I am a booth renter in a small town. There are several other salons here that do nails. I am fresh out of school and am being told that I don’t have enough experience or good enough equipment to charge $30 for a pedicure. There is a new nail salon here that charges $20, but I’ve been told it is unsanitary and doesn’t do anything but basic nail care and polish. I give a 10-minute massage and a sugar scrub as well as basic nail care and polish. I don’t think it’s right for me to be told I can’t charge that much just because I can’t afford an expensive pedicure chair yet. But I need to build clientele while making my rent and buying supplies. All of the well-established salons in my area charge $30 to $35 for pedicures and some of them use the same type of equipment I use. Should I really lower my prices to meet other people’s standards or am I right to charge more because I give better service?
I’ve read that you should never file your nails back and forth because it can damage the nails, causing them to split and crack. I’ve also read that this is a myth and it’s fine to file back and forth. Which is it?
This time of year we often get to thinking about those things we’d like to be doing that we’re not doing. We asked our readers: Is there a business-related New Year’s resolution you find yourself making every year?
I have a few clients who swim or do water aerobics a few times a week. They have a lot of trouble with keeping polish on and their nails becoming dry. They peel and split. Is there anything I can do, or tell them to do, to help this problem? So far I have just told them to apply cuticle oil every night before bed to try to hydrate the nails.
There are a lot of heated opinions about the safety of nail polish. As nail techs, we care, of course, but is this a topic that’s foremost on the minds of clients? We asked readers: Do your clients ask about polish being “three-free”? Do they seem to care about the ingredients in their polish?
