What type of 'gel' is this?

[alpina]

I had a new client yesterday for a rebalance. She had been going to a nail bar and was wearing gel nails. I always double check with new clients to make sure it is actually gel they are wearing not L&P.

She said they scratched up her nails with a file, then wiped them over with some blue stuff (probably a scrubfresh type product). The product they applied was not L&P, but she said it wasn't like my gel either. She said it was whitish and semi-opaque and firmer looking, but was applied like my gel. After they applied this product, they told her to sit in front of a small table fan for three minutes to dry, then she was finished. There was no curing lamp used at any stage.

The nails were clear (applied over white tips) and looked quite good. There was no lifting and it was easy to file. I'm assuming this was some form of gel, so I rebalanced as usual with pink brisa.

Can anyone tell me more about this product as I've never heard of anything like this.

I will give her a call tomorrow to see how the nails are going and hopefully give her some more information about the products she has been using.

 

[Lease]

Hey Honey!!

Been a while since i have been on this site, however i am a bit confused as to what they have used.
Did she say where she got them done? if it was a salon you could always give them a call and enquire.
Sorry my advice isnt that great .......as i said it has been a while since i have put my all into the industry. The girls on here are amazing and i am sure someone will know what it is.

 

[rachael204]

If it wasn't set under a uv light I would say it was some form of l & p not gel?! hth

 

[alpina]

Thanks for your replies.

Lease: She didn't say where they were done, it was a shopping centre nail bar and she lives interstate. She said the jars they used were not written in english either.

Rachael: I though to be classed as L&P the product had to be in that form - a liquid and a powder - that are mixed immediately prior to application. This product was similar in consistency to my brisa gel

 

[VHunter]

But did you ask her if any powder at all was used? UV gel MUST have a lamp, so I don't see how it could be uv gel.
Easiest way to know is if she answers yes to the powder question.

I usually explain the difference in application: how a large brush is dipped into liquid, then into powder and forms a ball at the end of the brush. That the L&P has an odour in most cases, where UV Gel does not.
That L&P is cloudy/slightly opaque at application, but dries clear.
etc.....

hth's :hug:

 

[kellyhacker]

i had a client who had her nails done somewhere else when she was visiting family she said it was a foreign type place but they used a gel powder but there was no lamp could i get her some i did tell her i didnt know of a gel that didnt need a lamp but only been doing it a couple of years i did tell her i didnt know everything so id ask around!! she said she asked for gel and that was what they used!

 

[min11]

Does sound to me like L&P as how she describes the product during application would fit. I can see how a client with no knowledge of products could see the L&P ball as gel like. When I think about how I'd describe what I see, it doesn't run away, its squishy, it looks almost gelly like. UV gel doesn't actually look how I'd think gel would look based on every day substances described as gel, it actually is almost treacle like.

Its quite interesting now I'm thinking about it. When your trained and know about the products I think you see things entirely differently to the untrained eye with only every day household products to try and liken something too.

 

[min11]

i had a client who had her nails done somewhere else when she was visiting family she said it was a foreign type place but they used a gel powder but there was no lamp could i get her some i did tell her i didnt know of a gel that didnt need a lamp but only been doing it a couple of years i did tell her i didnt know everything so id ask around!! she said she asked for gel and that was what they used!

If you dont know any better as a client then what you get as an explanation you probably would take as true, especially if your trusting your nail tech to know his/her stuff. I have to say though if as a client some one tried to tell me the powder they were using was gel I'd have wondered about the tech. :hug:

That said, could it have been a dip system your client had on her nails? Isn't that referred to as gel resin?

 

[VHunter]

That said, could it have been a dip system your client had on her nails? Isn't that referred to as gel resin?

I think that here in Montreal Quebec, we're the only ones that refer to it as "gel-resine" (with a french accent :lol, referring to the two different viscosities of the resin used (one is thicker, gloppy aka "gel". The other watery and runny aka "resine"). Probably because the literal translation of "tip-n-dip" would take too long to say in french
:lol:
I'm sure Axiom will correct my french (as I tend to butcher it when writing it), but in French to translate it to mean the same idea, you'd have to say something along the lines of "poser la capsule et tremper" which is a lot longer than tip-n-dip:wink2:

 

[alpina]

Interesting points about the clients seeing things in a different way to us, I've often wondered about that when discussing other services with clients.

I was very confused about this product, I though she musn't of understood me about the liquid and powder. I even got my L&P out and showed her how we make a bead and applied this to a tip.

I know this absolutely sounds like L&P - an opaque coloured product that dries in 3 minutes to a clear finish with no UV lamp required. But she swore to me that there was no liquid and powder used, it was ONE jar containing a product that looked like my gel but opaque.

Before I asked this question I thought I just hadn't heard of this type of product, now I think I might be going mad. I even checked her client record card today to make sure I hadn't dreamed the entire conversation

 

[alpina]

Milady's Standard: Nail Technology - Google Book Search

I just found a preview online of the miladys textbook - see link. It has a chapter about the application of no-light cured gels. They are applied like regular gel and cured by either spraying with an activator or dipping in water.

Has anyone used or heard of this? Do you think this may have been the product my client was wearing. Maybe I've not gone mad after all!

 

[VHunter]

I have seen a product sold in the pharmacy and department stores, here in Canada that sounds similar.

Broadway Nails - prokits BGLK01

A friend I knew once used it. Utter garbage.

There's also this at Nailite, although it apparently DOES require the use of a lamp.
UV Powder and Liquid Kit 110V [APP-ACR-UVPWDLIQKIT-110V] - $49.99 : Nailite, Inc., Nail Supplies Discount Beauty Nail Tech Supply Buy UV Nail Lamp - Nailiteinc.com

hth's:hug:

 

[neshma]

hello hello
The asian nail bars (ie ProfessioNAIL etc) usually use an acrylic system. They also sometimes use a gel/resin system. The lamp sets the nails faster....however, I know for a fact that not curing the nails under the lamp does not affect the nails. The products are slightly harsher I think, however do not lift easily.....so are great for nail biters...and pickers! cheers, Neshma

I do know where to get the gel if you want, send me a message

 

[naildaze]

I've had many unexperienced clients go to a specific nail tech. in my city who doesn't speak much english, and when the clients would ask for gel he would still use the same powdered acrylic jars, and the clients knowing little about it, still think they are getting gel because of how it squishes onto the nail once the monomer is used. SO when they would book with me for a fill I could tell right away if they were acrylic and they'd swear up and down, "nope it's gel". Then I'd have to explain the whole curing process to them and the ball on the brush vs. the gel straight out of the bottle on a thinner brush, the smell of the chemicals, hardness in filing, etc...

I've never heard the term L&P before? I notice a lot of posts on here you guys using new terminology to me. Also like "rebalance" here in salon/spa brochures people only say nail "fills". I kind of like the term rebalance or refill better But what does L&P mean? I'm going to go find that out now.

 

[naildaze]

haha okay.. liquid and powder
yeah I was just assuming it was acrylic or a form of powder derived nail enhancements.

 

[alpina]

I'd forgotten about those pharmacy gel kits - I hope they didn't use that on her nails. Although those kits wouldn't produce strong lasting nails, my clients nails did look good after 3 weeks.

I'm going to research the gel they refer to in the milady's textbook to see if I can find any info about it. It sounds like that is what was used on this client, although I have never heard of anyone using these type of products before. I couldn't image a gel that cures by dipping the finger into water.

I'm not sure of the name of the salon Neshma, it probably was Professionail. I did think professionail only used L&P though, even though they say it is gel.

Thanks for all the replies everyone, it was a strange question.

 

[butterflys]

Hi Alpina

Can you not just ask your client where she had her nails serviced before you and ring them up and ask what products they use.

I believe that they are obligated to advice on what they use.

That way you can go on the web and check it out.

 

[soriminah]

I had a new client yesterday for a rebalance. She had been going to a nail bar and was wearing gel nails. I always double check with new clients to make sure it is actually gel they are wearing not L&P.

She said they scratched up her nails with a file, then wiped them over with some blue stuff (probably a scrubfresh type product). The product they applied was not L&P, but she said it wasn't like my gel either. She said it was whitish and semi-opaque and firmer looking, but was applied like my gel. After they applied this product, they told her to sit in front of a small table fan for three minutes to dry, then she was finished. There was no curing lamp used at any stage.

The nails were clear (applied over white tips) and looked quite good. There was no lifting and it was easy to file. I'm assuming this was some form of gel, so I rebalanced as usual with pink brisa.

Can anyone tell me more about this product as I've never heard of anything like this.

I will give her a call tomorrow to see how the nails are going and hopefully give her some more information about the products she has been using.

Does anyone have a copy of Miladys Standard: nail technology. I've left it at work but it mentions in there gel that does not require a UV light to cure. When I bring it home I'll let you know what it says and how the gel 'cures' without the light.

OOPS, just re-read through the thread and you beat me to it.

 

[neshma]

HEllo......I asked my friend in the bar today.......
Done diff to their acrylic system...
Still uses an acrylic (crystal) , combined with builder resin and activator xx doesnt need UV lamp xxneshma

 

[neshma]

I actually get my nails done at Professionail as im a picker and they stay on really well!!! I started getting them done in Melb.....the salon liked their 'gel' non lamp....I got used to it.
Im in Adelaide now and the salons mostly use acrylic only......I have the gel version done. It is different....it dries clearer and doesnt lift. They always want to take it odd tho and put on a new set as it yellows quicker than acrylic. xx