UV-cured polish peels and chips and shrinks and wrinkles? Does it?

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geeg

Judge Gigi-Honorary Geek
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I think that the reason there are so many issues here on salon geek with gel polishes (and don't take this personally, anyone ) is because the people using them who are having all the 'issues' are NOT fully trained nail technicians ... Many are not really even well trained manicurists!

I would wager that 50% of all those starting colour coat services, dont really even know how to do a professional polish job; they are polishing like consumers polish and not like pros which is why they have SO many problems.
Many have never bothered to take a class with the product they are using and come to salon geek to ask questions instead of a class.

Looking at salon geek posts you'd think every brand of coloured UV-cured polish peels and chips and shrinks and wrinkles as a normal thing!! Most of theses issues are application issues and all of them have to do with polishing too thickly! If the people offering the service were trained how to polish .... They wouldn't be having the problems !

The ones you never hear from on here, are mainly the full service technicians who just picked up Shellac (or a gel Polish) and simply romped away with it because they are trained and experienced professionals and they know how to polish and they know how to use gel.

My point is that many have quickly jumped into the market on the back of colour services because they are hugely popular with a new breed of client; they think it is an easy service to perform, and they are neither experienced nor really trained to a high standard, which is why they are experiencing service breakdown. They don't understand 'systems' don't know that using the correct UV Lamp is vital to their success ... yada yada yada.

Anyone care to discuss how they feel about the proliferation of posts here on salongeek regarding UV Polish problems and how to solve them and why they think so many are having these problems? Agree, Disagree??
 
I don't offer shellac as yet. But from a client perspective...

My shellac done by CND trained therapist lasted 3.5 weeks... Not a single chip, think I had tutti fruiti

I had a fellow colleague shellac my nails in french on Friday. Friday and saturday they looked on aside from a thick bumpy look! I'm going to take it off today as one nail is dreadful and the rest are chipped or peeling.

Love my friend but had to text and suggest doing the shellac class as I can tell the difference and I'm not a nail genius!

Doing a course wether it be in shellac or Gelish or whatever u chose I think is a must! Hence why I haven't just bought a kit and cracked on with it... Literally! Great post xx

To add my friend used a pink "edge" lamp to cure the shellac! She has now ordered we CND lamp, apparently. But you would have thought she would know to use this in the first place!!!

I now know how to add an edit posts! Only took me a year :) thanks Gigi x
 
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Got my kit and booked my training.....
Education....education...education!
Even after 25 years in the business, it's imperative.
 
I agree wholeheartedly, I was only this morning looking at training courses at Sallys and Capital for Gel Colors. There are so many "less than good" technicians out there, I have not been doing this for very long and even I have come across ( almost all of them) customers who have had their nails done before and had a bad job. I am talking acrylics, gels, bio sculpture and even shelac. It is such a shame that these girls are dragging name of the industry down. I thought it was only me noticing that the forum seems to be mostly Soak of Gel and UV Gel related lately. I would love to see more posts relating to the other products. Maybe the soak off gel posts should go to the dedicated group forums or nail critique section instead and the nail geek forum for a wider range of enhancement issues?
It is hard to find enough willing guinea pigs to practice on but it is so important to offer a GOOD service for good money. I only hope that I can be as good as some of the techs I have come across on here and also whilst researching prices and products of local techs by googling mobile and salon based nail services.
 
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I totally agree with you here, and I have to say every morning when I log in to SG my heart sinks a little when I see all the Shellac, Gelish, Gelcolour HELP! threads.

Yes, I have done advanced training in Gels and manicures so maybe it was easy for me to pick up a Gel polish system and run with it!

BUT it is not just experience, it is talking to your distributor about the products, doing the training if you have no previous/little experience and using the full system and the correct lamp.

All of that is not rocket science...is it?

I have experience, I use the full system, and proper lamp(s).

I still had a few teething problems, but my experience helped me to work out what the problems were.
I had a dark colour wrinkle on a client....it had never happened before but I knew that colour had a thicker viscosity and I had applied it a bit thick so I applied it thinner next time and voila no wrinkles.
Clients after about 4 applications (12-16 weeks) were getting splits in their nails at the sides, I worked out that their nails were now so long and strong that that was the problem! I kept the nails shorter, and again :rolleyes:lectured about using cuticle oil. Problem solved.

Clients get chips, I talk to my clients, they rip up cardboard boxes, they peel off stickers, they build garden furniture....why would I get stressed and ask advice about these chips on here?

Salon Geek is great, but sometimes I think we can be a little too quick to post a question when we can do a process of elimination and work out some answers for ourselves, or at least do a search on here.

I see a new gel polish thread these days, and I do a search on it...and then have a choice of hundreds of previous threads that I can link on to it....but I do think why did the OP not do that first?
 
As I said earlier on another thread, it isn't enough to be a manicurist - even a good one. It is, in my opinion, still product chemistry besides meticulous prep and product knowledge and this isn't provided as part of a manicure service or course.

It is little wonder that people have problems.

Education is equally as important as experience!
 
I've only been a member of SG for just over a year and I too find that the same questions are asked over and over - it gets a bit tedious, so I can only imagine how it is for all you long standing SG members!
When I first joined up I spend about 4weeks+ searching through old threads and got answers to all of my questions without having to post anything - whatever you need to know, guaranteed someone else has already asked and received the answer.

I think that the problem is that most people are now accessing SG through their phones or ipads etc therefore they are not able to use the search facility or get into the dedicated groups that are set up.
 
I've only been a member of SG for just over a year and I too find that the same questions are asked over and over - it gets a bit tedious, so I can only imagine how it is for all you long standing SG members!
When I first joined up I spend about 4weeks+ searching through old threads and got answers to all of my questions without having to post anything - whatever you need to know, guaranteed someone else has already asked and received the answer.

I think that the problem is that most people are now accessing SG through their phones or ipads etc therefore they are not able to use the search facility or get into the dedicated groups that are set up.

You may be right. But I also think people don't want to take the time to search and want instant answers. I also think that this is a community and it would be a shame if people only came to look and never to take part.

I don't think it is tedious that there are so many similar questions, I think it is telling us that there are allot of people struggling because THEY NEED A FRICKIN CLASS. :biggrin:
 
Totally agree training is vital.
for many years I have polished family nails using normal polish. I never charged, its just something I love to do. Have to admit, it was always just polish and not cuticle work or filing. But thats because I didnt know how to file properly or do cuticle work. (this demonstrates HOW important it is to NOT do distance learning courses. I did Beauty Therapy distance learning, and didnt learn simple things like how to file and polish nails properly!!) Then I retrained in EzFlow and Gelish and now charge and know how to do it all properly!

I know im no where experienced in anything i do and its a constant learning curve, but I have noticed how many questions are repeated and it is to do with Gel polish and then you discover they are not trained, and even if they are, they still jsut dont get it and mix systems, even simple things like cleanser and remover. Unless you make it or chemicaly test it in the lab, yes, 2 brands may have identical ingredients, but do you know the concentrations of said ingredients?? How would a different concentration of a specific ingredient react with a specific gel product?

I do you use the search facility quite a bit but sometimes do find if I have a specific question, although there may be hundreds of posts around my subject question, they may not actually answer my question. Then I will post.

It feels really horrid but sometimes when people ask questions that have been covered many many times and they havnt searched, or clearly done training or are in training, I feel like I dont want to answer them and provide them with the information that I have taken my hard earned money and time to go and train. Is that nasty? Im all for education and learning and teaching others, BUT only those that help themselves.

(sorry Ive waffled lol)
xx
 
I struggle sometimes, especially at work, when simple instructions are not followed. If it says cure for 2 mins then do that, not 3 or 4. I do find myself questioning why they think they know best. I can only think it's because they haven't really taken the time to fully understand systems and how they work. I know we have to be adaptable but some things really shouldn't be compromised.

I believe in Shellac, I think it's got a unique selling point & some of the girls I work with are shocked when my clients get 3 weeks out of it.

They were getting fed up that some of the colours were thickening so wrinkling. I explained why it's important to shake the bottle to mix the solvents and prevent them from evaporating so the product stays thin. This lasted all of a week! I think people are too quick to blame a product without even looking at what they might be doing wrong. It's a real shame because it can put other technicians off investing in a great product when they are constantly reading things like that.
 
I'm only qualified on mani and pedi. I'm not a nail tech. If i'm honest enhancement scare the bejesus out of me, it's a true skill and one that maybe one day i'll train in. That said i offer manicures, pedis, minx and shellac and i love my products.

Before i trained and purchased shellac i made it my goal to find everything i could about shellac both on here and via cnd.com. I literally tapped shellac into the search facility and read practically every thread and still continue to do this now along with minx which i recently took on. I wanted to know at least the theory behind it all first.

Then came the practical. Whole other ball game lol! But i loved it and im improving with every shellac, minx, mani and pedi i do.

As im only doing natural nails its important to do every course offered. So soon im going back to s2 to do the rest of the courses they offer because it keeps me fresh, my business fresh and my clients deserve it.

Perhaps reading back through this it sounds like im justifying myself, im not, im just trying to say that if its only natural nails you want to offer be the best you can be. Train, research and above all else be honest with clients. If their nails arent suitable tell them and realise if your saying this alot perhaps look at training in another system so you can offer everyone a service. This is something im keeping an eye on.

There is so much info out there sometimes my flabber is gasted that more people arent utilising it. From your training provider, to courses, to geek, to if your doing shellac cnd.com to doug schoon.... His book, his emails, his website are all amazing.

Couple of years ago money wasted i tried a distance learn course, probably where my enhancement fear cones from, in fact i know it is, i couldnt do it but i loved nails. Shellac has enabled me to enter the industry and for that im greatful. Its almost a year since the start of my training and ive got many more to educate and learn from. I hope one day ill get over myself and learn enhancements but until then i hope to fund it through my business but first i want to learn and know everything about natural nails.

Im not sure if ive gone off topic here, sorry if i have and for waffling!

Love n hugs all x x x
 
Got my kit and booked my training.....
Education....education...education!
Even after 25 years in the business, it's imperative.

Amen to that! :)
 
I totally agree that there are many people out there who are not trained properly or even at all which is damaging to our industry, but I also think there is an issue with the training academies/colleges/centres.

I am fully trained nail technician and beautician and have been doing LCN nail extensions and manicures for years. I have recently trained in Shellac through an academy, but have still had lots of problems - I hold my hands up to that it is probably 99% down to me and my aplication, but I am not daft and I am doing as I have been trained to do so and I do know how to polish, so I think there needs to be some tightening up on the training centres - for example, with Shellac, does CND check everyone who is offering training in their product, are those centres approved CND centres?

Yes it should probably be down to us as experts to check that ourselves when we book our training, but I think there is an element of people looking at cost of courses as well as efficiency, but if the wrong training wasn't being delivered in the first place, there might not be so many problems!
 
Why would anyone NOT want to be fully trained? the Shellac class is £50.00 with the Creative Academy , you can make that back with three clients and have the peace of mind that you are giving your client the full and proper service without fear of it going wrong.

Michelle
 
Why would anyone NOT want to be fully trained? the Shellac class is £50.00 with the Creative Academy , you can make that back with three clients and have the peace of mind that you are giving your client the full and proper service without fear of it going wrong.

Michelle

It maybe £50 for some, but I also know that if technicians have existing manicure certificates then if copies are sent to CND they permit (or once permitted) technicians to buy Shellac & therefore immediately start using it without the need for a conversion course. (This may have changed now but unsure). This is where I think the problem lies.

My first manicure / UV Gel application course certification isnt worth the paper it is written on. (Tin pot clueless training centre) & consequently I soon learnt that to improve my skills I had to get better training, which is why I went to Bio Sculpture. But if I could get access to Shellac this easy, (with a tin pot certificate) then there must be other technicians out there with skills of a butcher, also bypassing conversion courses, which will inevitably give Shellac & other gels / polishes a bad name because there initial training is no more than 8 hours (over 2 days) .... ;0
 
I'm using gelish & I need to go on a course!!
Before using it I searched through the gelish lovers group & took note of all the great advice given.
I'm going in the orly gel fx course on Friday & I'm really looking forward to it.
I totally agree Geeg that keeping upto date on all the new products is a must.
 
I agree that i do think the companies who sell these products do need to take some responsibility in who they sell to. Likewise i think as a qualified manicurist or tech we need to take responsibility for our knowledge and safely, correctly and competently completing a paid service.

I love the new cnd natural nail complete course, wish it had been available when i started out.

I think its time that all companies look at their beginner no experience courses and provide a compulsory training package for newbies to arm them with a good base to go out and offer these products and not rely on just a mani or pedi cert. i think this would raise the bar and produce better manicurists all round.

Dont get me wrong, it is as i said earlier our responsibility to learn, practice and understand our products and services and cnd for example as well as sweet squared continue to provide a wealth of information which everyone should be using without question, but i do think a more compulsory comprehensive package needs to be offered. I also believe this will separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

Equally i think whether youre a newbie, oldie ;) tech or manicurist product training should be compulsory before purchase because i as long as you have a great training provider i think we can all gain something from it.

Hope i havent offended anyone and that im not looking through rose tinted glasses.... Im still wet behind the ears an all lol, but i wanted to give my take on it and really interested in this thread hence posting twice :) x x x
 
I trained and the nail and beauty academy in manicure gel polish and l&p.

I use gelish (been in contact with harmony checked the uv lamp I have is ok and bought products from them although yet to take the conversion course so I can't rant far too much) but I agree with what's being said, I always search before posting a question of my own and I've always found out the answer I needed.
I've had no problems so far with using gelish, and 99% of my clients are getting a minimum of 14 days (must be doing something right lol)

These people who are using the products with absolutely zero training at all are giving the product a bad name when they don't get the results they expect. If I were encountering that many problems I would be booking a course with the supplier. xx
 
Halle-freakin-lujah once again Geeg, education is the way forward, as is learning to use the search function :D
 
This is a great thread and I also agree.

I've been amazed by the amount of "problem threads" on this site about gel polishes and Shellac. Just when I think we've ironed out everyone's issues, up will pop another thread with a brand new "problem".

I am a fully qualified nail professional and have been for 10 years now. I've never had a issue with Shellac since I invested in the system two years ago now. I found it so simple to use and would have described it as fool proof. I'm sorry, I really don't mean to offend anyone having issues when I say that, but for me, it couldn't be any simpler, but then of course that's because I trained in manicure, pedicure, liquid and power, hard gel and soak off gel, so using a power polish like Shellac was a Godsend.

I suppose I took the knowledge I have for granted which is why I would have said it was so simple to do.

All of the problems that others are having are down to the application and there's nothing that can't be sorted. Unfortunately I think too many people want the fast and easy route to a career and gel polishes have made it seem like an easy option. Some are happy to just offer a gel polish as a service and not offer any kind of enhancements and that's fine, but can you really call yourself a nail technician?... a nail technician is someone who is trained in all aspects of nails, from manicure, pedicure to enhancements etc

Gel polishes are great and appeal to a very wide market, but will not be for everyone, so I think if you want a successful nail business, you need to branch out and offer everything.

I have no problem helping others with their issues and anyone that knows me will know that I spend a lot of time on here answering questions and helping out and I'm happy to do so, but for those that experience problem after problem with gel polish or shellac, they need to accept the fault doesn't lie with the product, but perhaps their education and if you've already taken a class... take another, you can always learn something new.

:hug:
 

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