The nail industry has started developing niche salons for those technicians who focus on a specific skill.
Log in to view the full article
The nail industry has started developing niche salons for those technicians who focus on a specific skill.
Usually, it is a strategic decision by a business to serve a particular client base rather than the larger market. The nail professionals performing services in these businesses are usually “specialists” in the niche’s skill, meaning they are experts and highly trained in the skill. Following are examples of skill niches that nail technicians are choosing as specialties:
- Enhancement Nail Technicians: Many nail professionals specialize in enhancements only and take many classes to enhance their expertise. For a time in the industry, enhancements were the highest paying product in the nail market so many technicians and salons specialized in this niche, and still do.
- Long Nail Enhancement Specialists: This technician is a talented enhancement artist, but has developed a specialized skill in building durable, long and beautiful nails. Jan Arnold, Creative Director, Creative Nail Design, Vista, CA, wears long nails and has gone to Tom Truong, TomTR Nails at Sola, Kearny Mesa, CA. for years for his expertise. He evolved into “only long nails” over time and has a large clientele of persons who want his special nails. Arnold openly admires his work, saying. “I never have lifting and can go three weeks with absolutely no problem – I could go longer if I could stand the grow out,” she says. See his work in the picture. Tom Tr has perfected the nail art on the long nails he builds to where nothing happens to the art, says Arnold. “I never lose a stone or anything, ever,” she says, “and they are always beautiful.” Nail art specialists hold a special place in the hearts of their clients.
A long nail enhancement specialist helps build durable, long and beautiful nails.Elizaveta/ Adobe Stock - Nail Biter Specialists: Though few nail technicians perform this specialty only, these specialists are revered by their clients. The author of this article was a specialist in this narrow genre. “This specialty requires the technician can take failure in stride, such as the client coming in with them all bitten off. They are reapplied, and this time – maybe - the shame keeps them from biting them off again!” Building nails on a nail bed with little-or-no nail plate is a special skill, especially if the skin is bulbous! Many of these clients become enhancement regulars. “They may never fully conquer the habit, but they crave beautiful nails. So, many wear enhancements on an ongoing basis – though occasionally they will bite them off, still. They pay for many new sets!”
- Nail Art Specialists: As nail technology evolved, the nail art genre developed, and true artists love this specialty. Nail technicians are all artists, but these technicians are exceptionally talented. “Most of the technicians who perform highly sophisticated nail art also perform enhancements and natural services also as they are part of doing the art,” says Ami McClure, Co-Creator, Profiles Nail & Art Supply, Cape Coral, FL. “They perform beautiful art on these tiny canvases and clients love them.” These specialists usually begin with the basics. “They practice, take classes and soon develop the styles they prefer to perform, such as abstract, layering dimensions, and others,” she says. Profiles offers many certificate classes in the nail art specialty. Nail art specialists are highly talented artists.Adobe Stock/alexandru verinciuc
- Natural Nail Technician: These nail technicians do not do enhancements; their talents have been further developed in the natural nail genre and usually they avoid performing enhancements ever. Julie Campbell, Natural Nail Clinic, Naples FL, was told “you’ll never make it as all natural,” but she proved that person wrong, long ago. Campbell’s salon has been open since 2000 with a great business and four employees. “We don’t even apply gel polish,” she says, and it says so right on their website. The goal of the natural nail specialists at NNCC is to respect and improve the integrity and beauty of healthy, natural nails for their clients. Heather Bode, Artica Nails & Company, Colorado Springs, CO, has been specializing in natural nails for 14 year, though she was told in nail school that “I’d never make a living doing all natural,” she says. She worked independent for years, opened Artica three and a half years ago, and has proven the instructor very wrong. “I’m so busy I do not take new clients,” she says. This year, her salon was chosen as the “Best of the Springs,” a great award for the salon.
- Master Pedicurist: Many technicians go a step further in the natural nail genre and may choose to mainly perform pedicures; the “pedicure-only” professional is a “pedicurist.” They take classes to enhance their skills and love working with the feet. Bode, of Artica Nails & Company, became a Certified Master Pedicurist through the North American School of Podology, Ontario, Canada. Being highly educated in pedicures sets a technician apart and above their pedicure competition. “My clients acknowledge me as a specialist and recognize my expertise as well beyond those with no advanced training,” she says. A master pedicurist is just one of several specialties a person can have.Andrii/ Adobe Stock
- Advanced Nail Technician: Many nail technicians want to care for clients who are chronically ill, and take advanced training to do so with confidence. Nailcare Academy, Naples, FL, an online format, trains salon-based nail technicians to develop relationships with podiatrists who will refer to them because they are a Certified Safe Salon Professional. “Many of my clients are chronically ill or have had bad experiences in salons, so they feel more comfortable with me due to my advanced training. Once they see how different I work, they feel safe and never leave me,” says Samantha Levine, ANT, Samantha’s Oasis, West Palm Beach, Florida.
- Medical Nail Technician: This nail technician is an Advanced Nail Technician first, and then additionally attends the Medical Nail Technician Program from Nailcare Academy. Many MNTs are in medical offices or clinics working with chronically ill patients, such as diabetics, arthritics, and others, or they have their own studio. The training is designed to prepare nail technicians to safely perform cosmetic hand and foot services in a medical setting or salon. “The focus of an MNT is to help patients and clients maintain healthy feet, and the podiatrists and physicians send them here for that reason,” says Denise Baich, MNT, The Pedicure Plus, Ellisville, MO. Baich and the other MNTs in the salon receive referrals on an ongoing basis from medical providers all over the St. Louis area. They see regular clients who appreciate their expertise, also.
- Oncology Nail Technician: Have you ever wished you could help those who are Oncology compromised? Kat Benns, MNT, Healthy Happy Feet, St. Louis, MO, expanded her foot care specialty with an Oncology Certification course from CJ Murray at Centre for Beauty, Largo FL. “I had several clients who had cancer so I decided to get further education to better serve them. I was impressed with the information and made the changes in products and services for these clients and began marketing for new ones,” she says. Then she was stopped short with a diagnosis of cancer on herself. “Now, I am even more interested in shifting to a focus on oncology clients but will continue to take all clients.”
How to Become a Specialist
More specialties have been developed within nail technology than are named here, and each expert developed their specialty through defining their most favored service and then became highly skilled through education and experience. Several specialties are achieved through certifications, meaning the technicians attend a particular track of courses and take an exam at the end to ensure competence and learning. Certification programs are specialty-focused, whether attended in person or online, and require the technician is licensed by their state board prior to attending.
Though certificates are not required, if there is one available in the specialty on which a nail professional wishes to focus, it is a good practice to go through the process, hang the certificate on the wall well and prominently, and then use it to educate clients on the high-level training.
Benefits of Specialization
Specialists in all these genres will tell you that specialization is financially rewarding. It enhances a nail technician’s worth to clients, and they are willing to pay more for the privilege of being their client. “I am making 20 times what I earned as “just a nail technician,” says Judy Webb, an MNT at Judy’s Pedicare in Santa Cruz, CA. She has three private pedicure rooms in her studio, accepts referrals from many medical providers, charges appropriate prices, has a full-time assistant, and goes home every night pleased with what she did all day – as are her clients. “They continually tell me they love the salon and my care,” she says.
Specialists in salons focusing on specific skills in nails will tell you that they love what they do, and make lots of money, too.
