very old lady booked in for nail clipping!!!

[lotus blossom]

omg , i almost forgot to ask about this, !!!

i have an old lady booked in tomorrow, shes in a wheelchair and about 90, her son booked her in for her nails clipped as they are too long , but to be honest with you im apprehensive as i have never done elderly people before, will she expect or be happy with a manicure , should i just " clip" and file smooth, or what?
her son says she wont let her carers cut her nails, and she get aggrevated by them, so thought hed pay to have her " done " properly!!
what would you do??
i dont think shes up for soak and cuticle work what do you suggest and roughly how much should i charge if i just shorten them to a short length?

 

[Cathie!]

I used to have a regular lady who was 92....every week as regular as clockwork....she loved having her nails done.....made her feel young again, she always talked about her younger years! I filed them as required....I'm sure they won't be so long as you have to clip them.....I also did her cuticle work, buff and toughen up and super shiney.

I love old ladies, they have so much to tell you.

 

[*Gina*]

I love doing the old ladies, they have so many stories to tell and they still take pride in their appearance.

I also have a blind lady that I was recommended to and she is amazing and loves having her extensions, she enjoys alls the compliments that she gets and she knows the feel of them and use her solar oil regularly.

Enjoy your lady.

 

[Snugglepuss]

I used to have a regular lady who was 92....every week as regular as clockwork....she loved having her nails done.....made her feel young again, she always talked about her younger years! I filed them as required....I'm sure they won't be so long as you have to clip them.....I also did her cuticle work, buff and toughen up and super shiney.

I love old ladies, they have so much to tell you.

Gotta go with Catthie on ths one - my old aunty who was 90 loved having her feet done - make sure that you ask her whether her nails are short enough cos my old Aunty Win used to moan about how her toe would poke a whole in her stockings first go:lol: She paid 20 quid just for her nails to be clipped and was never too happy about the end result - I think what she wanted was a bit of pampering - a bit of time with a young un - to share on a level with how she felt at your age - rambling a bit now lol :hug: love deb xx

 

[melissaq]

when she sits in your chair why don't you ask her how she would like them.......I love doing old peoples fingers and hearing there stories.......However I don't like doing there feet....makes me nervous they are so fragile.....

 

[Tricky]

i love all of my older clients and they always turn up for there appointments on time and feel special when you have done there nails. I charge £10 for shape and polish and then if the hands and nails need more, sell the full manicure. i always try to book these clients so my tea break or lunch break is after them because they do like to have a 20 minute natter to you after the service.

 

[Glorsclaws]

Hiya,
Id go with the vibes you pick up from the lady herself.
Some are darlings like the above, some are crotchety, dont like to be given choices, as they expect you as the professional to 'know what youre doing' and get on with it. A lot of older peeps nails are really thick too so be prepared for that just incase.
Sure she'll turn out to be a darling though!

 

[becki x]

I would wait and see what you make of her,if she is very nervous and uncomfortable i would just opt for a clip and file,if not maybe go for a little cuticle work and polish too.
As for charge,it depends on what your prices are to start with hun.
Hth x x x x

 

[angelxdevil]

make sure she's not diabetic..... If she is she's meant to have a doctors note.

 

[venetia]

Hi

I used to be an Activities Therapist at a Residential Home and the Residents used to look forward to me giving them a Manicure! They love the attention and love to be pampered and to feel special.
If they are Diabetic, then they do need to have a doctors note as you have to be very careful, I was not allowed to cut their nails if they were diabetic, just file them.

So i'd say "Yes" go for it and make someone feel "Special".

Venetia

 

[Spray 2 Go]

I miss my old ladies and their pedicures! lol

As some of you have already said on here they can be lovely and really enjoy being pampered. You may find it worthwhile actually letting your ladies feet soak for 10 minutes or so first in a warm foot bath as her nails will probably be pretty tough and may be this is why she doesn't like her carers clipping them for her. If she is in her wheelchair, you may try and find something to put the water bath onto so she can reach from her chair - just a thought!

They are much more comfortable when softly soaked! Perhaps you could give her fingernails a gentle file & buff while she is soaking her feet?

Plenty of TLC and she'll be a regular client for you.

Let us know how you get on hun.

Mandy x

 

[lotus blossom]

omg!!!! i was horrified at this appt today!!!
( by the way mandi, it was her finger nails not toe nails she was booked in for!!)

omg!!! she arrived , was 97, very very frail, and i felt so sorry for her,

as i looked at her hands and nails and she had about a 5mm of free edge to file and shape, but as i turned her hands over, all her hyponichiums were firmly attached to the very edge of the underside of her nails, so infact she actually had no free edge atall, even though she did ( if you see what i mean)

there was no way i was cutting any thing off them, and to top it all, her index finger was hooked over soo badly and was still attached to her top of her finger, as if it was being pulled down by the hyponichium,

all i did was explain to her son in my opinion, why i couldnt perform a manicure on her, and advised her to see her gp about the index finger, apparently she had had her nails cut 2 weeks ago, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and she said it hurt like buggery!!!! im not surprised , i said lol!!!!!

i said if she sees gp, see what he suggests about the index finger, ( i believe it needs a local aneasthetic, and it to be dis attached then ,maybe cleaned and covered until it heals, but then i dont know, im no doctor)
would it be possible just to apply cuticle remover on this area and keep doing it over so many appts? or is there anything else i can do???

 

[leah82]

Did you do anything for her then? Drop of oil on the cuitcles or massage some hand cream into her hands etc.... as even though you couldn't do the manicure bet she'd still of liked that, better than having nothing? Just curious!! I'm a soft touch so would have done it anyway if she/her son wanted as I'd feel guilty for her coming & not be able to do anything!! I know not exactly good business but if it made her happy!!

 

[lotus blossom]

I'm a soft touch so would have done it anyway if she/her son wanted as I'd feel guilty for her coming & not be able to do anything!! I know not exactly good business but if it made her happy!!

i did not feel guilty that i didnt do anything as she had contra indications in my opinion, whilst i was explaining everything to her and her son, i applied hand cream and gently stroked it into her hands,
imagine if you had a 5mm free edge and applied nail adhesive underneath it , then pushed down so your free edge stuck to you finger pad, then youll know why i couldnt do anything to her!!!!

 

[leah82]

Ohh bless, nice though that you rubbed some cream in for her, better than nothing!! At least she had something done!! Wow though suprised she isn't it pain all the time with nails like that. You'd think she'd well her son anyway would have had some one see them before it got that bad, especially if she's been having trouble with them.

 

[Envy]

Lotus blossom...

Without seeing the clients nails, I would say from what you have described as advance Inverse Pterygium. This a condition where for some reason - the Hyponychium becomes fused to the nail plate and is dragged forward. This tissue under the nail plate is living, and has a blood supply. If you push it or cut into it, it WILL bleed!! Take a look at the link....Pterygium

Most commond causes are a burn to the nail bed, or overuse of products such as formaldehyde. Also aggressive cleaning under the nail plate free edge can do it - such as cleaning under with a drill. As would getting monomer under the free edge...

Lotusblossom, I think considering the severity of the Pterygium, you were probably right not to perform the manicure. You could have easily broken the skin, leaving it open to pathogens.

 

[ValencianNails]

Did you do anything for her then? Drop of oil on the cuitcles or massage some hand cream into her hands etc.... as even though you couldn't do the manicure bet she'd still of liked that, better than having nothing? Just curious!! I'm a soft touch so would have done it anyway if she/her son wanted as I'd feel guilty for her coming & not be able to do anything!! I know not exactly good business but if it made her happy!!

the whole point of not doing the mani was because Nikki was happier if her client would have seen a doc first... better to be safe than sorry.
her soft side probably wanted to do it but her professional side won through and IMO that was the right thing to do

 

[Snugglepuss]

I have to agree with Nik, Sandi and Envy - you have to look at the whole picture - if you need to refer the client to the GP then that must be the best course of action. Nik did give her a massage with creams - so she did have some pampering - all I can say is well done Nik :hug:

 

[leah82]

Right I feel I have to stand up for my self here as you seem to feel like I was being funny & one comment was actually insinuating that what I said was unprofessional. Which I totally disagree with. I'm not stupid/unprofessional & if a client came to me with nails in this condition I too would not have manicured them. I was only saying that it would of been a nice gesture to have offered the lady a massage or some cuticle oil on the nails. Yes she did do right in not doing the manicure & saying she could do with seeing her G.P but there also isn't anything wrong with a kind hearted gesture that would probably make that ladies day. I did actually only ask Nik out of interest if she offered the client anything of this nature as she did not comment on whether she had or not, in NO WAY was my reply condemning or criticizing what she did but for some reason you feel necessary to jump down my throat. I was only making a polite & nicely put suggestion.​

 

[min11]

Bumping this for my own question as it saves starting a new topic and it is kind of a similar question. The old lady who lives on the top fllor of the house here is 83, she has had a stroke 2 years ago but it well on the way to recovery. She lives alone with home helps coming in twice a day. She came down today to ask if I can do her hair for her, seems she missunderstood her daughter and thought I did hair SO tomorrow morning I am going up to put her rollers in. Never done that before so hope I dont leve her looking freaky ANYWAY I say to her I dont do hair but I'll try, I'm training to be a nail lady and she would like me very much to manicure her hands, she would like the whole spa manicure experience. I can do that, no problem but should I do the hand massages or go very gentle and just massage the lotions in instead. I had a quick peek at her hands and her skin looks very thin so maybe the exforliating and smoothing products might be too harsh? She doesn't like how her friend clipped her nails but they look ok to me but I can shape them a little more and give her a coat of polish, am assuming its ok to do cuticle work based on the rest of the topic? We didn't get any much more mature ladies in class as clients and as she is such a sweetheart and friend I really want her to enjoy it ( I'd like anyone to enjoy it, I just dont want to harm her).
Any advice appreciated.