Why nails?

[mizzy_dizzy]

So they say everyone's got a story , I'm curious to know the story's from you who specialize in nail treatments ,
Why?
What drew you in?
Do you rember seeing or doing something and thinking that's for me?
And if there was a moment like that that started your passions , if that you could meet past you now do you feel that past you would say you have made it?


I had wanted to do nails in the 90s but it was far out of my price range so I pushed the idea aside and got on with other things,
Years later...
My brave little girl lost the top part of her finger in a horrid accident when she was only 2, they saved what they could and re planted the nail , but because she lacks the distal phalange , finger tip and the pulp at the tip her nail takes no direction and grows curling around her finger where the finger tip would/Shuld be .

Tonight I did a set of nails for her as a Huge treat , and for the first time that she could rember she saw her hand with a compleat set of nails

The way she looked at them made me cry lol and more importantly remember

THIS IS WHY I BECAME A NAIL TEC

 

[LaurenSparkles]

Aww that's a lovely story! Mine isn't quiet as sweet but here we go.

Iv never been a girl that's had my nails done or been bothered by it. In 2010 I started beauty part time at college, with no prospect just something to do. I did year one then half way through the second yr I left as I fell out with the tutor because she was an alcy and drinking on the job so I left before I smacked her in the mouth lol.

In December 2011 I went to my college friends house to get my nails done. And WOW did it blow me out of the water! It was gorgeous!! So professional, nicer than any salon I'd ever seen and I thought, wow this is what I want to be doing, she had really inspired me!

Throughout this time I was (and still am) suffering from depression. I was suicidal at this point but visiting her salon changed something inside me! So as I lived on my own in a new house I used every scrap of money I have and changed my spare room which wasn't carpeted or painted into my beauty room. It gave me a reason! And I dreamed of a day where I can sit in there all day all week earning a living! I'm now a qualified nail tec, qualified in shellac, soon LvL, threading, waxing & tanning. There's no greater feeling than when someone comes and says its gorgeous & professional and I can say I did that!!!

I'm no where near quitting my customer service job for beauty but I no these things take time. Whenever I'm down or upset I go into my beauty room and it reminds me to look on the bright side & that I can achieve my dreams xxx

 

[geeg]

My story is so similar to yours Ceri but in my case it was my own mangled nail that led me into a nail salon to see what could be done.

I was about 11 years old and making brownies when my hand slipped on the starter switch of a heavy electric mixer I was using and my thumb went into the inter connecting beaters and got mangled up in between them. Doctors did a great job re-attaching the end of my thumb and saving the nail, but of course it never grew the same again and is missing a side wall, very thick and uneven. All my growing up years I was conscious of it and hated it.

The transformation from ugly nail to completely normal looking nail happened in Florida in a nail salon and I simply could not believe the difference and couldn't stop looking at it, feeling it and not having to hide it anymore.

There was no nail business in the UK at the time. I brought everything back with me to do my own nails and maintain them ... Naughty naughty. I eventually trained officially and brought the business to the UK. So I guess you could say I have had great success. :biggrin: I would not change a thing. Whenever I see a nail salon in the UK I think ... :biggrin: I started that ball rolling!

 

[rachelt73]

What lovely stories

Well I'm not officially "in" the beauty industry yet but have booked my Gelish 101 course and can't wait to get started.

I have always wanted to go into beauty or hairdressing and it was something that I expressed an interest at whilst still at school but was discouraged from it by my parents and career advisor, and instead opted for a secretarial/PA career.

Roll on 30 years and the secretarial career was well and truly achieved. Recently I've experienced 3 redundancies in as many years, recovered from depression, suffered from a general malaise about the direction my life was taking, but throughout all of it the dream was always there in the background. I've always been asked to do friends nails for them (just manicure/polish) and then a few months ago I discovered the wonder that is gel polish and I was hooked!

My own Gelish technician inspired me to do something about that hankering feeling that had never left me, and now I am working part time it's a career that hopefully I can slowly build around my existing commitments. I'm looking forward to learning more and more, expanding my knowledge with further training to offer more services (enhancements etc) and even things like researching web development, marketing, and all the boring stuff such as HMRC self-registration has been exciting so far.

If nothing else, at least I can tick it off my bucket list :wink2: x

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

I've always bitten my nails until September 2011 (I stopped when i was 38 yrs old ) when i decided to try and beat this habit after seeing all of the celebs and TOWIE girls with lovely looking nails.

So 5 months or so down the line i eventually grew nice nails at last.

I then booked our family's first hols abroad to Ibiza this is where i decided to visit a local salon i knew of but had never been in, this is where they told me about gel nails (I thought getting your nails done just meant using nail polish or putting tips on), anyway got the opi gel nails applied, they lasted all the way through the hols but when i took it off i missed them

This is the point when i decided to research gel polish, ended up buying bits and pieces from Ebay, and whilst i did an ok job on my self it wasn't lasting like it should and i also developed bad habits with regards to removal.

I knew i had a passion for doing this but i wanted to learn how to do a PERFECT job, that is why I'm enrolled on the Gelish 101 course which is starting in 3 weeks time. I also hope to study in acrylics too.

Also because I have a background in art I love the "Nail Art" aspect of it too, 2d & 3D, I love some of Samatha Biddles work (ok so the nails are a bit too long for my personal taste, but they really show off her skills).

This is a Pure Obsession for me at the moment, I guess that's why my business (when it's up and running) will be called Obsession Nails MK.

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

My story is so similar to yours Ceri but in my case it was my own mangled nail that led me into a nail salon to see what could be done.

I was about 11 years old and making brownies when my hand slipped on the starter switch of a heavy electric mixer I was using and my thumb went into the inter connecting beaters and got mangled up in between them. Doctors did a great job re-attaching the end of my thumb and saving the nail, but of course it never grew the same again and is missing a side wall, very thick and uneven. All my growing up years I was conscious of it and hated it.

The transformation from ugly nail to completely normal looking nail happened in Florida in a nail salon and I simply could not believe the difference and couldn't stop looking at it, feeling it and not having to hide it anymore.

There was no nail business in the UK at the time. I brought everything back with me to do my own nails and maintain them ... Naughty naughty. I eventually trained officially and brought the business to the UK. So I guess you could say I have had great success. :biggrin: I would not change a thing. Whenever I see a nail salon in the UK I think ... :biggrin: I started that ball rolling!

Hi Geeg, out of interest when was this? was it mid/late 80's?

 

[geeg]

Hi Geeg, out of interest when was this? was it mid/late 80's?

Early 80's. :o

 

[butterfly100]

Dad wanted to send me to Champneys to train as a beautician as it was then. I was far too headstrong to settle into anything at that time and so left school and home at 16 and went to live in a caravan in between boats that were hard standing. I took a job in a hairdressers and started on a day release. Young and free I loved the good times and worked hard but never finished my course........my children arrived instead.

I worked all sorts of jobs, days, nights and everything in between. Had times on my own which wern't easy but I always knew there was something out there to get my teeth into.

I could have gone back and finished my hairdressing but nails were really up and coming and so I started looking into it. I was working nights at the time so could study the theory whilst working which was great. I told no-one and then once I felt confident after my one home learn course!!!! Off I went on my new adventure. Big mistake as my first ever real (not model) client was a tall beautiful blonde lady that informed on arrival at her house she worked for Dior and her nails HAD to be perfect lol.......she never re-booked.
Welcome real world.........
More courses, loads of reading and probably 18 months of practice and I was ready to go again.

I'm actually glad it happened that way for me as it has taught me a lot in many ways.
I love my job and would love to go much further with it here in Spain as I have bags of passion for it. There are many (so called) techs here that lower the standards so it can be a battle but one worth fighting.

Great thread :biggrin:

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

Early 80's. :o

Woah! you've been doing nails for ages then
(don't be embarrassed at least you know what you are talking about! )

 

[EgitaN]

Love your stories ladies.
I am reasonably new in the world of nails as a professional, but I felt like I belong to this world a long time ago starting from my teens. As long as I remember myself, I have always paid attention to hands and nails and absolutely loved to follow any new trends like enhancements etc.
As rachelt73 already mentioned before, I too was strongly “advised” not to follow the beauty path as I was doing well in school and after school went to uni, got a degree and for many years I was successfully climbing up the career ladder in Business Management, though still following all what was going on in nails world. Then I got married to an Englishman and moved to the UK and my life changed a lot – I didn`t want to do an admin job as that was almost the only option with my foreign qualifications not being recognised here. Also I wasn`t fortunate to find a really good nail technician to look after my gel nails and I started to think about doing nails myself. Found CND courses, did L&P first following Brisa Gel and have never looked back to my management job whatsoever. I felt like I allowed myself to be myself and finally do what I really want to do. :Love:

 

[Melissa82]

I was new to the US from Canada and my husband deployed. I got interested in nail art and dabbled in that a bit. After he returned, I wanted to try and do my own nails. I asked a supplier who sold to the general public why their gel only needed a 9watt bulb cure when many other systems need 36watts. They asked if I was a professional. When I said no, they said they could not help me. I immediately felt driven. I said to myself: "Fine, I'll become a nail tech!" Within a week, I was enrolled at a school. This was in September 2012 and I just received my license. I've never been driven to do anything as much as nails in t he 30 years of my life. It's wonderful to feel this way about something.

 

[U-neek]

Well I'm another office person turned nail pro
I was always interested in beauty - when other girls were playing with dolls I'd be playing with facepaints, my mums make-up and nail polish. It is just what I loved doing. I remember being fascinated by the colours and how it could transform things. I would spend ages painting my nails French for school using those kits with the nail tip guides and all the girls down my road would come round for makeovers.

Fast forward to leaving school and I wanted to explore hair or beauty courses, but my dad was paying and said he felt I should go down the business route. I ended up doing Admin and Customer Service NVQ's, and over the last 15 years have been an Administrator, Customer Service Exec, Mortgage Arrears Advisor, PA and finally a Marketing Exec...I certainly proved I was adaptable but none of them set my world on fire (although I did enjoy Marketing!) But working in an office was not "me". During this time I also put myself through a beauty course but I did not enjoy it like I thought I would. In fact the only things I enjoyed were mani's and pedi's and polishing. A girl on my course was also doing a nail enhancement course and I was fascinated by it.

I saved some more money and put myself though a Nail Services NVQ, but it did not leave me feeling prepared to go out and do nails. But I was definitely hooked and knew that this was what I wanted to do. It felt right for me, I just love the whole creative process and the transformations, the details, the skills, the intricacy. I have never been this driven or passionate about something. I found this site when I was floundering about what to do next , received some great advice from Geeg and as soon as I could afford it I did my CND conversion.

I have now done quite a few CND classes working towards my Masters and I feel like I am home. I am lucky enough to work in a salon in conjunction with a modest mobile business. This industry makes me so excited and happy, I bounce out of bed for work in the morning instead of groaning when the alarm goes off. It took me a while to get here but I got here. I now feel like a pro but I never stop learning or critiquing my work and love,love,love everything about this industry - it rocks !! :Love: