Magazine for the professional nail industry.
Issue link: http://nailsmag.epubxp.com/i/128780
an upcoming special event. How you approach their care may change depending on what their goals are. Short-term goals can be achieved with a month or two of gentle care. Skin will heal and nails will grow with the smallest of efforts to care for them. The most difficult cases are the ones who want to become ex-nail biters. It's a long-term investment, in most cases starting with thick enhancements to prevent biting, and as they learn the new habit of keeping their fingers out of their mouths, slowly thinning the acrylic down until they graduate to a gel-polish, and eventually to natural nails. Are they willing to commit? There will be setbacks, without a doubt. They can't leave their hands at home so they're not tempted to snack on them throughout the day, and at times they may chew a nail down without realizing they've done it until it's too late. They will be devastated when it happens, that all of their hard work has been undone in a few minutes. It's your job to let them know it will be OK, and encourage them to keep trying. What is your beauty regimen? Most nail techs would like their clients to use take-home products on a regular basis because, to be perfectly honest, it makes their job so much easier. For the nail biting client these products are doubly important to help heal skin and prevent nail breakages, which are a gateway to uncontrollable biting. Yet, while you can send them home with free samples or convince them to spend a week's paycheck on lotions, butters, 136 | NAILS MAGAZINE | and oils, those products won't do one tiny bit of good if they never leave the jar. Ask your clients about their beauty regimen and help them work these new products into their daily lives. If they don't have a beauty regime, ask about their daily schedule and help them find a way to remember to care for their nails. Recommend they put a bottle of cuticle oil on their nightstand so they can apply it before bed. Perhaps a bottle of lotion next to the bathroom sink will help them to remember to apply it in the morning after they brush their teeth. A jar of body butter could be put by the kitchen to be used after they wash the dishes, placed in the cup holder of their car for when they're sitting in traffic, or set on an end table for when they're watching TV. Tell them why the products are important, and how they will help with their success. Use the information you gather from your consultation to formulate a plan of attack. Then remind yourself, while you're working hard to sculpt enhancements on those ragged nails, that while biters can be difficult to work with, they can also be very rewarding. In a few months, when they proudly display the nails they don't have to hide anymore, you'll see the pride and gratitude in their eyes and know it has all been worth it. Anne Schlegel was an unrepentant nail biter for over 25 years when, with the help of regular nail services, she learned to stop treating her fingers like a food group. The experience inspired her to enter the nail industry, where she enjoys helping others beat the biting habit. www.nailsmag.com/fifi/16304 JUNE 2013