Yet more questions

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bimbogeri

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
61
Location
East Sussex
Yes, it's me again, with yet more infuriating questions :D
Since I first posted on here, I've been trying to do a lot of research into different courses. I know a lot of people recommended Creative, but there isn't a Creative centre near me. I also looked at LCN and I know there is an EZ Flow 'academic centre' or whatever they're called in Crawley, which is about half an hour from here.
However, the course I picked initially is a 10-week course run at a local college by the IHBC in manicure and pedicure, which, when completed, allows you to do a second course (not sure if it's 10 or 15 weeks) in advanced nail techniques, including gel, acrylic, fibreglass and nail art. The first course costs about £300, the second £500, with all kit supplied. I was also going to buy a nail trainer and some spare kit for practising at home, as most of my friends go back to uni in September, and I'll be short of models. I chose the courses because I liked the idea of having a regular class (3 hours each Monday) with one-on-one contact rather than paying the same amount of money for 2 days of one-on-one and a third day six weeks later. Although I am motivated enough to work at home I'm worried I'd get sloppy, and would like to have the continual testing of a class. However, I've just been told that I might not know for several weeks whether there are spaces on the course - it is done on a first-come-first-served basis, but currently they are only compiling the list of names of people who WANT a space, and that will be cross-referenced against the number of spaces when the tutors return from their summer break, and I have no idea how far down the list I am - posssibly quite a long way, as the list opened in June, I think.

Now I'm panicking that I won't get on the course, but I've found it impossible finding any others near me. I've gone on the websites of all the higher education colleges in the 3 counties surrounding me, and this one (at Lewes) seems to be the only one going.
I've done Google and Ask Jeeves searches, but I can't seem to find a definitive list of courses or centres.
Also, I've been reading the various posts on L&P supplies, and what people would recommend. I know most people say Creative, but if you're not Creative trained, what is best? I lot of sites I've looked on sell 'The Edge' products, which certainly look fancy in their aluminium packaging, but I don't know if they're any good. Presumably is it best to buy all your products from one manufacturer, or can you mix and match to some extent? Obviously I guess your l&p and tips should come from one supplier, but polishes, files, etc can be mixed? I have no idea what supplier the courses at Lewes are using, as the details aren't on-site and the tutors are currently away.
Thanks!
Lol x
 
Hi, i did a college course like you mention - 3 hours a week for about 6 months, and i know that you cant tar everyone with the same brush........but i came away feeling like the training hadnt been up to much. we werent even shown how to rebalance! we had about 3 different tutors in that time and everyone felt like they werent ready to go out into the 'big wide world' having read posts on here i know that this is quite a common thing. Of course yours might be fab, just wanted to let you know my experience. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
Not sure if I'm speaking out of turn here, but I find the colleges methods less than up to date, and the classes have more people on the course. Also, any manufacturer worth its salt won't sell you their products unless you've done their training - they value the reputation of the product and don't want it tarnished by someone's bad habits / lack of knowledge they have picked up elsewhere (bite my head off peeps if I'm not right here lol!). So you may end up paying out for a college course and then having to pay for the manufacturer's training anyway!!! Personally I would go straight to the manufacturer. I use LCN so if you want any more info about then just PM me.
 
Hi there!

I trained with Ezflow and Creative and the only drawback I can see with college training other than perhaps like Sarah says their techniques etc might not be up to date is that when you train with one of the nail companies, they are teaching you the correct way for THAT product and not generically and each product line does work slightly differently and it is worth knowing how to get the best from that product by the people who develop and use it. J xx
 
good point Jo Jo!
Jo Jo said:
Hi there!

I trained with Ezflow and Creative and the only drawback I can see with college training other than perhaps like Sarah says their techniques etc might not be up to date is that when you train with one of the nail companies, they are teaching you the correct way for THAT product and not generically and each product line does work slightly differently and it is worth knowing how to get the best from that product by the people who develop and use it. J xx
 
.. as you'd expect any worth their salt to stick to one brand. Presumably there are some brands, like The Edge, that don't have their own training/education, so I'm guessing maybe those are the types of brands that stock colleges like this?
I'm hoping the course will be good - Lewes (or Sussex Downs College as it's supposedly called now) has a very good rep as a higher education college and have their own beauty salon as they teach NVQs and things as well. Hopefully that means they'll be quite up on what's current, but I do wish I could find out more about their kit and what products they use. That said, it wouldn't be relevant until after I do the mani/pedi course first - that has to be completed before the advanced course, which I think starts in January, and I'm guessing won't start to enrol until at least half-way through the first course.
Here is the link to the first course

http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/adults/adult_course.asp?id=X2MAPE&loc=
and then the follow-on course
http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/adults/adult_course.asp?id=X2NAIL&loc==
if anyone can find anything useful in their wording.

I had looked at an LCN brochure but from what I could understand, they only teach gel, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to start with l&p, or maybe try them all first before deciding which I was best at, or preferred.

Can anyone who did EZ Flow clear something up for me - when they list their 'education centres' on the California Nails sites, are these salons which offer EZ Flow training?
 
Well i trained at Basildon college and we used NSI products. They taught us l&p and fibreglass and manicure as part of the course. The L&P we did was pink and white, but as i mentioned earlier, we werent shown rebalancing!:confused: we were just told 'oh thats easy.....i could show you that in 5 minutes!' I am still struggling with it now as we never were shown:evil:. three tutors later and not much the wiser we were all signed off as 'passes' without our work really being checked - supposedly qualified to work in a salon as a nail tech! I think ive gained more from this site than i ever got from the college course, i dont even think they are offering this course anymore - and a good job too! I thought i would be better qualified doing a longer course than going on a 4 day one, but with 1 tutor to 30 students you dont really get much teaching. we practised on each other whilst the tutor marked our papers. if i knew then what i know now i would definately do things differently.
 
I did a college course which I have no regrets about, but I have learnt far more from this website since! The quality of the tutor is paramount and you are not going to find that out in advance from a college unless the tutor has been around a while and you have a personal recommendation. My course was only £90 so I didn't feel too hard done by as I can now invest more in commercial/professional training so to speak.

My college used Michelle Porter which we soon found to be absolute c..p, scuse my french! They have now moved on to Star nails which is an improvement but still not great. It is too easy to spend money when training but without the knowledge of what are the really good products and worth investing in.

It's very hard at the beginning to make the right choice so good luck!
 
I have trained with both Creative Nail Design and Ez Flow - both have excellent products. I decided to use mainly Ez Flow in the end for various reasons - purely a personal choice. If CND are nowhere near you, I can highly recommend Ez Flow - it's a lovely product to work with and the glitter collections and coloured powders are fantastic. You could always phone California Nails and have a trial kit sent to you - that's how I became hooked on their products. :biggrin:
 
Hi Bimbogeri,

I think if you are interested in a course, and there isnt one near to where you live, and you really want to do that course, then its worth travelling that little extra out of your way. I live on the isle of wight, and have done creatives conversion course but for this i had to go to loughton in essex, so you can imagine that it takes me 1/2 hour on the train, then 20mins on the ferry, then 1hr 15mins on another train, then over an hour on the underground, where i am met by my in-laws who then take me to the academy in essex! So please dont feel put out by the fact that you may have to travel, its always work going that little bit further to get what you want!! Oh and ive booked on the master classes and the masters qualification day, so lots more travelling in store for me!!!

Michelle xx
 
As you can't even find out what product they use as all the lecturers are on hols, what will you do if you need advise about a problem you may have encountered. In the early days you will come across different problems all the time, and if you aren't working in a salon along side other techs whose experience you can call on where will you turn to for advice. Four years down the line I still have to call LCN from time to time about one thing or another, and I know that in working hours there will always be someone who is qualified to give me the info I need. You won't get this on a college course. Just another thing you should take into consideration.
 
hi , i live in sussex also and i done my training at capital hair and beauty in hove i have to say my trainer was fantastic she helped us all the way and if we had a problem in between our training dates she gave us her mobile number so we could call her but did say that if the training that she was giving us was up to par then we shouldnt need to call her and she was right i didnt have to call her at all well once but that was just to sort out when and where we were going to meet up for a drink lol , i was trained in star nails and i have got on great with their products and yet i am still looking into and creative conversion course but this is mainly to widen my horizions so eventually being able to make an informed choice , you can get the dates and cost of the courses from capital other than that you can call united beauty direct if you need any further help email me @ [email protected] i live in brighton and i would be more than willing to help you out if you needed a model as i think that maybe we live close enough to each other that travelling will not be a problem hope this helps.
 
Right just to add a positive to VTCT college courses. IT does depend what product you are using and how good the tutor is ;)
I trained at college and my experience of it was very good, We were taught well and at to be able to do everything correctly or didn't pass(some did fail on my course)
I am always learning and that is what a good tech should do (keep up to date with all the new developments in the nail industry)
I feel that you could also pay a fortune for a course with any company and may get a poor tutor, I think with any course there is a risk.
jmho
 
bimbogeri said:
.. as you'd expect any worth their salt to stick to one brand. Presumably there are some brands, like The Edge, that don't have their own training/education, so I'm guessing maybe those are the types of brands that stock colleges like this?
I'm hoping the course will be good - Lewes (or Sussex Downs College as it's supposedly called now) has a very good rep as a higher education college and have their own beauty salon as they teach NVQs and things as well. Hopefully that means they'll be quite up on what's current, but I do wish I could find out more about their kit and what products they use. That said, it wouldn't be relevant until after I do the mani/pedi course first - that has to be completed before the advanced course, which I think starts in January, and I'm guessing won't start to enrol until at least half-way through the first course.
Here is the link to the first course

http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/adults/adult_course.asp?id=X2MAPE&loc=
and then the follow-on course
http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/adults/adult_course.asp?id=X2NAIL&loc==
if anyone can find anything useful in their wording.

I had looked at an LCN brochure but from what I could understand, they only teach gel, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to start with l&p, or maybe try them all first before deciding which I was best at, or preferred.

Can anyone who did EZ Flow clear something up for me - when they list their 'education centres' on the California Nails sites, are these salons which offer EZ Flow training?
The best one for this EZFlow question is Sparklepink aka Jessica Marks she is EZFlow Educator for Crawley....A great Geek lol........ also a nice personage and mad as hatter..........but a brill educator for EZFlow........... just a thought, why not pm here.........

Just a thought
 
Nailsinlondon1 said:
The best one for this EZFlow question is Sparklepink aka Jessica Marks she is EZFlow Educator for Crawley....A great Geek lol........ also a nice personage and mad as hatter..........but a brill educator for EZFlow........... just a thought, why not pm here.........

Just a thought

aw thanks Ruth, ya a sweetheart!! :)

J xoxox
 
Hi Bombogeri

I'm also training at Sussex College Mani/Pedi and also got the same story as you that I may not get on the advance nail tech. So I have done my research and found this site and have found loads of useful information, which as made me steer towards doing my training with CND. I spoke to Trinity Nails and she did her training there also, and stayed at a hoilday inn £55 a night. If your interested in doing the course next year maybe we can travel up together, though I'm not sure when next year I will start the course, as a friend of mine recommend that I wait until I've been to the Olympia show to see what training is on offer there.

Anyways it'll be nice meeting up with you on Monday 4 October, my names karen by the way.

x
 

Latest posts

Back
Top