QuestionQUESTION: I have been doing nails for 14 years. In the last 6 months I have been having some really really strange things happening to my clients nails. I never knew about this site and I'm hoping you can help me. I started to notice that several of my clients had their natural nail lifting away from the bed under the acrylic/tip. Some just had a finger or two and I assumed there had been an injury. Perhaps they hit it hard and knocked it upward, you know?..but I would soak it off and cut it back and make sure it was clean and reapply the tip and acrylic, take them all a little shorter to keep them from pulling at the spot. All the things anyone with any sense would do. Some of them reattached and some did not. I have seen this and didn't freak out at first but it started to become more common. So i started being crazy strict about sanitizing everything after each and every person( not that i hadn't before but I can admit I have busy moments and don't do exactly as I should) I even got barbacide wipes and wiped down my table and changed towels in case there was bacteria in the dust. This didn't seem to help that much either. While many of the clients who had a few seemed to get better I had 2 in particular that all ten nails lifted off the bed from the free edge. I was beside myself! I told them that it was definitely as sign of fungus and yet there was nothing there that made me believe there WAS a fungus. No discoloration at all and no moisture. You know how when there is fungus there is often little pieces of the bed that are long and kind of spaghetti-ish that you could tug at with your nippers? Do you now what I mean? It's like the skin is in striations. Well anyways there was none of that. In fact I took my nippers on each client and cut the lifted nail back as much as i could exposing the nail bed underneath and it was almost like dry skin. Kind of flaky but tender. It is so weird. They both took their nails off because I insisted they do so and waited 2 weeks. They came back and their nails had re-attached quite well, almost like normal. So i reapplied the nails. When they came back for their fills they had all 10 done it again. I was so upset. More than they I think because clearly I don't want people to think I'm dirty or I don't sanitize my things and am spreading disease! I own my own salon and have a very good reputation and this is making me crazy. So they both have no nails now and I feel terrible but don't know what to do. I always soak off acrylic. I never rip their nails off. They might rip their own off but I don't. I put my nails on the other day for the first time and 4 of mine are doing it now. What on earth is wrong? Can you help me? Also I never put tips on that are too small so they may squeeze the bed up. That is a possibility but I don't do it. I put tips that are larger that the sidewall and then i file the edges down. So you can see I've thought of many angles here. Let me know if you can see anything I'm not thinking of. thank you so much.
Darbi
ANSWER: Darbi,
First let me tell you to relax. This is not uncommon, although we do not want to see this happen.
Next, I want you to know that this is NOT fungus. In school we learned that greenies was either fungus or mold. There is NO truth to that.
Mold does not grow on the living human body and fungus is pretty much usually seen on the toes. It CAN be on the nails, but it is not see that often. When you see green on the nails, it is a bacterial infection. (psudemonas) not sure if I spelled that right!
What could be happening to the nails is that the product is curing too fast and it is pulling the nails away from the nailbed. It is good that you do not use smaller tips, as that will surely do the same thing.
Could you possibly also be working too dry with your product? Or are you having the clients put their nails under the lamp to cure faster? It takes acrylic product almost 48 hours to fully cure and heat will cure the product faster. We want to avoid a quick cure.
I had this happen with a very good client who wound up leaving me because someone told her she had the flesh eating disease.!!!Through a process of deduction, I found out she was taking a new med that could have caused her to get a yeast infection. Sometimes we react to meds and could have a reaction on an area of our body that we normally would not think of. I KNOW this client was reacting, because she never had the problem before. BUT, unfortunately she did not listen to me and listened to others who know nothing about nails.
All you can do reassure your clients that you are clean and that you need to work together to resolve the problem. Please let me know if you resolved the problem.
One more thing, the nails WILL grow back. You can put product back on them, but I would sculpt the nails instead of using tips.
Good luck,
buenos dias,
Lynnette
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for your response. I cannot say that i've resolved the problem because the clients are gone and have never returned. My nails are doing better but still look terrible. I did consider and ask about their medications. Neither claimed they had begun using anything different. Who knows. I hadnt ever considered curing rapidly though...If anything i use my too wet. I did actually call creative nail company and talk with a technical representative who told me i am not using it dry enough. Good grief...it's frustrating dont you think? I dont use a light at all because i dont do gels and i feel like the like makes the polish gooey and is an excuse to make the client sit still for 6 minutes. hahaha.
thank you for your time and knowledge lynette. I will certainly keep the curing thing in mind. ;o)
Darbi
AnswerDarbi,
Unfortunately this is what happens. The clients leave and then you have no idea what the problem was because they were not willing to work with you to find out.
Likely the problem is them. Do not get down in the dumps because of the problem OR because they left. There will be other clients.
Try to work your beads a little less dry. Not too dry.
I do not know where you clients came from but there is a possibility that they came to you from the cheap shops and developed an allergy.
Keep your chin up!
buenos dias,
Lynnette
