UV/LED combined lamp

[Annie1991]

Hi everyone,

I’m wanting to get a better lamp that is broad spectrum and so will cure a few different brands. I currently have a UV lamp but have been reading that combined lamps can be better as they will tick more boxes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent sized lamp (can fit whole hand and no dead spots) which is combined UV and LED?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AcidPerm]

LED is Ultra Violet (UV) light.

https://www.salongeek.com/threads/uv-lamps-explained-why-any-old-lamp-just-won’t-do.323988/

 

[Annie1991]

LED is Ultra Violet (UV) light.

https://www.salongeek.com/threads/uv-lamps-explained-why-any-old-lamp-just-won’t-do.323988/

Thanks - I did know they were the same type of light and had read the page you shared - from the article I understand they are slightly different wavelengths.

I’m just struggling to gain solid information as I am newly qualified and currently just a home user, but I’m considering doing nails on the side of my full time job. There seems to be so much conflicting info out there and even having been to salons myself I know they use different brands under the same lamp, so I’m confused.

I have a few different branded polishes and still on the search for my favourite, but basically I find shades of different brands that I love so have found it difficult to only buy one brand. Having read that using different wavelengths than desired can cause allergies etc I was hoping to understand whether a combined lamp would solve this issue so that I didn’t have to own a number of different lamps to use for different polish brands - or throw away all my existing colours and buy into just one system - as I don’t own a salon and would only have a handful of clients in a week, this seems like an incredibly expensive feat.

Makes me want to give up and not bother to be honest

 

[AcidPerm]

I’m glad you’ve read the link and I hope it helps you to make a better informed decision on how to progress in this industry.

Sadly, there are Nail Course Trainers and qualified Nail Techs out there who don’t concern themselves with following best practice guidelines and frankly, don’t care about the strong likelihood of giving their clients an allergy for life to the main ingredients in acrylic and gel polishes. They will happily buy a basic UV lamp and use it for all of their products wrongly believing that if it’s hard enough to file, then it’s adequately cured.

Regardless of all that, please do be very careful if you are currently using one lamp and different brands because until you develop an allergy, you might not appreciate how very painful and frustrating it can be. I have an allergy to gels and acrylics which I initially ignored as it was just mildly itchy finger tips at first but it grew much worse and started to affect my breathing giving me asthma like symptoms.

 

[Annie1991]

I’m glad you’ve read the link and I hope it helps you to make a better informed decision on how to progress in this industry.

Sadly, there are Nail Course Trainers and qualified Nail Techs out there who don’t concern themselves with following best practice guidelines and frankly, don’t care about the strong likelihood of giving their clients an allergy for life to the main ingredients in acrylic and gel polishes. They will happily buy a basic UV lamp and use it for all of their products wrongly believing that if it’s hard enough to file, then it’s adequately cured.

Regardless of all that, please do be very careful if you are currently using one lamp and different brands because until you develop an allergy, you might not appreciate how very painful and frustrating it can be. I have an allergy to gels and acrylics which I initially ignored as it was just mildly itchy finger tips at first but it grew much worse and started to affect my breathing giving me asthma like symptoms.

Thanks again for the quick reply and info. I currently only do my own, but want to get it right before setting myself up with clients etc (hence posting).

Would you recommend basically just getting rid of what I have and buying into one system then? Can you recommend one that isn’t overly expensive and that has a really large colour range?

Or is it possible that some companies who don’t have their own lamps (e.g. Glitterbels brought out gel recently and don’t sell a lamp, though I’ve heard it’s in the pipeline) I could contact and ask if it would work as recommended with a particular lamp, and then I have the evidence if ever insurance was needed?

Thanks

 

[Czerwien]

A lot of rotten tomatoes will fly in my direction, but i recommend Sun lamp, they are good quality. Russian do fantastic nails with those. There is one for 2 hands.
I myself use random colors, base coats, top coats. I pick base coat for particular client nails, so nails last 4-5 weeks

[html link removed by moderator]

 

[Beautiful-you]

Thanks again for the quick reply and info. I currently only do my own, but want to get it right before setting myself up with clients etc (hence posting).

Would you recommend basically just getting rid of what I have and buying into one system then? Can you recommend one that isn’t overly expensive and that has a really large colour range?

Or is it possible that some companies who don’t have their own lamps (e.g. Glitterbels brought out gel recently and don’t sell a lamp, though I’ve heard it’s in the pipeline) I could contact and ask if it would work as recommended with a particular lamp, and then I have the evidence if ever insurance was needed?

Thanks

The best advice is to buy a professional only brand that is actually manufactured in the EU/USA because they will adhere to the guidelines regarding safe levels of chemicals in their products to help protect you and your clients create m developing allergies - along with correct application and curing, which brings us on to lamps! Please, please only buy from a brand that has a specific lamp matched to their system because no one lamp will cure all products! (As explained in the link AcidPerm posted above).

Also, don't get sucked in to buying from a brand just because they have hundreds and hundreds of colours and effects to choose from! A lot of the cheap Chinese private labelled "brands" fit into this category because they can just buy whatever colour they want from massive factories straight off the shelf and sell it on to their customers without really knowing what's in it.
It takes time and money to safely develop a new colour, which is why better, professional brands bring out smaller collections at a time and don't offer cat's eye or other non compliant effects.

If you're looking for a professional brand that is reasonably priced ones to consider could be INK London, Ikon.iq (HEMA free and hypoallergenic) or Cuccio.

 

[Trinity]

A lot of rotten tomatoes will fly in my direction

No tomatoes but you will be reminded that this is a site for professional techs who should only recommended working within the manufacturer/distributors recommended guidelines/instructions. This is to protect both the tech and the clients.