Nails 101: A Student Blog

Week 4: Getting in a Lot of Practice

by NAILS Magazine | June 6, 2012 | Bookmark +

It has been a sad week in our school — we lost two students. One was becoming a very close friend and had to withdraw for health reasons. I am going to miss her and her calm confidence and quirky sense of humor. The other lady we are not sure what happened; she just never called in and passed the number of days you can miss and then she was dropped. So we are now down to six students, but there is no worry of the school closing out the class because we are too far in for that to be an option. It is sad though because the first lady was so excited to be there and already owned a salon and to be able to call it a full-service salon she needed one more license under her belt. Also I am giving rides home to two of the ladies and Mrs. Brown jokingly stated to be very careful since I am on the road with half her class in my car and it has been storming all week.

On a happier note, I have been knocking out services left and right and aced my 3rd test. As of Thursday I have completed two artificial nail removals, five polishes/art, three pedicures, seven manicures, one tip with overlay, and two sets of gel.

In between all of that I have just 10 practice nails to finish and I can start acrylics on clients. I could have been done already but have been doing my best to make them as perfect as I possibly can and to really get a feel for the product. (Warning, product praise ahead!) The brush we use is from the Tammy Taylor line and I am just in love with it. I may even name it — that is how much I love it!

I have also realized that I have not had a single "easy" client yet. Each one has had issues or problems that make me feel so over my head, but between the teacher and just dogging on I have gotten nothing but praise from happy clients. As Mrs. Brown says, "It is best to get a handle on the hard ones in school while you have a safety net then to run across them out in the real world when it is your business and reputation on the line." However, at this rate I just may open up a “difficult clients-only” salon as I have zero experience with a more normal nail. LOL. 

Included this week is a photo of me at my desk working on my practice acrylic nails. I will dance a jig Monday when I finish the last one. I may have another student film it and submit my happy dance for you all to shake your heads at! It has been storming so bad this week I was afraid to carry my camera to school so another of my fellow students, Tiffany, took this with her phone. Thanks Tiffany!

— Mary

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