It’s kind of embarrassing to show this to the world, but sometimes it’s best to be the guinea pig in order for people to understand the real truth. For quite some time I’ve always did my own nails because it was convenient, less expensive, customization, and the other obvious reason – I did not trust anyone else doing my nails.
In the beauty industry there’s been this constant battle for inspiring and/or veteran nail artists to become successful because we would consistently hear, “why are you more expensive than the other nail places?”, “can I get a discount on a full set of bling swarovski’s?”. Over and over again we hear the same remarks and belittling sly notions of us charging too much because our “clients” almost feel that we don’t deserve the fees we charge.
So I decided to do some updated research as I went to a girl that was “highly praised” for her nail work in a near by nail spa in Brampton. (Because I still respect her, I do not want to reveal her name or location) I asked the girl if I could get a set done using gel, and as well, sculpted because I don’t really favor tips. Automatically she said she wouldn’t sculpt because “it’s not meant for my nail shape”, and second – as she pulled out her “powder gel”, she insisted that it was the “newest thing” on the market. ------ Not to tout my own horn but I’m an Instructor at a Private Career College, I know my products very well in order to be educating students on what’s the latest and greatest in the industry. So right there I was like “strike 1”, but of course I couldn’t blow my cover! :)
Defiantly I sat and continued the service while my inner self was screaming in protest! After all I’m taking a hit for the team of nail artists! LOL After which miss hunny, drilled the surface of my nails (which mind you, didn’t need the aggression) dropped a bit of glue and attached a tip. So I thought this would be a great time to ask, “when did this new product get released?”, clearly not expecting a question like this, she began her fabrication! “It’s been around for a while.” She responded---- I’m sorry I thought she said earlier that it was the “newest thing”. I continued to ask, while she was heating the monomer in front of a heated fan, “Oh ok, what brand is it?” … “Oh I’m not sure, the salon owns all the products!” ---- How can you be a professional and not know of the name brands that you are working with! So I took that as a cue to relax on the questions for a moment.
If you noticed I mentioned earlier, that she was heating her monomer right before doing the application. So I asked her why, and her response was that our “body temperatures will speed up the drying time of the product” and that speed was not good for her. Which for the most part would make sense if it was the winter season, but it’s summer! So that got me thinking and insistent on digging for more information about this. So I asked a few fellow educators from different brand companies, and none of them knew or agreed to the reasoning of heating their monomer, as the “ball ratio” is the reason itself for drying times. Which lead to the idea that because we know she is not using real gel and that this “unknown brand name” of product has to be MMA. And if you’re not sure why MMA (Methyl Methacrylate) is bad for nails, let me explain in the most basic terms. Certain strains are meant for nails and certain strains are actually meant for cosmetic dentistry, toys, flooring instruments and other non skin related products. So in other words the reaction to these products are unpredictable, which explains why she heats the monomer to control the drying speed and to be able to manipulate the product with ease.
Now looking at my nails, you can see I have severe breakage in three of my nail plates, and a slight disorder on one of them due to some typical wear and tear from my career. But to top it off, because MMA is meant to replace hard enamel and other hard duty tools it doesn’t have the flexibility like other nail polymer’s from the professionally brands. Are supposed to. So any dramatic trauma to your nail can result in severe damage and/or complete removal of your nail plate. Thank goodness I’m using nail oils, balms and hand creams to repair my nail from this serious damage.
Using reparative products daily on your nails, feet, body and face have a positive and deep impact towards healing many impurities. Your typical nail hardeners from certain brands are not going to be strong enough to repair such damage, because they have low natural active ingredient and are packed with unrecognized medical ingredients. Meaning the disorder, I have will not respond to a typical nail hardener and also my nail surface needs to breath in order heal properly. So my first step to fixing this issue is a manicure (you can never forget the basics ) and then daily I will apply a healing oil which will get into the separated nail plate to deposit all the anti-oxidant, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties to speed the healing time. After that I will be applying a hand and nail butter or balm to seal all that goodness in.
As a Hair Stylist and Aesthetician, my hands are constantly in water so I’m quite sure this played a contributing factor to some of the damage to my nail, so I’m going to keep a mini healing balm in my bag. Because it’s always unpredictable when I make a house calls for a client or when I might need to use it on my client as well so I keep extras on me too!
In conclusion, I will be doing progress posts on my nails because it’s very interesting to see how the body has its ways of healing, growing and repairing any dis-eases.
Have any questions or comments on this situation! Post it below! :)
Xoxo Mekisha