TIP OF THE WEEK #7
by Vicki Peters

ACRYLIC REMOVAL
This week's tip of the week is about acrylic removal. So many of us still
take the nippers and clip off old acrylic to replace the nails and this
should be against the "nail law". It is extremely damaging and hurts the
client.

I thought that since we are dealing with the MMA issue and discount salons
this week with the recent media interest from Diana Bonn's newspaper contact
that is doing a story - addressing a procedure that is routinely done in the
discount salon was on top of my list.

WHEN DO YOU REMOVE NAILS?
This varies but when the nails will take more work to fill is when I opt to
soak them off and do a new set. If I had a new client that came from a
discount salon and you knew this was not a one time client you were going to
keep, what I would do is fill over the MMA the first time and schedule her a
two hour fill appointment next time she plans on coming in to get her nails
done. Be sure to explain why you would do this, the benefits of switching
her over to an EMA based product and how wonderful you can make her nails
with a new set.

HOW TO REMOVE THE ACRYLIC NAILS SAFELY
Soak them off of course.
Schedule her first hour for soaking while your doing another client so you
don't waste time not making money while she soaks. Set her up in straight
acetone with Vaseline on her fingers and cuticles and cover the bowl of
acetone with a towel. Add some cuticle oil to the acetone and maybe some
marbles for her to play with that will help work the product off. You can
heat the acetone up by placing the bowl of acetone in another bowl of very
hot water and covering it. You may want to file the MMA down a speck and
cut the length off first to hasten the process. Let her sit for the whole
hour if possible. The longer you leave her in the acetone the better if her
fingers can take it. The idea is to leave the nails in the acetone until
they fall off. Taking them out and scraping the product off is ok, but can
waste time - they set back up as soon as you take them out of the acetone.
MMA nails will take longer then EMA nails.

I recently wrote an article about an soak off product called Origionails Soak
Off that in doing research found that there are conditioning agents and
chemicals in the acetone that actually work faster than acetone. You may
want to check this product out or others like it.

Another way to remove the nails safely is to take a very wet cotton ball with
acetone (use real cotton it absorbs better than synthetic cotton) and place
the ball of cotton on the nail and wrap in tin foil making it fit snug around
the finger. Condition her hands first with a heavy lotion. After placing
the acetone and cotton on the nails, wrap all ten nails in tin foil and
parrafin dip her three times. The acetone won't get into the parrafin so
don't worry about that and if it does oh well, no harm. Place her hands in
a plastic bag and mitts. You can also place the hands with the plastic bags
into warming mitts with or without the parrafin. The heat speeds up the
process. Leave the hands and nails in the parrafin and mitts for 45 minutes.
Remove the mitts and plastic bags, and with some pressure on the nails
remove the tin foil taking the melted acrylic with it. You should be able to
take a tissue and remove the remaining acrylic and have the clients use a
nail brush to remove any acetone from her fingers and nails. If they are
soaking have them wash the acetone off their fingers too.

For MMA nails the soaking may take about an hour, with EMA nails 30-40
minutes max. Fiberglass much less time and gels, forget it,. They need to be
buffed off.

This procedure needs to be positioned right so it is not a hassle and your
not wasting valuable time. Got a client that can't sit still for that long?
Put her feet into the pedicure bath and let her soak her feet while soaking
her nails - she will mellow out about sitting there quickly. She can remove
her shoes and socks herself nd she can put them back on so it does not take
any time from you. Just get the pedicure bath ready.

SO WHAT DO YOU CHARGE FOR THIS SERVICE?
That depends on your pricing structure. When I was in the salon I charged a
higher price for my pink and whites that included the soak off or backfill
whenever I chose it needed to be done. This way the client could not dictate
to me when to do the new set, it was my decision when I had the time. I did
a lot of white tips for my pink and whites instead of backfilling and offered
the soak off every 3rd or 4th fill. Which in the long run took me less time
because the fills were easier. I place the tip as high as I could to stretch
the white tip for a longer period of time and the clients who liked the white
tips liked the soak off service that came with the deal. Other clients that
did not want the soak offs because they liked having their natural nails
opted for the backfills. Again I included them in the price so it was my
decision when they got backfilled. I charged $5 less for a regular fill with
clear or pink that usually got polished.

Bottom line I feel that the soak off takes the same amount of time clipping
and cleaning up the mess after does and is a gentler and kinder way for the
client as well as the nails to remove them. We need to take better care of
the natural nail underneath the acrylic and soaking them is one sure way to
achieve that.

DISCLAIMER
Any products mentioned in the "Tip Of The Week by Vicki Peters" is not an
endorsement of any kind.