I’ve been seeing a lot of pics around the Internets (and Instagram) of nails that are grown out by several weeks, and still appear to be in great shape, with captions like, “3 Weeks Old! Quality!” or “Quality is 5 weeks old” and so on.

I haven’t really decided what I think about this.

I guess, yeah, I can totally see why you’d be super proud to show off that your work has held up for five weeks and still looks like it did the day it walked out of the salon only grown out more.

It may be that I just never really thought of longevity as being the key factor in determining “quality.” I’ve seen a lot of nails over the years that can stand the test of time, but when you do some investigating you might find that the natural nails have holes filed through them, the enhancements are made with MMA, or that the tech doesn’t disinfect her implements. All these things contribute to my concept of a “quality” service. An educated and conscientious client will weigh those factors against the apparent “quality” of the nails she admired on a friend and may feel they aren’t so great after all.

And then there’s also the cases where a set of nails might have been created under ideal circumstances with proper products and could last for eight weeks... but look like poop; all crooked and lumpy.

What it eventually boils down to is that we both provide a service as well as create a product. You can provide a qualityservice by providing an atmosphere that clients enjoy, by choosing topnotch products, practicing diligent safety procedures, and honing excellent skills. Whereas the quality of the product you create might be judged by its final appearance and how long it lasts.

The dual nature of doing a set of nails is probably what makes me look at those posts and feel like some vital piece of information is missing. Sure, the nails look good and sure, they stayed on for several weeks. But that, in and of itself, does not convince me of their “quality.”

It makes me wonder, just how does the average nail client determine the “quality” of a set of nails?