Professional Nails Poll - 'Professional' high street kits

[Kathryn]

Hey all and Happy New Year!

I hope you are all loving your new look home - I for one think Sam has done a fab job and we should all charge out and become premium geeks as soon as. Where else can you get responsbile answers to those nail dilemmas and have a good old gossip all at the touch of a button?

Anyway, in the spirit of tradition, I thought I'd get straight online for another monthly poser for the Feb issue of Professional Nails mag - picked up from a thread I saw posted last week - 'professional' nail kits on the high street.

Revlon is going hell for leather on advertising in the consumers for its 'professional' nail kit and I for one am worried. I am all for clients being able to be able to take care of and maintain their nails between appointments, but NOT without first having sought the advice of a PROFESSIONAL on what exactly this should entail.

So, what do you think?

All answers gratefully received - the issue of salon uniforms went down a treat, so I am hoping this one proves just as good.

I hope to use your answers in the Feb issue of Professional Nails so please enclose your full name, salon/business name and location - if you'd prefer not to have your answers in the mag, then just let me know.

Cheers all

Kat
Professional Nails
Email: [email protected]

 

[naturalnails]

Hey Kathryn,

I dont see what we can do about these "Professional" kits - how can they be called this if they are not to be administered by a Professional.

We will never be able to stop this - look at over the counter hair colours and perms etc.

Unfortunately there are so many product manufacturers out there flogging the DIY nail kits implying that you can buy the kit and become a nail tech. Yeah right - what did we need to waste all our money on training for if it was that easy LOL.

The hope is always that people will make such a mess (hopefully not permanent damage) and come to us to heal their poorly nails.

 

[The Geek]

Hey kathryn. I stuck a poll up to get another view. Hope it is along the lines you are thinking.

I also made the post Sticky as I am sure many geeks would like to comment on it.

 

[Lellipop]

Hi,
I think that these kits are very much like any high street product :|
People will buy them, And waste probably around £12, They then get it home and cant do it right so The next time they pay extra, But get the job done properly.
I dont see these kits as a threat to nail techs, Because people who want nice nails just dont go this route and if they do, Well they learn the hard way.
Lesley x

 

[Nailsinlondon1]

Well if the Lady in the high street buys a professional DIY nail kit, will she get professional nails????? No of course not................
She will get DIY nails and not very good ones , as her skill level in enhancements wont be the same as that of a Professional Nail Technician.........

On the same lines ......if I drive a sports car, does this mean I am a pro racing driver no..........
Will I be able to get the same preformance out of this car, just like a pro would????
No of course not...........
I am just imitating, pretending, I will still be joe average just driving a car..............but not in the same league as a pro Racing driver..............

As for Pro Nail kits...........
All the consumer will get is an average result, as the most important part is missing.......Training and skill level !!!!! The know how, how to do it right!!!!!

Never mind the name, that wont make any consumer a pro..........but believing they are using a pro Nail Kit will fool them into thinking that they can !!!!!!!!!!!!
They will soon wise up and then come to us as a result........either to fix the mess they have gotten themself into............or they have realized that if you want that nail enhancement, thats to die for, they will need the expertise of a Pro.......

And thats us Guys and Gals..........
So I for one am not worried, the same as Mr Sasson doesn't worry about the DIY Hair dyes, the DIY bleaches and the DIY perming kits...........because he knows, like it or not.................Kit's like this raise public awareness, making the public feel that they need this look, to be just like that celeb in the latest magazine.............and then when DIY disaster strikes ,they are back where they should have been in the first place.............. With the Professionals !!!!!!

 

[CUTIE]

I believe like any new product on the high street, there will be people who buy it to try it, thinking they can save money this way. The truth as we all know is it is not always as easy as it looks. After a few tries, without success, I believe they will go back to having it done proffessionally. (if they want their nails to look good).


Cutie/Vicky.

 

[grace]

Hi there,
I agree with the other geeks, I do not believe it will be a huge worry, my reasons differ slightly to others that have expressed there opinions, I do agree though that the home kits are DIY and therefore results will suffer, however more importantly I feel is the issue of treats.

My well in honesty my very small client base all come to me for the treat side of things, I mean to be pampered, to relax, to off load there worries, stories, woes what ever, they come to me for a therapy realy and in the bargin get super nails, they are then even more plesed because not only have they offloaded stress or just had a dam good chin wag but also got lovely looking hands and nails. Lets face it DIY may be cheeper but must be pretty boring talking to yourself in the package.

I for one am so not worried because I still strongly believe that its not just the nails the clients want but realy a friendly ear and relaxation, the beautiful nails are the excuse for pampering. Well its that or I have a real bunch of worriers.................. no no in all honesty these days we all need something to look forward to and a treat in life and for my great bunch my service is theres.

Grace x

 

[Little Angel]

Hi all,

I am a hairdresser to and i get the clients who colour their hair and then come to me to sort it out
The same will happen with these so called 'proff kits' they will try them and it will either put them off totaly or they will go to a prof nail salon and get them sorted out.
It is a bit of a nightmare but what can we do?
I try and educate my clients because they genuinly dont realise what damage they can do to themselves.

Tracy Mclean
Honeybee beauty

 

[Mandi]

OK...am going to give you my perspective from a consumers and teks POV here....

I have been getting acrylic nails for the last 12 years. As I had children I would only get them for special occasions as I did not have the time to maintain them. However, before I left Australia I found a fabulous tek who did stunning nails so I continued to go to her for my rebalances. When I moved to the UK I intended to maintain them but was shocked at the price so bought a hight street kit to do my own fills...I did not in the end and ended up biting them all off *cringe*

I really missed my nails so I though I would bite he bullet an pay what I considered to be a fortune...I wanted fab nails again! Ok so I get a mobile tech who charged 60 quid (sorry dont have a pound sign on my keyboard) for forever french plus a 5 pound callout fee. I though she would be fabulous for that amount of money....unfortunatley the nails were bad...3 nails fell off...lifting all over the place...uneven free edge shape...a chunk of acrylic applied over some side walls and even one eponychium!!!! Any way...being generous I called her back for a rebalance, thinking that she must be a very good tek (as she charged so much) but was just having a bad day when she did mine. But no change...nails still crap.

I had a nail fall off within days, so I got out my high street kit and put a new one on myself. I thought it would be easy and I managed OK...mainly becasue I had been a client for so long I think...but it took me ages and the end result was ok-ish but definitely not stunning! I rang a salon in my high street to book in for a rebalance. They took one look at my (crap) nails and said I'm sorry but I have to soak these off. I was soo embarresed. I told the tek about my home repair and she took a good look at it and didn't laugh. Oddly enough it was the one that took the longest to soak off. The tek was also outraged at how much I had paid for these awful nails. The original tek was using a very well known and respected brand of L&P....the soak off tek said I should complain to the comapny, but I never did

Well this spurned me on to become a nail tek! I originally intended to train so I could do my own nails, but developed such a passion for it that I now divide my working time between my "other" job and nails.

I saw the high street kit as a temporaty solution. I don't think many people would actively use them for manitaining their own nails....it would be too time consuming and the end result would not be the best....especially on their dominant hand.

I think that if someone did buy a high street kit to put on a full set that it would take them absolutely ages. I also think it is a money issue...they may not be able to afford 30+pounds for a full set, but can afford 12 pounds? So even if they were able to get the money together to go the a trained tek for a full set they may not be able to commit to maintaining them....and would this sort of client book in to pay for a soak off if they could not maintain them? probably not

When the client plays around with a DIY kit they will soon see how difficult it is to produce fab nails and soon lose that 'it looks easy...I coud do that!" attitude and I think most will come running back to their tek!

 

[angel fingers]

there is the slight worry that some one might do a set of d.i.y nails, they all fall of and she tells everyone that acrylic nails are rubbish - rather than d.i.y acrylic nails are rubbish. but i think on the whole these kits are not much of a threat to proffesional techs and could even earn us more respect when people realise that its not as easy as we make it look!

 

[geeg]

Thank God we live in a free country where people have the freedom of choice!

A small percentage of people will do their nails with these kits and even be pleased with the results (although if a pro looked at them they might not be). A much greater percentage of people will give it a try and know they are out of their depth. But we can't, nor should we try to, take away their choice to buy or not to buy.

I believe the end consumer is very aware of NAILS these days. You can't watch any soap or open any magazine without seeing artificial nail enhancements on most celebrities. Salon nail services are growing by leaps and bounds and we are all benefiting from that.

I am not the slightest bit worried by the proliferation of nail kits or products appearing the shops and pharmacies.

Gigi Rouse
Creative Nail Design