I try to be positive on most blogs. However some days a girl just needs to take a page from Maggie’s book and have a bit of a rant! I’m still trying to find my way out from under an avalanche of e-mails from when I was in the U.K. A lot of the e-mails are notices that I have new Twitter followers and I like to pop onto their page before choosing to follow back. What I tend to see that saddens me a bit is that the Twitter names give me the impression that these are professional salon, therapist, or tech accounts and yet the tweets are far from professional.

This brings me to a small soapbox — nail professionals tend to be undervalued by salons, by their clients, even by friends and family. But so many techs seem to not be aware of what professional means. Having a Twitter account that represents you is a responsibility just like keeping the salon clean. I’m surprised how many salon tweets freely drop the F-bomb among other four letter varieties of words and the system is constantly used like a PE locker room in junior high. When did salon professionals become fashion judges that could put down people as they pleased under the guise of an entertaining tweet?

If you want to charge premium prices, be thought of as a premium service, then act like a PREMIUM PROFESSIONAL. Use your Twitter account as a free advertising tool — not a catty outlet for your every thought or whim on things that are personal or not really for client consumption. If you want to air that side of your personality then choose a non-professional Twitter name that does not connect you to your business. Everyone needs an outlet for the negative thoughts, but your professional accounts are not that outlet. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but instead gives you a moment to think, review, and improve. Together we can make this industry thought of with respect!

— Holly