Shellac not working

[NeelieGel]

I wonder if you Nail experts could help me.

I have now tried two different places for my daughter and I have to have shellac. My nails are shortish but not bitten. Weak and never really grow long but I don't mind that. I just like them looking nice and don't like when one breaks (which happens relatively easily as they are not naturally strong nails).

However, my daughter is a biter and having read and seen the threads here on biters and how successful shellac was at doing this I thought I'd give it a go.

First time up I chanced it with my daughter and took her to a shopping centre type eyebrow, nail bar. OK but I could see she wasn't using a CND lamp (and possibly other stuff was fake) and did it pretty quickly so wasn't so surprised when she reported chipping and one nail coming off completely (I'm sure once she got a rough edge she helped it along).

So I decided to look up a local salon on the CND web site and booked in there. I booked us both in and we had our nails done on Saturday. They took a long time and appeared to take good care. However, on later inspection I was not that happy with my thumb nail as it appeared to have colour variation across it (stripes). This happens sometimes when a nail polish is past its best I think and it is a bit thick and gloopy. Didn't expect that to be the case with Shellac as it doesn't 'go off' until its in the lamp and therefore workable for ages I assume? However, I do recall that they were struggling a bit and heating up the bottles as they said they were almost empty!!

Last night I got a chance to ask my daughter how her nails were coming along and, once again, she has reported chips and two nails have come off completely. Also one of my nails on my left hand (I am right handed) the shellac has lifted away from the free edge completely at the top. I am leaving it situ but obviously dirt is going to get under it so I'm not impressed.

I certainly hoped we would get the two weeks for our money and not just four days. We paid for full manicure, not just applying the shellac at a total of £85 for the two of us. :sad:

I am very disappointed having read so much good stuff on here about shellac. I appreciate with my daughters nails I might be asking a lot but my nails do not take a bashing. I do an office job, don't do washing up (dishwasher) etc etc.

Am I expecting too much from this product or have I just been very, very unlucky with the operator? Should I be going back and asking for a free redo? Or should I just chalk it up to experience and carry on looking for a better nail technician in my area (NW Surrey)?

What do you professionals think? And is there anyone in my area with a good proven reputation that can prove me wrong on this?

 

[Zooks]

Hi NeelieGel

Sorry you have had this experience. Sadly even if a salon is on the locator is cant guarantee that every tech i there has had the training (I have had that experience!)

Did they give you aftercare? Wear gloves? Meticulous use of solar oil?Gentle filing after around 5 days or so? And did you follow this advice?

Are your nails healthy?

If this happened to a client of mine I would want them to come back to me so that we could put this right so I would give them a call if it hasnt been too long.

Where are you based?

 

[tanfastic]

I would also go back and let them know how disappointed you are. THey won't know that something is wrong if you don't tell them. Hopefully it will be fine next time around. Make sure you get a fully trained and EXPERIENCED technician for the re-do. You and your daughter both need to let the salon inspect your nails, they may not be prepared to do much for your daughter if she has picked or bitten the Shellac off though.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

 

[souz]

sorry you are having this problem but yes contact the salon and let them know.

how old is your daughter out of interest?

 

[NeelieGel]

Hi again and thanks for your replies. I'm near Camberley, Surrey. My daughter is nearly 16 so not a kid really. However, it is so easy to pick at edges when you are in class listening to a teacher I would imagine. But ideally there should be no edges to pick at. I have noticed that my shellac has been applied a bit thick around the cuticle area on a couple of nails causing a pickable edge now with the slight bit of growth that has occurred. I do think this is most probably operator skills more than anything.

My lady I used to go to when I had tips and silk done would paint beautifully with the bare minimum of strokes achieving a lovely even finish. The girl that did my shellac seemed to go over it too many times to me. And I said before I think the stock might have been a bit old or maybe had thickened up a bit due to the bottles being very low.

I have a good friend that does ordinary manicures and I've never seen her do more than say 4-5 passes of the brush over the nails because she is so skilled at not overloading or not having enough on the brush. But she has been doing it a long time. Unfortunately, despite me trying to convince her it would be a good thing she won't consider going over to anything like shellac. And my lady that used to do my nails when I had extensions won't entertain it either as she is always fully booked with regular extension and fill in clients.

Coming from a hairdressing background myself I do believe that some are better than others, and even with a lot of practice, sometimes that doesn't change. It is often down to natural talent too.

I've phoned the salon and we are going to see them again on Saturday. They were really nice about it on the phone though. I'm not after getting them done for free to make it last longer. I really thought I would get more than four days out of it that's all. If I still feel that the skills aren't there I will look for someone else local to me. I don't mind paying for good service but hate paying for not so good. I mean I pay over £100 for just a cut and blowdry at Sassoon every couple of months!!!

 

[souz]

hiya, the reason i asked how old your daughter is is because teenagers nails are oilier than ours due to hormones which means that shellac doesnt normally last as well unless an extra product called nail fresh is used to dehydrate the nails prior to application of shellac and even then cannot be guaranteed. I am surprised that this was not explained to you.

And as for yourself i cannot say without seeing your nails but in general shellac does last longer than 4 days and CND says that it should last for up to 2 weeks. Personally my clients get more than 2 weeks and in fact most get 3 weeks with no problems. not sure if that helps but good luck when you return to the salon on saturday x

 

[nicole333]

You are being gracious going back to them. Personally if I wasn't happy with the application I would wonder how the heck they thought it was ok for me to walk out of the door like it and would not expect a difference on a next time just because I complained. But that is purely my personal opinion on spending my hard earned cash.

It is hard to comment though without actually seeing the evidence. Your nails may not be suitable for Shellac or they may need a little extra help with some Brisa Lite. There could be lots of reasons including a poor application.
Also, being registered on the CND site does not mean you are going to get a good service, as they may not have had good manicure training to begin with or they may not have had Shellac training, you just don't know. I would always go by personal recommendation.

 

[NeelieGel]

I would always give a person one more chance to put things right. I think that is the only way to go. I would like to think that my clients did that for me. However, if after going back for a redo it still isn't right then I will be looking elsewhere. However, I don't know of anyone that has shellac or anyone that has their nails done and have shellac locally. I guess what is needed here is someone that has a experience in general manicuring skills and has gone over to using shellac on their clients.

Unfortunately with it being a new(ish)product new inexperienced people will be attracted to it and the die hard traditionalists (like my friend) won't.

If I am paying for someone to do something I expect them to do it better than I would be able to do it myself. Watching her dab around with each nail was torturous if I'm being brutally honest. Putting on polish well is a skill which many people have so I can see why so many people have been tempted to do this for themselves despite all the nail techs saying you need the training for it.

I am beginning to suspect that the salon owner may well have done the course and is now getting her staff to do the work so she has been able to purchase the stuff from the company. I mean what is to stop a salon doing that? Send one person to get the purchasing account and then have all the rest of the staff doing it without the training.

 

[nicole333]

Wow, your friend is really missing out on something amazing. It's her choice and she may well be full to the brim with clients daily, but to bring something new to an area and do it really well, I can imagine clients beating her door down.

If you have no joy on your return visit, how about making your first port of call the new Shellac locator (search 'I love Shellac' on google) then you will have access to those who purchase Shellac from the authorised outlets. Although please bear in mind that Ellisons are an authorised distributor and not part of this and also those of us that work alone may not have the need to purchase every two months to keep ourselves on there continuously.

This is just a starting point, but from here you can get salon details and then look at pictures of work either on the salons website or facebook page. Also, there is a CND educator with a salon in London and if you get your hair done in London regularly, then you are already a frequent visitor to the city.

I hope you find somewhere or someone that can bring to light what has happened here, as Shellac really is a product that does what it says on the tin.

 

[NeelieGel]

Hi Nicole I did the search on the Loveshellac site. There were a few salons that came up near me, but on checking out their Websites not one of them mention CND Shellac as one of their services. How confusing is that?

One website I did see the person said in her treatments list and price list

shellac - not suitable for bendy weak nails.

Strange, I thought that was one of the benefits of shellac adding a bit of strength but not too thick. However I don't consider my nails particularly bendy.

Having seen all the threads over in the Nail Geek section I see a some of the pros have done treatment for nail biters successfully. I am wondering what the difference here is. Is it the technician or is it our nails? I could spend an absolute fortune trying to find out couldn't I.

Tonight no less than four nails have lifted away from the free edge on my nails. I really haven't given my nails any punishment this week as I have been doing office work all day and that doesn't involve a lot of typing or anything like that. No washing up. In fact the only time my hands get wet is when I have my bath and when I wash them after going to the loo (TMI?) And yes I've used the solar oil twice a day ever since they were done too.

I so want this to be worth having done as I don't want to go back to acrylics or anything like that.

Will have to see what tomorrow brings. I am still wondering if the fact that their product was getting gloopy and they were having to heat it up in the little oven thing they had there is a factor.

 

[nicole333]

They heated it up in a little oven? That is a no no, Shellac should not be heated up, as this makes it thick. If the room temperature is particularly cold then holding it in your hand to bring it to a more suitable temperature is fine, but that is it!

With regards to your nail condition, that can only be established in the flesh with a consultation. But with the addition of the new CND Brisa Lite Power partner, this can help with extra strength and longevity on clients nails that may have been deemed unsuitable before hand. As I said, a consultation and assessment is needed to see what you require.

Knowing that this salon is not adhering to at least one guideline (heating bottles) is making me ask questions about other possible deficiencies. All I can say is please do not be disheartend if today does not bring you the results you hope for. If it were me I'd be booking in with a Shellac EA if I couldn't ask anyone in my area for a personal recommendation.

Please update us on how your appointment went.

 

[NeelieGel]

Me again. Well went back today and straight away she was apologetic and said 'yes' the stock she had used was too thick and redid both of our nails free of charge. I could see straight away that it was going on better. She said she had told her boss off for making them use old product that was past its best. She also admitted to me that one of her regular shellac clients had had the same problem and she had to do a redo for her too. I can see the nails I have now are much better and look better - smoother and more even colour cover too. Much better around the side walls and bottom. Basically everything.

I am so glad I went back. She was happier too about having a chance to fix it and retain my faith in the product.

I just hope it lasts the two weeks.

 

[NeelieGel]

Arrrr!! Well after two days the free edge of two nails have come off again. Two unsightly chips in the end of the nails. This is not going well. I don't know whether to accept that Shellac is no good for me or try someone else now.

 

[EmJZ]

My nails are shortish but not bitten. Weak and never really grow long but I don't mind that. I just like them looking nice and don't like when one breaks (which happens relatively easily as they are not naturally strong nails).

this is probably why you're still having issues with Shellac even once you found a tech doing a proper job. I would suggest finding a salon that also offers the new Brisa Lite. It is designed to work along side Shellac for thos clients that have weak nails normally not suited to Shellac.

hope you find a solution, as Shellac really is a fabulous product