While technicians differ on what techniques and products to use, they all agree that a perfect C-curve starts with positioning the form properly.
“We tried foil and Teflon forms, but we prefer paper forms with lines in them,” says Katherian Harris, a technician at Sherwood Hair Design in Odessa, Texas. “And the most important aspect in getting that C-curve is putting on those forms straight.”
Harris says she applies form using a wooden stick. “Press it up,” she says, “and as you pull the stick out, stick the sides together at the end and that will help form the C-curve.”
Elmore also prefers a paper form. “I roll it between my two fingers, then slide it up underneath the nail,” she says. “Normally, it fits right away. But if it doesn’t, I’ll split the back in. “I’ve found that if you hold the form at the stress area, right between the free edge and the nail bed, that’s the best place to fit it in. Once you’ve fit the stress area, the rest will almost always slide into place.”
Kari Fox, a technician at Rocky Mountain hair in Ogden, Utah, says she prefers using foil forms. “I have three different shapes of foil forms,” she says, “oval, squarish-oval, and square. To determine which one to use, I look at a person’s cuticle shape and free edge (stress area) and take balance between them. So let’s say someone’s cuticle is very oval and their free edge is oval. I’ll use an oval form. If someone has a square cuticle, I use a square form.”
To work with foil forms, Fox uses a wooden dowel that’s about five inches long and half-inch in diameter. “I start by straightening the form out,” she says. “Then I wrap it around the dowel. But I don’t wrap it all around so it looks like a circle, I wrap it around until it looks like a U. don’t make it look like a zero or you won’t get a C shape..
“Next, I place the form right at the free edge line like you do with tips. With foil forms, you want to keep the strength of your sidewalls at the stress point, so you want to keep their nails kind of straight,” says Fox. “Then I place the form right under their nail and press it in along the sides. To make sure I have a snug fit, I push down on the back of the form, which is up on their finger and that tightens it right next to their skin. When it’s situated the way I want it, I hold it with my thumb and place two little darts in the stress area, and I have a perfect C shape every time.
SOME FIND TEFLON CURVES BEST
Debra Richardson, owner of Single File in Louisville, Ky., prefers using Teflon forms to obtain a perfect C-curve. “I’ve tried paper and foil, but paper can bend in the middle,” she says. “Teflon holds its shape and stays right up under the free edge, and you won’t get that lip underneath where the product can seep through. There’s also nothing under there to catch dirt, so it looks natural. Another reason I use Teflon forms is because you can sanitize them and use them over and over which makes them cost-effective.”
To apply a Teflon form, Richardson holds it with her thumb and index finger on both sides, so she’s in control. “Gently go under the nail at a little bit of a downward slope to fit the nail, and the form will automatically end up in the middle to fit right up under there. Teflon forms also have metal around the top and as you push the metal to the finger, it automatically gives you that gentle C-curve that sits up right under the free edge with no gap.
“Make sure there is no gap between the free edge and the form, she adds. “If you see gap, it’s no on right. The form should also been under the sidewalls of the nail or technicians will run into the same problem as if they’d used too narrow a tip.”
Susan Welch, a technician at International Hair & Nail in Meriam, Kan., also uses Teflon forms. “They’re a little more difficult to get used to, but once you know how to use them, you’ll never use anything else,” she says. “You get a better C-curve, and they’re more comfortable for clients. They don’t stick or leave sticky pieces on people. And once you get the hang of it, they’re faster to work with.”
To fit a form, Welch widens the little lead shank on the side of the form wide enough to fit over the finger. Holding t at a 45 degree angle, she places the Teflon under the corners of the nail so she can use the nail to guide the C-curve, then she lays the form down.
“One thing you can do with Teflon that you can’t do with paper is take the little shanks on the side and bend them,” she says. “That allows you to obtain an angle that you can’t get with paper, because paper comes straight out from the nail bed. Foil is a little bit more adaptable, but not as much as Teflon. So, if someone has a nail that goes up, you can put a form on and follow that. If someone’s natural nail has a nice arch to it, you can bend the shanks and put the Teflon on to follow that arc.”
Welch also believes in involving clients during the form-fitting process.”I talk to them a lot while I’m positioning the form,” she says. “If it hurts, the form is not on right. If they feel a pulse throbbing in their fingertips, it’s too tight.”
To sculpt a perfect C-curve, Welch squeezes the tip of the form together so that there is a perfect C-curve on the form for her to follow. “Once I have the form on,” she says, “I follow the basic shape of the finger and of the nail bed around the finger. Then I squeeze the form a little more. The more you squeeze or pinch the form, the more pronounced the C-curve. And the nail will be the same thickness all the way around.
“With Teflon, there is a natural tendency to just squeeze the form around the finger and leave it. But if you don’t close the form properly and squeeze it the rest of the way down, you’ll end up with a nail that doesn’t curve very much and gets wider as it goes toward the end.”
To work faster, Welch uses only two forms for a complete set. “I put a form on the first nail and second nail,” she says. “Then I sculpt the first nail, then the second nail, and by the time I finish sculpting the second nail, I can take the form off the first nail and place it on the third one, and so on.”
WATCH YOUR SHAPE!
Harris says she sculpts a great C-curve by looking at the side view, the barrel, and the overall appearance of the nail. “If the forms are on correctly, you can follow the guidelines,” she says. “I also look at the client’s natural nail and try to follow the shape. If a client has flat nails, I sculpt the curve in there. But I’m constantly inspecting that nails as I’m shaping it.”
Richardson, who has entered and won numerous nail competitions, employs a completely different method. “I use the guidelines on my Teflon form to come straight out from their natural nail and form a square,” she says “You won’t get an even application or a perfect C-curve if you don’t shape that nail like a square to begin with.
“If you shape them into oval it’s often thicker in the middle. So no matter what shape I ultimately want, I put the nail on square to get a proper C-curve. Then file the nail into the shape my client wants. That’s why oval nail hardly ever win during competitions. Square nails wins most often because they have that perfect C-curve.”
Elmore has still another method for creating a perfect C-curve after following the guideline on her form and trying to follow client’s natural nail shape, she pinches the sides of the nail together a little bit, using her thumb; “Before the nail is completely dry you can play with the material,” she says. “So I squeeze, just a little bit at the stress point, and get a really nice C-curve.”
While every technician has he’s own particular method, all agree perfect C-curve starts with the form.
“Working with forms is awkward at first,” Elmore says. “It’s one of those things that is learned by experimenting and sheer repetition. Take a class, watch and learn from other professionals. Once my technicians see how I hold the form, the stress area and how easily slides up underneath the nail, they catch quickly.”
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