Shellac not lasting all of a sudden-any ideas?

[Russian doll]

So one of my dear clients has been having issues with her shellac not lasting lately, probably the last 3 times I saw her. She'd come in after a week of having them done and a couple would be lost and others peeling/lifting a bit. That never happened before as she used to go up to 3 weeks no problem (she's been coming to me for about a year). I asked her all the usual questions-if she's been using any chemicals without gloves on, if she's been picking at them, if anything changed in her diet/medication, anything changed at all? She swears nothing has changed. She's usually very good with her nails, not a picker, careful and uses her solar oil regularly. Her nails are in good condition, strong, no much peeling, nothing that could affect the wear. I could actually see for my own eyes that shellac kinda lifted from the nail in big pieces. I checked my bulbs and they still have 30+hours on them, and none of the other ladies reported any problems. I'm out of ideas, and don't want to loose her. We did the IBX and regular polish for now, so at least she just could take it off herself. But she really enjoyed her shellac! Does anyone have any ideas on why it could happen?!

 

[BBCharmer]

Just a thought, did you turn your bulbs after 50 hours?
Are her nails longer than usual?

 

[Russian doll]

Thanks for answering BBcharmer! Yes, I turned the bulbs over some time ago, and no, her nails are on the shorter side now. Just wanted to mention too-it wasn't lifting from free edge, but in other places, like more on the sides or the top, or even straight from the middle. Very weird to be honest :/

 

[BBCharmer]

Do you use cuticle remover? One of my clients started having problems, and after running over and over in my head what the problem was I decided to do a dry prep, just to try something different. It turns out she wasn't washing the cuticle remover away properly, but because her sink is out of sight I couldnt actually see that. Worth a try x

 

[Russian doll]

Yes, I use the CND CuticleAway, but I am the one to wipe it off and deactivate. May be you are right and I'm not removing all of it? I clean and dehydrate the nail with scrub fresh after, but I start to think may be I'm not scrubbing it enough, since I tried to be careful with my own shellac lately...although why it would only happen to her and not the other ladies?

 

[BBCharmer]

One last thought...there are products that cause Shellac to lift, eg. Products with DEET in them, Limescale removers, Some eczema creams to name a few.

I'm sure if you do a search something will come up, maybe your client is using something different without realising it. x

 

[Russian doll]

Just wanted to bump to see if anyone else has any ideas? I've since seen more of my regulars and none of them have had any problems, so I'm really doubting it could be something I've done, since I do the same procedure on everyone.

 

[noreenoconnor]

Are her nails longer than normal? With excess length in the nails clients can sometimes over flex the nails and cause the center to pop up due to pressure , they will more than likely be damage in the centre of the nail if this is the case

Have her nails been in water in the previous hour or two before coming down to you? If she has taken a bath or gone swimming water can swell the nail plate and when it contracts it can cause shellac to peel like that

Are you using a very dark colour shellac on her? The darker colours are the most difficult to cure and it could be possible you applied the colours too thick and did not get a complete cure

Have you recently started using a very long extension lead for your lamps? I had issues last year due to this and even though I can't prove it , I suspect it reduced the uv output of my lamp as there was less power going to it

That's all I can think of for now

 

[Russian doll]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to check with her about exposure to water just before coming to me. It is very possible that she was doing dishes right before leaving, and we live close by, so it wouldn't be long in between. She does wear gloves most of the time, but may be she didn't those times?
As for the rest-as I said her nails are on the shorter side at the moment, and last colour that peeled the worst was Romantique. And nothing changed in my set up.