Nails 101: A Student Blog

Week 7: Moving on Out

by NAILS Magazine | December 6, 2010 | Bookmark +

I am going to pick this week up where I left off with last week. I made the decision to move my business and I am already happier about my job then I have been in weeks. I literally moved almost across the street from the salon I was working in to an office space I am sharing with a good friend with whom I worked years ago at another salon. She keeps the space to do a few clients who she sees for massage that do not come in to the chiropractor’s office where she works. She is easy-going and we have the same business ethics. I adore her. The space is very large and will be able to accommodate me for all nail services and pedicures. (Pictures next week, I promise!) The rent is way cheaper then the salon I was previously at and I do not have to prepare myself for the rent to go up since I am adding a new service that would require the renting of another station.

 

The clients who I worked on Friday evening and Saturday loved the space. Everything from the waiting room that has been decorated by the interior decorators next door, to the bathroom, to the paint in our room and the amount of space we have, was praised. It was good to hear it. Some of the clients who came in these last few days were those who have been with me since day one. Several of them told me that this place was already by far their favorite. Not that I have worked at a bunch of different places, but they liked not being able to hear hair dryers and the chatter of the salon. The space is very quite since the other people in this office are all licensed counselors and therapists. There is a chiropractor’s office down the way, another gal that does facials, the interior decorators and a sushi restaurant, just to name a few. The salon that is farther down from us has a nail tech, but no one doing massage or facials. However three of the hairstylists who work there came from the salon where I just left. Needless to say I am very content and I am excited to be in the space full time.

 

School was great this past week. I am halfway done. California’s State Board allows students to pre-apply to take the state exam once you reach a certain amount of hours, but if you wait too long that window closes and you have to wait to apply until you are done with school. The advantage is that you have your date when you graduate from school. I will be able to pre-apply this coming Tuesday, December 7th when I hit 240 hours. I can’t wait. I am looking forward to the testing just because I know what the rewards are when I pass.

 

We spent our theory hours going over the State Board Rules and Regulations. It was so great to get the refresher on the regulations. They have to be posted in every salon as per state law, but I rarely look at them. The parts that really apply to manicurists, especially the parts about the pedicure bowls are so in depth, almost redundant, but very thorough. We have to keep logs of usage and cleaning of the pedicure bowls, regardless of the type of bowl you are using. Everything from whirlpool, pipe-less and basin or even just a basic large bowl used for pedicures has to have a written record of when it was used, cleaned and how long the disinfectant sat in the bowl. There are rules for after every client, at the end of every day, and at the end of every week cleaning. 

 

I had several of mani/pedis this week that kept me busy. The other girls at school have been coming to me to paint their natural nails because I can paint them evenly and can do a French manicure with really deep or straight smile lines. I don’t know what got into me, but I had this creative bug this week. I painted some really awesome nails that got some really great compliments. I did some color blocking, Christmas nails, and even tried some tie-dyed looking ones. It was really fun to do something out of the ordinary and to challenge myself some.

 

Shades of pink, these where fun and prompted three other girls to come over and have me paint their nails. The other students have dubbed them “Karyn’s Creations.”

 

I did these on one of the estheticians. These were my favorite and the set that kind of started everything. I had another girl ask me to do the same thing on her but I refused. What’s the fun in everyone having the same look?

 

I really liked these holiday French nails, and after doing them on a student, a client at the school wanted them too.

 

— Karyn

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