.

She said ok, do a gel refill.

Alright.. but she doesn't want the e-file.. Hand-filing MMA to debulk is a nightmare. I had another client after her and not enough time to debulk as much as I would have liked (she said her former tech would soak and then file, soak and file, soak and file).

Anyway.. she didn't come back. She wasn't happy and nor was I, with the end result.
I tried to explain about the MMA and about the e-file (which she disliked not for sensation, but for it's rep) which when used properly was safe, and tried to explain that had I known she had MMA and not gel-resine, I would have booked her a larger time slot... anyway....

She's gone back to the NSS.
Can't win'em all.

 

[Bagpuss]

here is the pic ...hope thats ok.

I think i can see a greenie on the pinky or its stained on the nail part thats seperated from the nail...but i do think this looks like onycholysis.

 

[Bagpuss]

bump

 

[blossom]

Yep looks like onycholysis to me too . . . well done Angie for putting the pic on

 

[Mrsnailamilo]

Hi, yes I would go with onycholysis too! looking pretty bad, and I would go with you Bagpuss something a little funny on the little finger, I was taught in bad case of onycholysis never soak off as it could make the problems worse,thin the product down, and reduce the length by half, have her come back for manicures 2 weekly to keep an eye on the problem, If I was you I would call her to talk through the nail problems, and ask her to come back for treatment, shows you care about her nails, and would think highly of that I would be over the moon, to know a nail tech cared so much IMO, can I just say nice smiles from what I can see :hug: xx

 

[nailzoo]

those nailplates have amazing potential !!!!

 

[pure]

those nailplates have amazing potential !!!!

lol thats what I thought too! Lovely natural shape.

 

[Bagpuss]

those nailplates have amazing potential !!!!

dont they just...would you say it was onycholysis Carl...?

 

[blossom]

Don't know if this will work cos I've not done this before . . . but I found this pic of onycholysis

 

[Bagpuss]

Don't know if this will work cos I've not done this before . . . but I found this pic of onycholysis

nice one blossom...looks very much the same eh !!

 

[Jen Smith]

those nailplates have amazing potential !!!!

I was just thinking the same thing.. lovely natural shape.

The pinkie as Angie said looks like a greenie or the start of one and the others look like onycholysis to me too. Excellent pic Ruby-nails .. well done for putting it up Angie, it will be a very resorsful aid for reference.

 

[ruby-nails]

Just to update you all... I saw this client on Thursday (it had been 3 weeks since I rebalanced them) You were all right, she did have onycholysis 3 weeks ago. To be honest, when it was first suggested that she had this condition I broke out in a cold sweat because I'd already rebalanced her nails and suddenly I was worried that I shouldn't have because in worse case scenarios the natural nails can come off, argghh. I'd never seen it before so I had no idea. The first thing I did was spoke to my ambassador who calmed me down and said that as long as I made them shorter, and double prepped everything that they should be okay, and she was right! I also spoke to another nail tech who said that sometimes they get worse before they get better, and she was right too because they were at their worst when I rebalanced them. I'd told my client to come back immediately if the condition worsened or if they started to turn brown or green, obviously. Anyway, she never called but she was always in the back of my mind.
All that worrying for nothing because my clients' nails look great now. I decided to soak everything off so that I could completely start fresh, and the nails had grown out lovely and back to normal, so I put a new set on and she was dead chuffed. Phewww

 

[Bagpuss]

ahhh great news....thanks for the update xx

 

[CurlyQs]

Good news! I know that cold sweat feeling and I'm glad it turned out ok for you.

 

[nailzoo]

She may well have onycholysis .....BUT ....... it may look like it, but not be it ...... BEAR WITH ME PLEASE.

I have had client come to me from other salons with this very same look .... everyone rushes out and calls it onycholysis (gaaaawd I have to cut and paste that word).

I find VERY OFTEN, this condition is caused by the previous tech being over zealous with primer (cause they all think primer stops lifting), so therefore the more primer , the less lifting ..... mmmmm.

When you use too much primer (and point the nail slightly downwards, which we have all been taught) excess primer runs under the free-edge and causes this condition.

Quite often when a client changes to a tech that doesn't use primer (or knows how to apply it) this condition will heal itself.

I'm known for seeing the negative side in a positive thread, then some days the positive side in a negative thread, I guess it's an age (or experience thing) but I'd like to think my comments are relevant (which they are) as often there can be many reasons for a condition to appear, even more ways to fix them.

When a condition like this presents itself, you have to look from all angles for all reasons, then look for/at all solutions.