To cut or not to cut - cuticles!

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2012salon

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I went to a salon where i thought i was going to start part time work as a nail tech today and i did my trade manicure test on this eastern european lady. the current nail tech is also eastern european and they are both friends, i did my hand santising, analysis, filing, soaking and it came to the point where i pushed the cuticles back and got my nippers out to remove the dead skin. When I finished this part she was like what are you doing? Aren't you going to remove the cuticles? I was like, no, I don't remove live skin and was never taught to cut out the cuticles. The current nail tech said that's no good and showed me with these tiny scissors in front of me how to remove the cuticles in one swoop by cutting them out.
Basically I carried on with my manicure but by the end of it they were both unhappy as she removes them and other likes them off as that's what they do in their country! She even removed skin on the nail wall and near the free edge?! I was then told by the current nail tech that I would not make money if I didn't remove cuticles and that if they came to once they would never return! She then recommended me retraining with some Eastern European academy in central London where I would learn how to cut cuticles off but I would need to do the whole nvq again. By this time I was so annoyed as I have been to her salon 3 times now and wasted my time and paid fares for a job i thought i was starting but now I'm no good for!

What do you nail techs do???
 
Have a read of this

Why don't you show them a diagram of the nail and show them where the cuticle is...them tell them you are removing the cuticle...just not the LIVING skin which is the eponychium. You only need to cut when its totally necessary, such as removing hang nails and skin which is dead.

Yes, clients might 'expect' it, but they're the same clients that are used to having their skin cut and being left with red raw fingers that have callouses. The reason that they need to keep cutting is because someone cut them in the first place.

All they need is cuticle Eraser and daily application of Solar Oil and they'll be fine.

Don't be forced into doing something you're not comfortable with.

They're doing it the old school way.
 
I've had an eastern European lady complain this week because I didn't cut the eponychium Her eponychium were like massive calluses and I explained they were like this because they've been cut and retailed her some solar oil to help shrink them back.
She then came back the next day with all her shellac chipped (read picked off) then asked again about cutting the eponychium I reiterated what i'd previously said and redid the shellac.

I know she will not come back again she'll find someone who will butcher her and she'll probably be happy and pay for the priviledge.

I think the eastern Europeans expect this as part of the treatment. I would explain to this lady why we don't cut the living tissue and suggest she retrains with a reputable company xxx
 
I don't think she will, from what she told me, she said 'English' people do it the wrong way, and we are taught nonsense , I was quite offended tbh!

They are used to cutting living tissue apparently and would not pay for a service where cuticles were not cut.
I explained I cut out the dead tissue and pushed cuticles back but I don't think I'll apply for jobs with these people again ...
 
I may sound a bit dumb here but how do they cut the living cuticle without it bleeding, surely it would bleed of she cut the living skin?
 
I may sound a bit dumb here but how do they cut the living cuticle without it bleeding, surely it would bleed of she cut the living skin?

Sometimes they nip too much and they do bleed! x
 
This is an 'out of date methods' issue and is also a cultural issue. There are many cultures that don't feel that they've had a manicure without a water soak and a major cut! It's going to take years to persuade them different, if ever.

It is a similar thing to those who don't care about the health of natural nails as long as they get cheap nails that last forever!! No amount of factual education will change their mind and that is their decision. They want the immediate fix with no long term concerns.

If you can live with this then go for it. Just don't cut those that actually understand the facts and keep trying to educate to the sensible alternative. It's hard enough to get jobs these days.
 
A German once did this to me at a trade show. I was not happy but didn't say anything.
 
Don't think I can do it after seeing how sore it was afterwards and personally I wouldn't want to cut mine and get paronychia or something...
I don't think she really wants me if I don't cut them lol but there are plenty of ppl out there who don't wish to be mauled lol
 
To Ali_

She cut the skin with my cuticle nippers but it was about a mm in depth not too deep into layers of the skin, kinda superficial, the cuticles she cut off was the cuticles itself, she's been doing it for about 4 years now so she must have gained experience working 6 days a week as she is the only nail tech in that salon, she is busy (booked into september!) but most her clients are European... From what I saw on all my visits anyway
 
Oh ok thanks for explaining it lol
 
Stick to your guns and find work
Somewhere reputable that will appreciate your skill xxx
 
I had a client a week or so back who came in from Australia, whilst I was doing the consultation she said that she wanted her hard skin removing (thinking she was talking about her heels, ball of her foot, side of her big toe etc) I agreed and said that was part of the service. Whilst I was pushing back the cuticles she kept pointing at her eponychium and saying to cut here "they cut this bit in Australia" she kept saying, I told her we do not cut living tissue in England! I would remove any non living tissue from the nail plate and that would be it.
She then wanted me to cut chunks of skin from round her lateral nail folds because they did not look 'tidy' (because they were callused from being cut previously) again I explained this is not something a nail technician offers! We do not cut skin, well at least I was never taught to do so.

I stood my ground and by the end of the service I was just happy to have her out of the chair, especially after asking me to clean dirt from under her toe nails!! I could tell she was not happy with me not butchering her feet!
She then proceeded to ask the manager of the salon about eyebrow tinting to which she replied that she would need a patch test 24hours before hand in case of a reaction. Guess what her reply was?

"They don't do that in Australia, I'll leave it" this woman seemed to not care about her health.

Is England the minority in not cutting living tissue during a service??
 
I am from Australia and those of us trained with reputable companies (I'm Bio Sculpture trained) do not cut the cuticles, but there must be many here who do as I also get asked to do it with many new clients, and they seem to think I'm not 'doing my job' by refusing to do it.
 
I don't think it's necessarily anything to do with location/race/ethnicity/culture etc...I think it depends on whether the therapist is educated on the anatomy of the nail or not.

Then it's up to us to educate our clients.
 
Sorry mcbeth I wasn't trying to imply that every technician in Australia does this - it was just my experience with this client. I'm sure there are nail techs in all countries (as indicated by some of the posts in this thread) that do and do not use up to date methods.

Sent from my LT30p using SalonGeek mobile app
 
Georgieboo, I realise you weren't judging Australian nail techs. :)

I only responded to the thread as I myself have had a lot of issues with new clients that expect me to cut their cuticles, and always comment that 'my last nail tech cut them and they look so much better.'
I actually think they presume I'm not trained enough to handle the cuticle nippers, as they can be quite patronizing when addressing it.
I give them my spiel on why I don't, but it goes in one ear and out the other :(
 
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I had a client a week or so back who came in from Australia, whilst I was doing the consultation she said that she wanted her hard skin removing (thinking she was talking about her heels, ball of her foot, side of her big toe etc) I agreed and said that was part of the service. Whilst I was pushing back the cuticles she kept pointing at her eponychium and saying to cut here "they cut this bit in Australia" she kept saying, I told her we do not cut living tissue in England! I would remove any non living tissue from the nail plate and that would be it.
She then wanted me to cut chunks of skin from round her lateral nail folds because they did not look 'tidy' (because they were callused from being cut previously) again I explained this is not something a nail technician offers! We do not cut skin, well at least I was never taught to do so.

I stood my ground and by the end of the service I was just happy to have her out of the chair, especially after asking me to clean dirt from under her toe nails!! I could tell she was not happy with me not butchering her feet!
She then proceeded to ask the manager of the salon about eyebrow tinting to which she replied that she would need a patch test 24hours before hand in case of a reaction. Guess what her reply was?

"They don't do that in Australia, I'll leave it" this woman seemed to not care about her health.

Is England the minority in not cutting living tissue during a service??

No, I'm currently studying for my cert 2 as a nail tech at College. This course goes for 20 weeks and we do all types of extensions, retail, OH&S, mani's and pedi's. We are trained NOT to cut live tissue and certainly not to hack at the eponychium. However we are not regulated here in Australia either. I've also never had mine cut either. Although a friend of mine goes to a budget nail bar where they do not have to be formally trained here, and when I was pushing back her cuticles she told me that they just remove it with the efile. :eek:
 
Yes, exactly, I have had my cuticles removed by efile when I had acrylics done in this one salon and I was bleeding and the man did not care or apologise! I never went back!
I'm sticking to my guns whether clients like it it not :)
 

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