I felt I should start my first editor’s note with some inspiring and encouraging words on change. Like change is good – it invigorates, it excites, it helps move us forward, keeps us on our toes. Change requires courage and an open mind.

But let’s face it, change is also painful, uncomfortable, and anxiety-producing. It makes us feel insecure, unsafe, unsure. It seems that just when you get used to something, it changes; just when you get used to people, they’re gone.

Well, there’ve been some changes here at NAILS. Me, for one.

As the new editor of NAILS, I will maintain the historical commitment we’ve had to serving the nail technician and the advancement of the nail industry, but I also plan to stay committed to those areas that still need change — like the lack of licensing requirements in some states and the need for further education of nail technicians.

The lack of uniform standards in educating and certifying nail professionals creates a group of individuals who will continue doing nails their own idiosyncratic way, with or without attention to such concerns as chemical safety, sanitation procedures, and care for the natural nail. This group of unprofessional give the entire profession a bad name and actually do harm to clients.

This need for change also extends to nail technicians who have an apathetic attitude toward selling and retail. If we don’t educate our own clients, they’ll march right out of the salon and down to the drugstore for their nail polish and accessories. By letting these clients get away, we miss the chance at greater profits as well as a chance to show the difference between salon-only and over-the-counter products. It’s a lesson we can learn from our counterparts in the hair industry, who have shown that clients will pay higher prices for and remain loyal to salon products.

We need the winds of change to blow away the outdated focus on being a single-technique technician. While some technicians manage very well by concentrating on one technique only, most could serve their clients best by offering a variety of services.

Here in the pages of NAILS, we will continue to freshen the graphic presentation of the magazine so that it is more readable, more visually exciting, more immediate.

What will not change is the fact that NAILS Magazine belongs to you. Whether it’s my picture on this page or Anna Morgan’s, the magazine is yours I want to hear from anybody with an opinion on what we can do for our readers I’m always eager to hear criticisms (constructive or otherwise) about our coverage I welcome, no, I urge your active participation in this magazine. Call me, write me, stop by if you’re in town.

PS. My personal best wishes to Anna Morgan, who is leaving the fast-lane life of Los Angeles and the glamorous world of magazine publishing for a position as a textbook editor in an idyllic town in Northern California. All physical evidence to the contrary, you leave very large shoes to fill.

 

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