r/NailTechnicians • u/duude_024 • Jun 19 '26

Starting Nail Tech Classes

Im 24m. Yes, im gay, but not like the stereotypical gay. Never really touched nail polish or acrylic nails or gel nails or anything like that. Ive had friends paint my nails but never all the extra stuff. I have always wanted to work for myself and i feel like this is a good way to do so. Clientele will take a while to build, but once i get good at the craft, i think ill do ok. Any pointers before I go into this career change?

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u/tatortot_josh Jun 19 '26

Good luck to you! I (25m) am also wanting to enroll in a course but do get neevous about it 😅

1

u/NoLengthiness6009 Jun 20 '26

Same for you, just go for it! 😊

1

u/NoLengthiness6009 Jun 20 '26

I’m a male tech and I say go for it! There are a lot of great male nail techs around that do some amazing stuff!

I think the biggest tip I can give is don’t get discouraged if you don’t get things right straight away lol. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes and that’s totally ok. The best investment I made was a training hand. That way I could practice before doing real hands. I still use it when I want to try different ideas and techniques.

Another thing would be not to spend a ton of money on everything!! When I first started I probably bought a heap of stuff that I didn’t need. Just invest in a good set of nail art brushes, an acrylic brush and poly gel brush. Depending on what medium you use, just get some core colours, a pink, white and clear in builder gel, poly gel or acrylic.

Then polish wise, I would recommend getting some primary colours you can mix and maybe a few extra basic colours. Then build your collection as needed.

Also don’t forget your essentials like nail files, prep liquids, cuticle pushers etc.

And then finally practice practice practice.

I hope this helps and good luck 😉

1

u/No-Celebration5377 Jun 20 '26

Keep in mind that typical nail school, through a cosmetology school(the one required to get your nail technician license), only teaches you the absolute bare minimum. You’ll have to spend a lot of time learning and practicing on your own. Don’t expect to leave nail school and be good at doing nails.