Poll: Who belongs to ANT or INA

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As a Nail Technician, which, if any, are you a member of?

  • Association of Nail Technicians (ANT)

    Votes: 39 22.5%
  • International Nail Association (INA)

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • Both ANT and INA

    Votes: 4 2.3%
  • I am a member of ANT or INA for insurance purposes

    Votes: 6 3.5%
  • No membership of ANT/INA - just have insurance elsewhere!

    Votes: 126 72.8%

  • Total voters
    173

Hollyballoo

Truly, Madly Geeky...
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I thought I'd throw up a poll today to see how many nail technicians actually belong to a professional association.

I discovered today that my nails mag subscription had expired along with my ANT membership with no reminder having been sent and I had to ask myself, on deciding whether to renew it, what exactly had been the benefits of this membership over the course of the past year. I have to say, right now I can't actually think of one thing bar the fact that my coaster comes in jolly handy to avoid stains on my desk :rolleyes: and my little badge does wash up well when you forget to remove it from your uniform prior to putting it in the washing machine :| and of course the regular arrival of Nails mag. Other than that, I have not received one single update on industry news or information in the past twelve months since joining.

So, now I wonder whether there is any real benefit in renewing my membership either with ANT or even INA and to help me in my decision, would like to know what you think having this membership has done for you and also just how many of you do have membership with either or both associations

This question is purely in relation to the membership aspects of ANT and INA, not as to insurance BTW.

Look forward to your thoughts....
 
Hi Paola,

In April when my membership to ANT came up for renewal, I did receive notification. Shortly after that they were bought over by Professional Nails Publishers and things have been a bit up in the air.

I questioned like you what the benefits were to being a member apart from the coaster, badge and pen and decided that it needs to be a two way street to a certain extent and if we want to have an association which in the future hopefully will give us some credibility in the working beauty world then we should support it. If we don't then it will cease to exist and then we will have no global voice.

INA as far as I am aware is only insurance and nothing else - I think it used to be more but they ceased due to lack of encouragement.

In order for our association to progress and give us back the things we look for, we need to support them financially and with telling them what we as technicians want from our association.

I hope this helps to persuade you to rejoin.
 
naturalnails said:
Hi Paola,

In April when my membership to ANT came up for renewal, I did receive notification. Shortly after that they were bought over by Professional Nails Publishers and things have been a bit up in the air.

I questioned like you what the benefits were to being a member apart from the coaster, badge and pen and decided that it needs to be a two way street to a certain extent and if we want to have an association which in the future hopefully will give us some credibility in the working beauty world then we should support it. If we don't then it will cease to exist and then we will have no global voice.

INA as far as I am aware is only insurance and nothing else - I think it used to be more but they ceased due to lack of encouragement.

In order for our association to progress and give us back the things we look for, we need to support them financially and with telling them what we as technicians want from our association.

I hope this helps to persuade you to rejoin.
Good point Fiona - I guess we could say the same of the INA - perhaps lack of support for them similarly affected its impact within the industry? But in order to get our attention, I do think both of them need to make such a little more effort to be seen and heard - maybe they are, but for me personally, ANT in particular has had absolutely no impact on me or my business whatsoever bar a client asking if she should swat me with a newspaper as I had an ANT on my shirt!!!

Have you been receiving "updates/news" from them during your membership Fiona - that is what has bothered me and perhaps in fact it has been a case of administrational errors that I have heard nothing from them. I have to say, I was more than a little surprised not to even have been reminded to renew my membership.
 
I must admit Paola that I have never received their Newsletter which is always being mentioned but generally there is all the information which is current, included in the magazines.

I am really such a nosey person that I would not, not be a member of ANT in fear of missing out on something LOL.
 
I used to be heavily involved with the old INA. Along with Gigi (we go back a very long way!).

It used to be run on a purely voluntary basis from a salon in Fulham. The Secretary was Electra Sawbridge and she did loads and loads of work just for the love of the industry. The rest of the 'committee' also did loads of work fo love.

It was us who organised the original competitions, got involved in the early development of qualifications (by shouting that we needed them loudly enough), produced an Industry Code of Practice, published bi-monthly newspetters, was always on the end of a phone for a tech with problems (and mediated with unhappy clients too!)

The INA then got so big that it could not be run like that anymore so HABIA took it over to administer it for us and did a great job until it became too big for them too (an industry with haphazard training and no legislation is very hard to support). Some of us were still involved up until this time.

It was then taken over by the Guild who did not want any outside involvement (I had certainly done enough by then and not one else was forthcoming) and I don't hear of it any more.

The industry definately does need an association but one that listens to its members and speaks on their behalf to whoever needs speaking to!

The main hair and beauty associations are heavily involved with HABIA and that is where any nail association should be. They are the real Authority of the industry and a loud voice should be heard there.

The representation on HABIA has always been me on the committee and, more recently, Jacqui Jefford in the standards workshops. In recent years, this has not been part of an association, just as an expert.

An association that represents its members should have an elected committee in order that is democratic and its members should make sure they are represented and joining is worth while.

I believe the new owners of ANT have plans but, although there has been an 'industry meeting' their plans are not yet totally clear.

Bit long! Sorry! Another hobby horse of mine obviously.

Marian (Newman)
 
That was great Marian - very informative!

Its just seems so mad that they have a whole gamut of professional technicians who would be only too happy to support and be associated with them if it were beneficial, and yet they appear to encourage so little interest in their membership. When you think about it, they have a monopoly out there, between the two of them - not many businesses have the luxury of only worrying about one other competitor in the whole of the UK!

I hope it does all change and they have a far great impact than they appear to at present - we can only hope.
 
I was a member of the ANT it ran out on the 1st August - was hoping to renew but the forms have not come through as yet. I understand there is a problem with the change over but what makes me laugh is they were quick enought to stop sending me my magazines by June (sorry i wander off) - but I too wonder what is the point.

As soon as i qualified I thought to myself right I must join an association, as this is what any professional would do.

But now I too ask myself why renew
- how did I benefit last year,
i gave someone money and for what
i never got any newsletters or any literature at all not even on the proposed new NVQ

and to be quite honest as a newbie I could have spent that monie on much needed training :rolleyes:

So i know will be holding onto my cash untill I hear on the grapevine (i.e this site lol) that there has been some improvement

I tried to be patient all of last year but to no avail and my patience has now run out..
 
Hollyballoo said:
ANT in particular has had absolutely no impact on me or my business whatsoever bar a client asking if she should swat me with a newspaper as I had an ANT on my shirt!!!

:lol: Had to wait till I'd finished laughing before I could add my view!

What has ANT done for me? To tell you the truth I've no idea! I've been a member for about the last 5 years, I had a couple of newsletter in the early days and that's about it. Yep, got the pens and coasters but I'd rather they put that money to better use.
 
I suppose the other side of the coin is that at least it does include a year's subscription to the Nails mag - is that around £30? So I suppose in actual fact it's costing £15 for your little goodie bag of coaster, pen, badge and certificate. Actually they said the other day they are planning to add the year of membersip to the badge itself - I guess this is where some of that money will go to also, so taking away the subscription and that, it doesn't leave much to invest your money in regular updates/news does it.

I see from the poll INA is even less popular. They aren't having much impact on us lot, are they?!
 
Hi,
I am fairly new to this business and have been considering joining ANT but now I am having second thoughts although I would like to belong to a proffessional organisation now I have qualified. What do you recommend I should do, is it worth joining and how do I go about joining?
 
hi i am in babtac and i know they have just started doing solely nail cover if that is any interest to anyone,just thought i would mention it :)
 
dee said:
hi i am in babtac and i know they have just started doing solely nail cover if that is any interest to anyone,just thought i would mention it :)
For insurance purposes do you mean?
 
yeah , sorry forgot to say that lol
 
Hi

I get nails mag and i didnt even realise i was a member of ant! I have never recieved anything from them, and in the depths of my memory i do vaguely remeber it being included!
Been ripped off and i didnt even realise.
 
I too became an ANT member when I qualified as a nail tech last year. Like you all, I received my pen, coaster and badge and apart from a certificate - nothing else. In my first year, I never received any discounts, newsletters or anything else you're supposed to get!

When my membership came up for renewal at the end of April, I decided that I would continue my membership in the hope that now during my second year, things would improve. Shortly followed the news that ANT was being taken over. My Nails magazine for June didn't arrive (always been regular as clockwork) I contacted the new company, and was informed my membership had "expired". I then had to provide a copy of my bank statement to prove I had made the payment to the old company of £45 for my membership.

It then transpired that when I renewed my membership & insurance in April, my payment was made to the old company and therefore all the gold card discounts, and other benefits advertised in the latest editions of the Nails magazine, I am not entitled to until I renew with this new company next year. I am really furious :evil: as had I been informed of what was happening, I would have taken my membership out with the new company and had all these benefits. Instead, my £45 has just paid for a coaster, pen and badge (ok and the nails mag) but I feel really let down:cry: . Also, the Nails magazine is now Professional Beauty and too says when you subscribe there are benefits. Again, I am not entitled to any of these because I paid the old company and have to wait until my renewal. So Again I am potentially missing out!.

Sorry to rant on but as this thread had already been started, thought I would just like to share my recent experience.

I would be interested to hear from anyone else who had similar experiences.
 
Hello there,

I too was a member of ANT (WAS) when i first subscribed i was really looking forward to receiving regular newsletters to keep me informed of the industry!! i read anything in sight, and what did i get!!! that's right a coaster (rubish one at that) oh and a pen!!

I did ring them after about three months to ask when the so called newsletters were coming and the girl who i spoke to (didnt get her name) was really rude and insisted that one had gone out (i never recieved one) and another one was due out in another 4 weeks, that was two years ago and i still havnt recieved any sort of newsleter or anything about ANT, the only thing i did get was ...........................my renewel letter YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

I did think about getting in touch with crimestoppers to find my missing newsleters as according the girl at ANT i should have had one, so it must have been kidnapped.

Here is my heart felt plea.......................ANT Newsleter if you are reading this, please come home, all i want is a quik look at you to see where my subscription money went!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda
 
Hi Guys, Just thinking maybe if those of us in the ANT (me too) got together some idea of exactly what kind of service we are prepared to pay for (we can get insured elsewhere after all) and put these forward to ANT maybe we could get a service we would be prepared to pay for? I think for those of us who have joined upon qualifying probably thought it was the best professional body to belong to as we had heard of it and seen stickers (coasters too!!) in salons without knowing the benefits (if any). I know it would take a lot to organise but surely there must be even more of us unhappy with the service we are currently getting.
pam x
 
I am sorry to hear all the bad experiences that have been endured by techs assocated with ANT. I am sure it will emerge under new management a much better and tighter organisation.

I can only offer a maybe solution however - for techs that want to be insured - Scratch magazine has teamed up with ITEC to offer a package.

For £89.99

• up to £5 million professionla indemnity insurance
• free 12-month sub to Scratch mag
• Free unlimited lineage advertising in Scratch mag
• Public liability insurance
• Product liability
• Code of practice
• Personal accident cover
• Free legal helpline
• Free entry on an international register
• CPD scheme & courses
• Use of letters after name
• Free web space
• Free referral service
• Membership badge & car sticker! (Sorry no pen or coaster!)

CAll 0208 994 7856 for more details
www.igpp.co.uk
www.scratchmagazine.co.uk

So for techs just wnating to know they are safely covered- maybe this is ahte solution until the associations offer you what you are looking for...

regards
Alex Fox
editor
Scratch :green: :p :cool: ;)
 
Hi

I was thinking of subscribing to ANT however i automatically subscribed as part of the NVQ Unit 19, I already subscribe to Professional Nails magazine but they have told me that becuase of that I will infact have my subscription to Professional Nails for 2 years now, one year in lieu of this year

Yes i got my pen and badge NO COASTER though ! so i guess i get even less than you guys ! lol

Id definately be interested in any information that ANT can provide and however regular they may do it, I wait with anticipation each month for my Professional Nails magazine and Scratch to see whats hot, whats not so to speak

Great thread, very interesting read

Does anyone from these associates belong to The Nail Geek site ????

kx
 
Alex Fox said:
Scratch magazine has teamed up with ITEC to offer a package.
Hey Alex!

That sounds very interesting though is it ITEC or IGPP Scratch has teamed up with - only the link is for the latter?
 

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