Why do NT support brands that sell to hobbyists?

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BobSweden

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Isn't this like Turkeys voting for Christmas? Isn't it hard enough for newbie Nail Techs to get established without low cost, probably working black, competition? Why buy from companies that don't support the industry and are undermining our profession?

And if the recent report by the British Association of Dermatologists is correct (BBC etc), and there IS an epidemic of nail product related allergies - doesn't that put our industry at risk from regulation or important ingredients being banned?

Just now, regulators from France, Italy and Sweden are asking the EU to review a number of important nail product ingredients. IF they decide to ban these, up to 90% of the nail products could be removed from the market.
  • Do you use acrylic? Because recently the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has recommended that the toxicity of EMA liquid be increased to CMR1a or 1b. There is a high probability that this will be banned for cosmetic use.
  • Do you use products that contain HEMA (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)? Well the ECHA has been asked to review that ingredient too. If HEMA is banned, the majority of primers, gel polishes, acrylic and acrylgels will be removed from the market.
There are other ingredients under review by the SCCS, responsible for cosmetic ingredients. Again, more products could become illegal.

None of this would be happening if products were not sold to hobbyists and NT didn't keep getting allergies - often from under cured gel dust from using the incorrect UV lamp. If the industry is unable to control itself, the authorities have to.

Here's another example. The regulators in France are now calling for all NT to take a mandatory qualification in order to work in a nail salon. What if this new qualification required six months full-time study? How would that affect you?
https://www.anses.fr/en/content/pro...oration-exposure-multiple-chemical-substances

How many nail salon customers would be happy to only offer manicure and nail polish? How would that affect YOUR income?

Thoughts?
 
Good gracious! No replies to this?? It affects us ALL.
 
Here's another example. The regulators in France are now calling for all NT to take a mandatory qualification in order to work in a nail salon. What if this new qualification required six months full-time study? How would that affect you?

As an oldie, I’d welcome most of these recommendations.

I think we’ve bombarded our bodies with so many new chemicals within the last 10/15 years that there’s not been enough time to review the long term implications on our health so if they’ve already made links to certain chemicals and ill health, it makes sense to regulate them more tightly.

With regards to mandatory qualifications, bring it on, I say. I also think mandatory licensing would be a great idea too.
 
I’m in Australia where the beauty industry as a whole (as I understand) is unregulated. I would welcome mandatory training, and I’m only newly qualified. I think there is so much more to consider when doing nails than just putting pretty things on people. I think the chemistry of nail products and implications of misuse needs to be covered more in courses and Doug Schoons books should be mandatory reading for every NT.
 
I totally agree. When it comes to medicine before buying it we all have prescriptions, I think the same should be here. If you want to buy products which need qualification, please prove you can use them properly. The other way you spend more money on your health than you will earn with all that products.
 
After reading this post I have gone on to the products I use and have seen they contain HEMA. I will be researching this more now. Thanks for the post.
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My goodness. Definitely food for thought. I know my nail, wax and skincare brands only sell to those who are qualified but I'm not sure about my tan.

I think licensing is a great idea but wouldn't know how to implement it. I think I would struggle to take 6 months out to get my license as i work on my own.

Definitely something i need to think about and look into. I do get frustrated with the places that charge cheap and give bad results or worse.
 
Nail Tech training is a must if dealing with the public but i don't agree with having to go to school to be qualified in how to apply every different brand of approved nail gel on the market. An electrician needs to be qualified to carry out a professional job but does not need to do specific training on every plug socket brand they use.
 
I agree with you Canni-UK, which is probably a first :). I would like to see a professional qualification that ensure both the practical skills and theoretical knowledge are at a high level, a level we would expect from any professional we pay money to, such as an electrician. Each brand will have it's specific application procedures, I know we do, so it will also be necessary to learn the specific application techniques from the brand, so the NT can get the full benefits from the product.
 
This worry me but I think because I am living in America it is different effect for me.
We already have license we need to make before we work on people and I am not sure if Europe ban ingredients if will reach us here because many ingredient in makeup in Europe is ban but we still have here.
I think this problem is very hard to control and maybe is better for government agency to take care of this for safety of people and workers.
If acrylic is removed is going to be a sad day for many Nail tech but at least we have option product.
In America nail tech and myself think that diy products is ok but it is not same as go to salon and have done by professional.
You can buy opi gelcolor but it does not mean you will prep and apply good enough to have last same as salon do. Maybe it need more awareness of danger of this product if company want to sell to client with no training. I know many client who never hear of allergy to nail product until they have allergy on them or family or friend so maybe awareness is needed. In our Walgreens drug store they sell diy acrylic kit and I have seen girl who try to do their nail with this and it never look nice and maybe this why they come to salon to have remove and have us put full set.
This product worry me because it is chemical that client do not know enough is dangerous and can cause allergy if touch skin and if girl has no education in this they do not think of being bad to touch with naked skin.
I think if more people get allergy today time it is because of more people access to products to try diy when few year ago more client did not know where to even find product to try diy salon services.
 
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I would welcome a rise in standards, is there a reason why we should lower them? When it comes to the nitty gritty of education, my main concern would be course presentation and summative, formative marking and grading to meet key learning objectives of the course. Learning technologies have advanced and we see that these can benefit many technicians who cannot travel for many reasons. I've seen nail schools still stuck in the old days; i.e. one teacher for a whole classroom of students which is impossible to teach students properly on a one to one basis. There are great educational tools out there to learn proper technique - practical and theory - which I have seen is not fully exploited by certain companies, so it needs careful consideration if a wide audience is to be reached for it to gain those high standards. However, a harmonised diploma as the article calls for should be easily available to anyone who meets prerequisites as part of CPD, maybe as part of a conversion course for those who meet current NOS standards which are already written by HABIA, the UK's leading authority in hair and beauty standards. On a separate note, I had my own separate challenges as a man and perhaps others might want to share it here, I did have difficulties in getting recognised training to be a nail technician as I wanted to get a VTCT level 2 and then on to a level 3 nail technology diploma as I like doing nail art on nail enhancements, but most providers ignored my requests; I was even interviewed by one beauty school in Preston and was probably surprised as to my "other research" skill sets. So I paid privately instead to learn how to do nails properly.

With regards to course assessments, I am a great believer in continuous assessments as it does show your true potential over a course in time. I have done many exams including a thesis defence and I believe that end of course examinations can ruin the true potential of a nail technician just because he/she was not feeling well on one particular day, not sleeping because of exam nerves and worries (yup, happens to me) which impacts performance.

Possible Consequences
-------------------------
Another question that needs exploration are consequences of having such a strict licensing regime by the Government. Would this lead to the current cheap brands and NT's go underground thus still undermining the ones who take the time to learn and spend their hard earned money? I believe so, it happened during prohibition.
I think for this to really work and prevent a case of forced licensing and nanny state rules is to hammer these main problems to the end consumer, i.e. the client. The client is the end consumer, followed by the nail technician which buys from the distributor and the distributor purchases from the manufacturer.

The Distribution chain as I understand it (Please correct me if wrong Bob?)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MANUFACTURER
|
DISTRIBUTOR + EDUCATION SUPPLIER
|
NAIL TECHNICIAN
|
CLIENT


Educating Clients
-------------------
Some will listen, others will not. This has its fair share of difficulties too and depends on who wants to take heed. Even Celina Ryden said this in her youtube videos that 1) Explained why gels and acrylics are sold to pros only and 2) She explained that her previous courses were substandard and she needed to do them all over again after reading more on her own time. This also proved to be somewhat unpopular with some youtubers, some listened, some didn't and I can sympathise with her efforts to explain why this is the case.

I am a mod for a subreddit in nail polishes with about 60,000 views per month for men who wear nail polishes and it is a growing market. It is incredibly difficult to hammer down to most men as to why gel polishes and acrylics should be handled by properly trained technicians and instead, to seek a professionally trained nail technicians in their area. Unfortunately, some believe it is all to do with making big profits; sure, it is a business and any business needs to cover costs especially when a product has customisation, R&D, education and branding which isn't cheap and it certainly isn't a charity. This is why they would rather go and buy cheap gels and watch amateur youtube videos which will end in tragedy like Schoon has already warned in his books.

I already warned them and I cannot place everyone in a bubble as they have free will, but I feel that I have done my part in at least try to warn them what will happen if they choose this path. I have already seen one case of contact dermatitis in the sub which is worrying already.

I end this with a quote.

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."

Thomas Paine
 
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I support brands that sell to hobbyists because even if a brand does not sell outright to hobbyists, they will find the products and buy them anyway. To think someone is not going to find a product and purchase it by bypassing the manufacturer is naive. I think it would be more economical to sell to them directly. The turkeys voting for Christmas is a good analogy but a turkey is not in a position to stop the holiday! Better for the turkey to convince others to eat ham! I am not licensed to buy Redken hair dye, but I have been purchasing and dying my own hair for almost 20 years. That does not mean I do not still see my hairstylist routinely and have her use the same products on my hair! A consumer wanting to DIY their own nails is not a threat to me and being able to offer that person a product they can not easily purchase makes NO difference in their utilization of my services. I see social media influensers promoting tutorials and products routinely to EVERYONE - but only 5% of your audience can purchase the products? What does that say? I disagee on the DIY causes allergy issue - I have a diagnosed hema allergy developed long before I did my own nails - exposure by a licensed, yet untrained NT. Those issues are not in my opinion caused by products being sold to hobbyists, they are however I am sure caused by non or improperly trained NTs - which is a HUGE problem.
 
As someone that likes to see the whole picture could I ask, are these proposed EU regulations being suggested or endorsed by any particular pharmaceutical or government agencies or industry voices that would have a vested commercial interest in protecting or promoting their own products and trade or income? I suspect hopefully not but if so it would be key factor to bear in mind.
 
It would probably be foolish to think there is not some commercial lobbying.

But these specific ingredient investigations as requested by the national regulators who are responsible for investigating cosmetics in their countries (like Trading Standards in the UK), and that this is motivated by the significant increase in allergies they observe.

However, if ingredients are ultimately banned, it is entirely possible that industry would lobby against this. Several years ago TPO was banned, and factories and manufacturers rushed to use a replacement called TPO-L. But then the decision was diluted so TPO could be used if less than 5%.
 
Hmmm, there was a similar issue with the EU being very against vaping because of multiple vested interests on a global scale, they brought out Europe-wide legislation to strangle the industry to death... which our government opted to ‘treat lightly’ ie. pay little attention to.
If the EU do the same with certain ingredients found in top quality nail products I hope our government would behave similarly. However they might then be prompted to find a method to deal with some of the more noxious substances that are finding their way onto nails by way of lower quality products.
I fully support the ideal of a self regulating industry but in this case I can see that a little help from parliament could be needed to achieve it. There are a sizeable number of NSS outlets which would have no wish to voluntarily take part in embracing the practices required to make improvement and legislation would be the best way to deal with this. Training requirements, licensing etc...
Having experienced two previous campaigns which engendered parliamentary involvement I think finding out which members of the commons and lords would be interested in getting actively involved might be worthwhile. Friends in high places and all that.
 

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