If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, practice is a must.

I used to think I was getting plenty of practice just working at the salon, but that’s not the case. The truth is, if I don’t practice what I do in the competition arena, then I’m not practicing at all. Because I don’t usually put competition style nails on my clients.

They don’t want them anyways. They only want their hands to look “nice,” and they could really care less how precise the nails are or if they are perfectly consistent on all ten fingers. Shoot, some of these clients want one nail a little longer and another nail a little shorter. And if I tried to spend two-and-a-half hours trying to put perfect nails on, I think most of my clients would pull their hands off the table and run out the door mumbling something about having to get back to work or out to dinner or something.

Now I’m not saying some of the techniques we use in competitions aren’t transferable to the salon. Product control and proper nail structure for strength and filing techniques are all things that can and should be used in the salon. And when you start to really perfect these same techniques through competitions, your job of doing nails in the salon gets easier and your clients plainly see the difference between your nails and the nails that they get down the street. But if you think that because you’re working behind the table all day that you’re getting competition practice, think again.

If you want to follow in my footsteps, this is the thing you really have to come to terms with in your own journey. Practicing competition style nails on a competition quality model is the only way to really practice for a competition. You just have to get used to it.

— Lynn