By Jan Arnold
Properly caring for clients’ nails begins the minute they walk through the door. The environment must exude cleanliness and attention to detail. This experience is guided by a trained nail professional who plans for the client’s comfort, service excellence and long-term nail health.
Once seated comfortably at the nail table, it is important to have a conversation with the client to establish the goals of the relationship. An expectation should be established for service parameters including what kind of nails do they like and what length, shape and design do they desire? Encouraging them to offer their ideas as well and show photo examples. Discussing the desired time commitment of service, frequency of visits, style guidelines and willingness to commit to home care will inform the pro which service solution package best meets their client’s needs and lifestyle. This is also a good time to conduct a skin care analysis to help complete the picture of perfectly polished nails and well-groomed hands and feet.
It is important to educate the client about their commitment to a regular regime of hand and foot care salon services. This regime will help control nail length and shape, keep the surrounding skin healthy, and provide the nails a proper level of protection including infusing conditioning oils into the nails and surrounding skin to keep these areas supple and nourished. The more the client is educated, the better the results they’ll see as building healthy nails is for the long run, not just for a special event.
If nails are severely damaged, a keratin builder can be recommended by the nail professional to help rebuild the broken bonds of the nail structure for a fortified base that can then be coated and serviced over time. This keratin builder is applied in service and then must be carried out at home, applied to bare natural nails twice per day for a week or two before service is resumed. This rebuilt foundation becomes a reliable base for the next steps of conditioning and coating nails for both beauty and longevity.
A routine schedule of professional services will provide the correct blueprint for the path to healthy nails. What starts at the nail table then travels home for the client to continue the commitment. This includes clearing away unwanted cuticles and tissue around the nail plate by using a daily glycolic and lactic acid blend to micro exfoliate dead, dry skin around the nail plate. Doing this daily will prevent the build-up of unwanted cuticle tissue around the nail and keep hangnails at bay. Preventing the tags of skin that ultimately lead to ripped or bitten nails/cuticles will prevent future problems and break the cycle of unhealthy nails.
Once in the careful hands of the pro, problems can be prevented and the path to resilient, longwear nails is in sight!
About the Author
Jan Arnold is the co-founder and style director of CND. She is also a member of Nailpro's 2022 advisory board.
