Starting Your Gel Nail Journey: Essential Tips for Beginners
STARTING YOUR
GEL NAIL JOURNEY: ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR BEGINNERS.
When starting on your gel journey, it’s really important to do things in the right order. Start with the basics, get those right and then move on to the more complicated techniques as your skills and confidence grow.
Start with the right education
It’s best practice to start your education with gel polish. This is the softest of our gel systems and allows you to really perfect your preparation and gel application before moving on to more advanced systems.
Once you have perfected your gel polish skills, you can then progress onto builder gel and hard gel. These products add strength and let you build structure and extend nails, so there is more to learn and understand.
Make sure you are fully trained and, above all, understand how to care for the natural nail. Your clients should be able to wear nail coatings long term without their natural nails becoming unnecessarily damaged.
Understand nail anatomy and preparation
Take the time to really understand nail anatomy. Using more abrasive nail files or filing the nail more aggressively does not automatically give you better retention; there is far more to it than that.
Learn how to prep the natural nail gently and effectively. Understanding what you are working on and why you are doing each stage will help you get the very best from your products without compromising the natural nail.
Perfect your gel application
Gel polish should be applied in thin, even layers rather than thick ones. This helps the product cure properly throughout the layers, top to bottom.
The same principles apply when you progress onto builder and hard gels. Build your product gradually rather than placing a huge amount of gel onto the nail in one go. Too much product can create curing issues, which can then lead to problems with the finished service.
And keep your gel off the skin! Protect yourself and your clients by working cleanly, wearing the correct PPE and avoiding unnecessary skin contact with uncured products. Sensitivities and allergies can be lifelong and could potentially affect your ability to continue working with nail products, so good habits need to start right at the beginning.
Learn from lifting
Try to understand why lifting happens rather than simply removing it and carrying on.
Lifting can actually be a brilliant learning tool because where and how a product lifts can help you understand what might be going wrong. It isn’t always the client's fault!
Understanding lifting will help you learn more about preparation, application, product choice and why we should be manicuring our clients prescriptively rather than doing the same thing on every single person.
Perfect the basics before chasing speed
Speed will come naturally with time and practice. Concentrate on getting each stage right first.
The same goes for nail art. Get your preparation, application, structure and shaping right before worrying about complicated nail art. Beautiful nail art isn't going to disguise a badly structured nail underneath it.
Get each stage of your learning right before moving onto the next.
Build your colour collection gradually
When you start buying products for clients, you don't need every colour available!
Start with popular salon colours and build your collection bit by bit. Pay attention to what your clients are actually asking for and make purchases based on the seasons, current trends and what is popular at your desk. Your collection will naturally grow with your business.
Look after your tools and equipment
Always make sure your tools and equipment are clean, in good working order and suitable for the products you are using. Poorly maintained or unsuitable equipment can affect your services, including how your gel cures, lasts and looks on the client.
Looking after your tools, equipment and workstation also creates a professional environment for your clients and reflects the standards of your business.
And finally, don't compare yourself to everybody else
Your journey is yours alone.
Don't compare your first month to somebody else's ten years. Like any trade, these skills have to be learned, practised and perfected over time.
It's an old saying, but it absolutely applies here: don't run before you can walk.
Get the basics right, keep learning, keep PRACTICING and give yourself the time to become the nail tech you want to be.