Drills Don’t Hurt Nails, Nail Techs Do

When it comes to drill use in the nail industry, there are distinct camps: There are those who believe that drills are a time-saving godsend that allow a nail technician to quickly shape and finish nails; then you have those who believe that drill users are lazy (or at least sloppy) sculptors who can’t put product on properly and must file it into shape with a drill; and there is the “drills are dangerous” group that thinks drills ought to be banned outright for use in nail care. I’m of the mind that if properly educated and skilled in their use, drills can only help nail technicians save time, but allow them to do some procedures that are more difficult by hand (like backfills). This debate makes me think of a twist on the old NRA slogan: ”Drills don’t hurt nails, nail technicians do.”

Drills (some prefer “electric files”) get the blame when a nail technician takes a coarse bur to the natural nail to prepare it for acrylic sculpting and ends up taking off a layer of nail plate, or when a nail technician slaps down an MMA product on the nail that ends up coming up. There are some unfair misconceptions about drill users that ought to be put to rest so that drill users can work without harming their reputation, and so that manufacturers can stop dealing with the bad press drills get and work on the real business of improving their products and expanding their uses. I commend the group of drill manufacturers that has banded together to form the Association of Electric File Manufacturers (AEFM) to inform the industry and the public on proper drill use and to encourage continued education both in schools and in the workplace. You can see that they have their work cut out for them from our chart on pages 80-81, which shows that drill education is required in just three states and that its use is virtually unregulated.

If you are a drill user, stay up to date on training and machinery and let clients know why you use a drill. If you prefer hand-filing, more power to you, but let drill users file in peace.