Painting flowers on thumbnails and toes takes a steady hand—and clear vision. Preventing eyestrain during detailed work is a must for nail techs wanting to delight their clients. It’s also necessary for protecting your ongoing eye health and warding off fatigue and headaches. The following strategies safeguard your peepers and make intricate tasks less burdensome.
Use Proper Lighting
The right lighting is essential, but sadly, the overheads in many salons fail to help nail techs. These harsh lights exacerbate glare, especially off reflective surfaces like the mirrors lining the walls and the glossy basins and marble countertops. The overwhelming intensity of visual stimuli can send mixed messages to your brain, making it hard to focus on detailed work.
Such lighting can also trigger migraines in those susceptible, and trying to focus on detailed work while kaleidoscopes dance before your eyes is impossible. However, there may be little you can do about the choice of lighting the salon owner implements. If you do have influence, suggest using softer, amber-toned overhead lighting. It calms clients’ nerves, creating a more spa-like environment that encourages relaxation while giving your peepers a break.
However, if you are a worker bee with little influence, a pair of blue light-cutting glasses can be your best friend in such environments. While some say they offer a mere placebo effect, others swear by them, and they can reduce some of the harsh wavelength cast by the overheads. Another more expensive modern option is special green-tinted prescription glasses intended for migraine sufferers.
Additionally, adding a spotlight lamp with the bulb of your choice to your workstation can also help. These lamps with bendable necks cost little—often less than $10 —and illuminate only where you need to see to perform detailed work.
Choose the Best Chair
If your chair doesn’t fit your body, you’ll engage in a never-ending battle between physical comfort for your eyes and other parts of you, like your lower back. You should be able to place your feet flat on the floor with your knees bent at 90 degrees, and the back should offer sufficient support to let you take the occasional break.
Another option you might explore is ergonomic kneeling chairs. These chairs distribute your weight more evenly so that your back doesn’t take all the strain and create a natural slight forward tilt.
Make Sure Your Prescription is Accurate
Did you know that if you have 20-40 vision, you’d have to stand 20 feet closer to see an object someone with normal vision could view from 40 feet? Uncorrected visual differences increase eyestrain and can raise your risk of vision loss.
If you have frequent headaches or blurred vision and are squinting frequently, it may be time to update your glasses prescription. It is recommended that you receive eye exams every one to two years, however, if you experience any symptoms, it’s a sign to book your next appointment.
Use Artificial Tears, Screens and Goggles
Detailed work makes you blink less often, which dries out your eyes and increases strain. Fortunately, artificial tears can take away the sting. Keep a bottle at your workstation and apply them regularly. You might find it helps to add a drop or two right before getting down to the nitty-gritty.
The lack of blinking isn’t the only thing that can dry out your eyes. Nail techs expose themselves to countless chemicals. While they may be safe for their intended use, the surface of your eyes is delicate and is more sensitive than your hands.
Goggles or a safety shield reduce unseen molecules from coming into contact with your eyes and protect against unexpected splashes. These are becoming downright prestigious, as some local governments now issue healthy salon logos to shops that encourage masks, gloves and goggles. “Toughing it out” to the detriment of your health is no longer cool — so why risk it?
Take Regular Breaks
Giving yourself regular breaks is perhaps the best method of preventing eyestrain during detailed work. This rule doesn’t mean grabbing lunch and heading to the break room while your client soaks her fingers, but glancing up to make occasional eye contact makes you seem friendlier while giving your peepers a chance to refocus.
If you struggle with this, set a discreet alarm, perhaps using your watch’s vibrate function if you have such a device. Follow the 20-20-20 rule, having it alert you every 20 minutes to glance at an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. You should be facing the door, anyway, to greet walk-in customers. Look outside whenever possible to change multiple qualities of the visual stimuli you experience, from lighting to shape and form.
Prevent Eyestrain at Work
Learning to prevent eyestrain during detailed work is essential to enjoying your job as a nail tech and delighting your clients. Using the right tips to preserve your peepers fights feelings of fatigue and protects your vision over the long term, along with your ability to engage in the profession you love. Treat yourself with the same TLC you show your customers and safeguard your eyes on the job.
