Terrible at nails. Please help

[jee-nails]

Hi everybody,
I'm looking for some advice on nails that are coming off. I'm using creative and only have 2 clients, well actually its one now! The other sets I do are just one offs.
When i go to my clients for re balance they always have nails missing and an awful lot of lifting. Now I know your screaming that its down to poor prep, and I agree it must be, but at the time I feel that I have done it right.
When i do my own nails my left hand is mostly fine, my right has a lot of lifting but this is because I'm using my left to do them and I never ever loose a nail. The prep I do on myself is the same as on clients. So what am i doing wrong with my clients?? I'm thinking of packing up my stuff and giving up, but I really like doing acrylics.
My ex-client was going to stop having them done anyway. She said its due to a new job, but obviously its because some come off all the time. She was booked for her last re balance, but as she had lost a few she canceled, understandably. This really shattered my confidence. Ive considered doing training one 2 one but have always had problems getting models in the past.Is this the way to go? Would this really help? Or are some people just not cut out for doing enhancements?? Should I just acknowledge that I'm c**p at them and stick to natural nail care? Please help. I'm desperate now.

 

[honeymummy]

oh dont give up bird!!

Have you checked your mixing ratio?
perhaps the nails are a wee bit too long so they get knocked off?
or what about your prepping for cronic lifters, make sure you remove all pterigium and use your scrubfresh.

 

[Susie H]

ok hun, lets take it apart
I work on one hand at a time. Then if they scratch their face I don't have to worry about grease / makeup on the nail plate.
Apply cuticle remover, allow this time to do its stuff, 3 minutes. I usually fill in the client card and then trim, shape the free edge of the nails.
Remove cuticle.
rinse nails with citrus soak or similar, you must remove every bit of the cuticle remover, or it will cause lifting.
remove shine from nails
Scrub fresh, now I have watched Sam do this and after I started to do it his way, my lifting probs were over:green:
Sam SCRUBS each nail for a good 5 seconds, he holds the finger being scrubbed and he pulls the skin of the side walls down slightly and gets right in to the side walls and down to the bottom of zone 3 with the scrub fresh pad.
When done right the nail drys a chalky white all over.
then apply tip or form and of you go
Last problem area make sure your brush is nice and pointy when pat /pushing your product towards the side walls and zone 3. Don't be afraid to wipe your brush of and smooth the product to the thinest layer when coming near to the side walls, this will do 3 things, it will keep the product clear of the skin, a main cause of lifting, it will ensure less filling and when the re balance comes around you will have a less obvious line of re growth.
Finaly, yes do go and have some 121 training, you will love it and come away inspired:hug: hope this helps and I'm sure my fellow geeks will add anything I've missed

 

[gillian w]

Find somebody willing to be your guinea pig and do them for free.Preferably someone who gets lifting,is generally what would be classed as a difficult client ie puts quite a bit of stress on her nails and also has the time to tell you straight away when there is lifting etc and come back so you can see for yourself and correct it without them just leaving you.
It may mean coming clean with the client you have left that you are having problems and to tell you if they arnt happy and you will be happy to try and do whatever it takes to get things right even if you do them for nothing.

 

[handmaiden]

are you charging? or are the nails you do for free??
I ask because when I did free sets for practice my ladies would trash them because they hadnt had to pay for them so they didnt look after them!!
then I got wise to it......

..when I started to charge the broken/missing/chewed nails suddenly stopped lol
just an idea, dont give up xx xx :hug:

 

[michelle g]

Definately don't give up!
sound advice from susie, the only thing that i would add is relax and take your time,
you will get there.

 

[blossom]

I can remember going through a phase a bit like this, I wasn't building enough apex in, or making it thin enough at the sidewalls. Keep at it, you're nearly there hun, you've come a massive way down the path and there's not far to go now . . . x

 

[jee-nails]

are you charging? or are the nails you do for free??
I ask because when I did free sets for practice my ladies would trash them because they hadnt had to pay for them so they didnt look after them!!
then I got wise to it......

..when I started to charge the broken/missing/chewed nails suddenly stopped lol
just an idea, dont give up xx xx :hug:

Yes I am charging. Its €30 for a rebalance, 2 repairs for free, and it takes me 2 bloomin' hours!!!

 

[jee-nails]

oh dont give up bird!!

Have you checked your mixing ratio?

To be honest this could be one of the problems. I always had a problem with this when I originally trained With Creative. Even after the "going, going, gone" I still had dry powder at the top of my bead. Thats why I retrained with NSI. I thought that if i trained in a different method that it would help, but i soon went back to the original way i was trained.

Thanks for all your replies. I will take note of all your suggestions and see if there is any improvement. X

 

[Missy G]

Hi,
Dont give up i know exactly how you feel ,i used to get a lot of problems with lifting,tried all different products both gels and l&p,i had a client phone me one sunday @9am saying her nails looked S**** after one week of doing them n taking three hours!!!!!!!!!!!!That really put me on a downer,i then had a voucher for christmas to have my nails done with bio sculpture,i was really pleased with them,so i brought some stock and a dvd from ebay ,and done the infills etc on them and they seemed fine,so from there i booked a training course with bio and now im a lot happier i dont seem to have any problems with lifting any more,i am starting mobile part time in September and keep my fingees crossed it will all go well.

 

[jee-nails]

Hi,
Dont give up i know exactly how you feel ,i used to get a lot of problems with lifting,tried all different products both gels and l&p

Thanks Debbie, I'm not sure what to do now, Ive spent a lot of money so far on training, the original course i did was rubbish so I went to Creative, and like I said I went then to NSI. And as I am so rubbish at doing them to train with anybody else might not help. I dont think its the product, its me. Ive spent over €2500 on training so far and that doesn't include all the products and equipment i have. Thats why in thinking about the 121 training. Its just trying to find somebody good here in Dublin. You guys have such a huge pool of great nail techs over there. Thanks again.

 

[paula j]

:green: hey there ,
I agree one to one is the way to go i also trained with creative and my going going gone is still sometimes a little dodgy but i havent done hundreds of sets of nails yet ,
Ive qualified with three colledges and still felt not quite there , So i did a essential nail home course with gina wallace ,
Wow great dvd its like one to one training she says to be great you have to do at least three hundred sets of nails
Thats loads to you and me , Shame i dont live near you as i would help you out as guinea pig and vise versa .
But i know about the cost £2500 is exaclty whats ive spent but i think one week in a classroom isnt anywhere near enough !!
the essential nails course is helping me and its so clear i prefere it to the one to one i had .
Good luck again and persevere you will get there perhaps buy a hand trainer if you havent got one and practise ,practise,practise

love paula x:hug:

 

[jee-nails]

:green: hey there ,
Good luck again and persevere you will get there perhaps buy a hand trainer if you havent got one and practise ,practise,practise

love paula x:hug:

Thanks Paula,
Where did you get that dvd you mentioned? Think I might prefer to have someone sit and watch me and point out my mistakes.
I do have a hand trainer, but I can put the sets on it ok, as with my clients, the problem is that it doesnt show any lifting after a few days like real hands, maybe if I give it the kiss of life!!!:Kissing:

 

[jee-nails]

Shame i dont live near you as i would help you out as guinea pig and vise versa .

Oh i agree that would of been great, you dont fancy moving do you???

 

[Budgeface]

I trained with unique in Dublin(Contact Bodytalk @ 01-6233158).
Never asked about acrylic courses as it was just the gel I'm interested in but i think they run an acrylics course too.

It was just a 2day course but the classes are small(usually around 6),i did mine on a quiet week,there were only 3 of us training which meant plenty of 1 to 1 attention from the trainer.

It's only 275 euro for the training(you're not obliged to buy a kit),and wouldn't cost you much more for a small kit as you'd already have most of the bits you need.
Might be worth giving them a try before you give up?

 

[jee-nails]

I trained with unique in Dublin(Contact Bodytalk @ 01-6233158).
Never asked about acrylic courses as it was just the gel I'm interested in but i think they run an acrylics course too.

It was just a 2day course but the classes are small(usually around 6),i did mine on a quiet week,there were only 3 of us training which meant plenty of 1 to 1 attention from the trainer.

It's only 275 euro for the training(you're not obliged to buy a kit),and wouldn't cost you much more for a small kit as you'd already have most of the bits you need.
Might be worth giving them a try before you give up?

Thanks for your help. Are they in the city centre? Do you need a model? And If you dont but a kit, do you bring your own products?
Thanks again.

 

[paula j]

Oh i agree that would of been great, you dont fancy moving do you???

:green: LOL VERY GOOD THE KISS OF LIFE I LIKE IT
ESSENTIAL NAILS HAVE THE DVDS /VIDEOS WWW.ESSENTIALNAILS.COM

 

[pure]

Now I know I'm relatively new to nails but one other thing I would look at is what your clients do to their nails when you're not around! :lol:

That might sound silly but I have 4 regular l&p clients, 3 of whom have slight lifting and will often require a repair or two at their rebalance. If it weren't for my fourth client I would be really worried about my prep/application except she always comes back with her nails looking beautiful still.

The difference? 3 have children and do semi-manual work, the fourth is a photographer who really takes care of herself and also always uses her solar oil!

 

[jee-nails]

Now I know I'm relatively new to nails but one other thing I would look at is what your clients do to their nails when you're not around! :lol:

That might sound silly but I have 4 regular l&p clients, 3 of whom have slight lifting and will often require a repair or two at their rebalance. If it weren't for my fourth client I would be really worried about my prep/application except she always comes back with her nails looking beautiful still.

The difference? 3 have children and do semi-manual work, the fourth is a photographer who really takes care of herself and also always uses her solar oil!

Well I have thought obout this Debs. One is a housewife and does the usual chores about the house. I know that sometimes when she lost one shed say it was really sore so i can presume it wasnt going to come off by its own accord.
The second does home help and where the lifting is (an awful lot of lifting) underneath is quite yellow (not green) so what products she uses through her work im not sure.She tries to wear gloves but thats not always possible. She used to loose them by pulling the washing out of her machine with her nails. Ive since got her to stop doing that!
So you might be saying "hey grainne its not all your fault" and you might be right, but the terrible lifting IS down to me.
I have enlisted a guinea pig and im giong to do everything thats been suggested regarding my prep ect and shes promised to report back faithfully to me.
One thing ive noticed is that my left hand has absolutely no lifting and when i did them i pressed them down really well with my brush, so maybe thats my answer!
Thanks you guys for all your comments and replies. As usual you come out tops. XX

 

[dingbat]

Hi,
Dont give up i know exactly how you feel ,i used to get a lot of problems with lifting,tried all different products both gels and l&p,i had a client phone me one sunday @9am saying her nails looked S**** after one week of doing them n taking three hours!!!!!!!!!!!!That really put me on a downer,i then had a voucher for christmas to have my nails done with bio sculpture,i was really pleased with them,so i brought some stock and a dvd from ebay ,and done the infills etc on them and they seemed fine,so from there i booked a training course with bio and now im a lot happier i dont seem to have any problems with lifting any more,i am starting mobile part time in September and keep my fingees crossed it will all go well.

hello, can you tell me what bio sculpt is please. Good Luck for september