Making The Switch To Fast-Set Acrylics

Debbie Johnson, owner of Savoir-Faire salon in Kansas City, Mo., and an educator for Tammy Taylor Nails (Irvine, Calif.), says, “I’ve been a nail technician for 15 years and I think fast sets are the best thing that s happened to the industry. I’ve always been fast with my hands, and when I first tried fast sets back in 1991, I became hooked. I started practicing on myself, and I loved the way it set up.” Johnson also likes the fact that fast-set acrylics allow clients to get in and out of the salon faster. “People are always in a hurry, and for me, time is money” she says.

Speedy hands are also the case for Michele Schaaf, a New Jersey-based regional account executive; for Star Nail Products (Valencia, Calif.), who loves fast-set acrylics. “I felt like I was working too quickly with traditional acrylics because I had a lot of downtime during the service. For example, if a client came in for a routine fill, after I was done applying the acrylic, I would have to wait for it to set up before I could start filing. These days, many clients don’t have that extra time — it’s their lunch hour or they have to pick up the kids from day-care.”

Liza Ferraro, owner of California Concepts in La Mesa, Calif., and a platform artist for NSI (Conshohocken, Pa.), made the switch to fast sets because of time and crystallization problems she was having with traditional acrylics. “Standard acrylics crystallize if the room temperature is too cold, if the client’s hands are too cold, and if the product is too cold,” she says. “A fast-set powder, on the other hand, isn’t as temperature-sensitive because it sets up the product more quickly.”

“Everything speeds up immensely with a fast-set acrylic,” says Sheri Cortelloni, a nail technician/hairstylist at Scissor Hands in Oak Lawn, Ill. “I can do a quick fix in 10 minutes with a fast-set acrylic instead of 15-20 minute’s with a traditional one. It’s a great timesaver.”