Students often ask me, ”what is the most important part of the gel manicure?” Even though all steps are very important, I believe that a long lasting manicure starts with a thorough preparation. These steps will help you to achieve that. Before beginning, I always the importance of wearing gloves. It is important to wear gloves when performing a nail service to protect your skin from powerful chemicals and prevent contamination. Read on for three top steps for prepping nails for a gel manicure.
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Students often ask me, ”what is the most important part of the gel manicure?” Even though all steps are very important, I believe that a long lasting manicure starts with a thorough preparation. These steps will help you to achieve that. Before beginning, I always the importance of wearing gloves. It is important to wear gloves when performing a nail service to protect your skin from powerful chemicals and prevent contamination. Read on for three top steps for prepping nails for a gel manicure.
1. Removal
The prep part starts with PROPER removal of the previous product. If your client comes in with gel, I recommend to use e-file bits to remove it. Use carbide or ceramic, corn shape with red marker (means it’s medium grit) at 20k-25k RPM. Please take needed training before using these tools!
When removing gel from natural nails, take off the product until the thin base layer. Why leave a thin base layer? First of all, base gel will adhere better to another gel vs. natural nail, especially when the client's natural nails exhibit excess sebum production (mostly known as oil). Second, we will not overfile natural nails but will be buffing the grown out part only. This way, the client's natural nail will stay in the same healthy condition. Note that if there are any product lifting appearing, we must remove them or remove a previous gel completely.
Say No to Picking
I would not recommend peeling off any gel polish/gel and always give this recommendation to clients. The natural nail plate is the most visible and functional part of the nail unit formed by the matrix cells. It is constructed of about 100 layers.
About 10-20 layers come off every time when a client peels off the gel. In the case when gel was peeled off 3-4 times, about 70% of natural nail layers are gone. We as professionals know that under the nail plate we have a nail bed, or the portion of living skin that supports the nail plate. Skin produces oil. The natural nail is porous, and oil will easily go through the nail when it’s thinned out from 100 to 30 layers. Oils make gel lift form the natural nail. From here we understand why some clients start complaining about gel not lasting on their nails like before.
2. Buffing
I always recommend my students to refer to the following checkpoints when they have any problems with gel lifting. When a client comes in for a gel manicure for the first time, use a nail buffer. If a client comes back within 10 days with gel lifting, that means it was not enough. In this case, use a lower grit nail buffer (please be gentle, do not overfile).
For client's natural nails that exhibit excess sebum production, I would recommend using a lower grit buffer right away. Buff the natural nail plate, ensuring to maintain consistent, unidirectional strokes. Avoid back-and-forth motions. Giving your nails a "slightly rough" finish helps the gel polish adhere to the nails better. I always recommend buffing a natural nail plate before cleaning the cuticle.
When you buff the nail after the manicure by touching skin (accidently), tiny hangnails will appear. In a couple days, that will grow out and may cause unpleasant sensitivity at the cuticle area. Once the natural nail plate is prepared, move to the cuticle.
3. Remove Dead Skin
Cutting a loose dead skin will make the cuticle area look nice and smooth. That will have a major impact on the longevity of a gel polish wear. Some people will say yes and some will say no. I want to share my own experience. There are some clients that ask to not trim cuticle, and that’s their choice. I respect that.
What I am going to do is remove all dead skin from the natural nail plate. This is very important. I cannot allow gel to touch skin. With a pusher, gently push cuticle tissue off the natural nail and lift it up a little bit. Now, proceed to removing any dead skin from the natural nail plate using a cuticle softener or e-file bits (please take needed training before using e-file bits).
When using cuticle softener, always follow manufacturer instructions. Different products need different processing time. The nail plate must be free of any bits of debris. Use a lint-free wipe soaked in alcohol to ensure cleanliness of the nail before applying gel.
Practice Make Perfect
Another hot topic is timing. Some technicians spend 10 minutes and some 60 minutes on prep. I believe you can prep natural nail within 25 minutes and achieve great results. Remember, practice makes it perfect.
About the Author:
Anastasiia Rozdobutko is a licensed nail technician and owner of Banana Nails in Chicago.
