Magazine for the professional nail industry.
Issue link: http://nailsmag.epubxp.com/i/809430
MAY 2017 | NAILS MAGAZINE | 123 Holly Schippers is a contributing editor to NAILS and a member of Team CND. Follow her FingerNailFixer blog at www.nailsmag.com. top coat will impede access of the remover to the rest of the nail coating, which will again increase your service time and in most cases your frustration. Having all of the shine removed, most of the embellish- ment removed, and the least amount of spots where you file through the color is going to look mostly like a matte nail. This is the best way to prepare it to be wrapped or clipped in your remover and come off clean and easy. When wrapping up the nails or securing them in a clip, it's important to wrap the nails tightly or use the clips properly and encourage the client to sit still. Some find a warm towel laid over the hands is a helpful way to keep clients still while giving the service an extra spa-like touch. Set a timer for the time your manufacturer suggests and do not shortchange it. Taking the remover wraps or clips off the nails prematurely will increase the time it takes to clean the nails. Air hitting the gel-polish will act to re-harden it and make it more difficult to remove. Having a timer gives you the advantage of always leaving the remover on the correct amount of time. If you unveil a nail and the gel-polish is being stubborn, recover that nail with remover and move on to the next nail. Impatience in this step can easily cause damage to the nail plate, which will manifest in tiny white spots or in some cases large sections of white spots covering the nail plate. Whether or not you use a gel-polish that requires filing on the top coat, wrapping or clipping the nails correctly then leaving the remover on for the right amount of time will save time by ensuring a clean removal. When you client returns and it's time to remove her nail polish, your fastest removal medium is going to be pure acetone or an acetone-based remover. Using a non-acetone remover will slow down the removal process. If you're concerned about dehydration of the skin, many manufac- turers now offer an acetone-based remover with moistur- izing properties. A plastic-backed polish remover pad is most effective because it holds the remover on the cotton longer and can be used on more fingers as a result. It also keeps your skin from absorbing some of the remover and slows down evapo- ration slightly. If you have to use cotton balls, gauze, or any other non-plastic-backed medium, then wearing gloves can help efficiency just a bit by keeping your skin from absorbing some of the product and allowing you to use more of the surface since you don't have to be concerned about transfer of color onto your fingers. If you are using a gel-polish, chances are good that the manufacturer's instructions are to remove the top coat or break the top coat seal before wrapping it with remover. This step can drag down your salon speed significantly, so let's look at ways to do it that will make it a lot less stressful and more consistent. Removing the top coat or breaking the seal can be done with a lower grit file such as a 180. Using too high of a grit such as a buffer will slow you down. Watch the color of the nails to keep an eye on your progress. When you end up with quite a few places where you file through the color, then you have taken more time than needed for filing. If you can learn to watch the nail for signs that you are finished filing, it will make the process more streamlined. On the flip side of that, not filing enough will also slow you down since the top coat is the most difficult layer for the remover to penetrate. If, for example, the gel-polish has only been filed down the center, this means the edges are going to take much longer to remove since they are still protected by the top coat. If you have added any embellishments to your gel-polish, such as glitter, pigments, and other fun things, then filing into them slightly will help with removal once the nails are wrapped up. Leaving a thick layer of glitter or spots of shiny Neither breaking the seal nor removing top coat are accomplished by filing only in the center of the nail. Overfilling adds time. Removing some of the embellishments on top of the color will improve removal time.