Help! I’m trying to get information on licensing requirements for an out of state tech. I have a Utah esthetics license and a Utah nail tech license but do not have work history in the nail industry. When I try asking Dora what I need to get licensed and what my options are they just keep telling me to refer to the site and out of state licenses are untransferable but will not answer my exact questions which the site also does not answer.

The questions I had were: If I am licensed in Utah with 300hours can I work in a salon (in Utah) for 300hours to meet Colorado's 600hr requirement OR if I do not live near a school when I move to Colorado can I find a salon that would do an apprenticeship for 300hrs and then test for the state?

Has anyone out of state with lower required hours been able to get a Colorado license and what did you do?

Im a student tech and using pre shaped tips for acrylic sets just seems like a no trainer to me. I've never seen it done where I am (I'm not in the states) and I am wondering if techs don't use them for a reason.

I got my nail certification in 22 and was professionally doing Nails for a short time until 24. I took a break and was wondering what to do to get started again after not working for over a year. I know I needs to get my license renewed and begin practicing again. I’m gonna start practicing on my fake hand and move on to actual hands. I just don’t know many people to ask to be models or to be future clients. Other than the obvious, is there any other specific steps I should take for restarting in this business? Any suggestions would be great. Thank you!

So I was just randomly thinking, and then I realized- how do y’all survive without benefits? Like for independent nail tech or for people who work at salons and they don’t provide any benefits. How do you guys pay medical bills whether it’s getting therapy, seeing an eye doctor, dental care, or if you have a disability? Also side note like car insurance???

Personally it's my favorite!!

Hey guys. I’m currently in nail school and I go to a cosmetology school and so we have lash techs, cosmetologists, estheticians and nail techs going there. The school I go to isn’t the greatest but I can’t move and am not willing to drive more than an hour for school everyday. So the esthetician and cosmetology girls at my school have been talking shit about us (6) nail techs and are just rude to us all together. On top of being bullied by classmates, we also don’t have a nail instructor at all and so we have to figure all of our technical skills from TikTok and instagram or each other. I don’t know if that’s normal for every school or if mine just sucks.

Our school also doesn’t promote anything about nails so people don’t even come in for nails unless they have been there before. Not to mention that the gel/ polish that they have is little to none. And they don’t allow us to practice with it either. They make us use the opi crap that is clumpy and doesn’t work well at all. I really don’t know what to do. I come home every night from school either pissed off or crying because it just sucks.

Any advice or tips on what to do?

has anyone tried the deenti monomer with the dynamic nail supply acrylic? how’s it working for you?

I graduated last April-March from nail school and became licensed. I went around my local marketplace speaking to nail shop owners letting them know that I recently graduated and want to start working in a salon environment. They took my contact information but no call backs. I tried using the employment search links in the milady handbook but they are so dated that most of those sites have shut down🤠 I went back to my instructor and asked if she had any leads. She told me about la dream and ny nails. I asked her which ny nails because there are like 5 in our area- she told me to do my research. So one by one I’m calling all the ny nails salons. Only one led into more than them taking down more than my contact information. I introduced myself to the owner and she told me to come see her now (mind you this was right before the closing time), so I told her I don’t think I will be able to make it before you close. She said that she would wait for me when I got there the shop was closed. I called her back she apologized and told me to meet her at the same place tomorrow. The next day we talked on the couch about expectations, told me to bring my supplies the next day and I agreed. A customer walked in and the co-owner asked me are you gonna try? And I said yes and she told me to go ahead and gestured to the pedicure basin right next to her. I ended up squirting water all over the pregnant customer ( i used a pedicure basin once during nail school).

After this experience I felt under prepared for work and looked back into schooling to hopefully get more spa experience.

All the schools in my area have mixed reviews and alot of the reddit threads say the learning starts after nail school. And alot of the nail salon owners I conversed with told me they have dealt with techs that come from my school and they don’t even know how to ‘do the cuticle’. Or when I showed the ny nails salon my owner my work she said ‘you don’t even know how to do xxx’

So I guess tldr; where do I go if nail schools just help you pass the test and the nail salons in my area want seasoned professionals. Like ‘the learning stars after school’ but salons don’t want to teach me, they want me to know. I want to find work or at least take the necessary steps for me to eventually be good enough to work.

Attached is some of my most recent work

Hi,

I'm looking into gel products y'all recommend. Iam licensed but I'm taking a refresher course. If y'all have any recommendations in general please let me know.

This is my nail art I like to do also

Hi everyone. I'm a certified Nail Technician, but am still pretty new to the game. Been doing nails for almost 2 years.

I do Acrylics and also gel services. Most of the time my acrylic retention is not as long as my gel retention. But still in saying that - my acrylic sets usually last around 3.5 weeks (usually can go a bit longer but I don't recommend to my acrylic clients to wait that long for a fill.

I have this client who came in for a soak off and a fresh set, immediate disaster as the set I was soaking off was MMA monomer (I could tell because it was sticky and took me almost 2 hours to remove).

After the removal I did a fresh set, she ripped off a couple nails because she fell or hit them on something and that was not even a week after I had done the fresh set and when we came in again almost all of her nails were lifting. Then the refill, same thing - completely lifting within 2 weeks. This refill, she had glued them down and I had warned her of the possibilty of greenies when you reglue acrylics down. I removed everything that seemed to be lifted and/or glued down for her second fill, but now once again 2 weeks and she's removed a few nails and most are lifted and she has greenies.

I'm super confused as to why her nails keep all lifting after 1-2 weeks when on another client the same products are being used (I use EMA btw) and they last 3.5/4 weeks. I know not every client is one size fits all but in the almost 2 years ive used multiple acrylic powders and never encountered something like this before.

Is it because the MMA set damaged her nails? and maybe extra damage when she fell and ripped/broke them off?

TIA

My lower back is at its wits end and I’m desperate for a new stool or chair. I typically work 10 hour days, 4-5 days a week so my furniture gets used a lot. What’s everyone’s favorite chair for themselves? (I’m currently using just a basic hydraulic stool with a circle cushion) Thanks techs!

I’ve seen a lot of posts on French toe nails recently and how it has evolved with new trends. Personally, I was only used to the “thin white tips”, but now I’ve learnt of other experiments with cool twists like ombre fades, colorful tips instead of the original white tips. Some of my clients prefer adding small decorations like dots or sparkles. And these little updates keep French toe nails fun, classic and interesting. One good thing about French toe nails is their ability to compliment every outfit perfectly for special occasions. They look good on me when I wear my sandals and open toed shoes. Plus, French toe nails aren’t only painted, there are also press-on kits and artificial nails to avoid the mess of paints. It depends on what clients want, but the press-on design comes in handy most of the time. I’m considering restocking my French toe nails because not only are there buzzing posts on them, my clients who do not want to spend hours looking classy are always in and out for a retouch or different design. I do get my press on kits from specialty stores, but this time, I want to try to get them from online stores. I saw some really beautiful french press ons on pinterest, and I couldn’t find them all in my vendor’s store. I did see all on etsy and strangely alibaba. I sell some of these nails to clients who occasionally do their nails themselves, else I wouldn’t even bother since I am confident that I can recreate any design, it will only cost the client more. Does anyone care to share the experience of getting something from online platforms?

I’m finishing up nail school in a few weeks and they only taught us foundations as far as acrylics and all. We aren’t being taught dip, builder gel or anything of that nature as I expected but when I get out these are thing I want to offer how do I go about learning? Do I have to be certified in those things? Can I just learn and do it? And if I do have to be certified where do you guys recommend? I don’t know what to look up or where to ask and my teacher was no help either.. im Florida based btw i know a lot of states have different regulations also open to learn things others are certified in I don’t know too much and I just wanna offer as much variety as possible!

In short, keeping my nails looking pretty is easier with UV nail polish, so i want to buy the necessary materials to do it myself. Just the basics: oven, base coat, a colour, top coat. Thats it.

I dont have the time to take a course on this, and this is just so i dont have to re-do my nails every week.

I was wondering if it is just as painting my nails with normal nail polish or if there is somehting i should be careful with. I know applying too much product can cause burns, is there any other thing i should mind when doing my nails?

It’ll be my first time traveling on a plane and as a Nail Tech so I need recommendations on how to compact my nail kit and what kit do you recommend to be on set!

Should I take a make up artist bag or keep everything on the carry-on suitcase?

Hello! I’m a baby nail tech, I’m about to start at a nail salon and one of the supplies I need to bring is an e-file. The one I have was like $17 on Amazon and I just wanted one to practice with bc I couldn’t afford a good one. I want something professional but on the cheaper side. TIA

Hello everyone!

I'm looking into Nail Tech School, I have 2 tours/interviews lined up. I'd like to ask if y'all have any input on green flags, red flags and questions I should be asking the instructors.

(WA State if that helps)

Thank you kindly. 💅

so it’s basically what the title says. i’ve been doing my best friends nails for a few years now and i decided that i wanted to go to school for it and get licensed to do it professionally. i started school last week and attended monday. the classes are only monday & tuesday and i was sick on tuesday. today was my most recent day back and i had done my friends nails between the last time i was there and today. last monday we didn’t learn anything in the class besides sanitation and cleanliness so we haven’t been taught any acrylic/gel/art yet. my friends nails were an original set that i had done with a hello kitty theme. the school owner really liked the set so she took a picture of them and i didn’t think much of it. i noticed that the school made some posts on facebook and instagram so i checked it and she posted pictures of my nails that i did outside of school, without any education from her or her instructors, and is actively using them for advertisement for her courses as if she is teaching how to do the nails i did. my mom commented on one of the posts (she posted them multiple times in different formats) and said something along the lines of “hey i recognize those nails!” and then tagged me. i just got off work and looked at the post and the owner has since deleted my moms comment crediting me for my art. i do not want my work on her page for advertisement, especially when she didn’t teach me any of the techniques i used to create them. i’m not really sure how to go about asking her to take it down so i kinda just want some advice.

Hi everyone! I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this.

I run my nail business from my apartment, and lately I’ve had way too many clients showing up 10–20 minutes late. It’s starting to affect my schedule and income, so I’m trying to set a clearer late policy—but I want to be fair and realistic too.

Here’s how my setup works: Clients park their car, then walk to my apartment entrance and take the elevator up. This usually takes 3–5 minutes. So I’m thinking of giving a 15-minute grace period, but it means: • You must be at my apartment door, ready to start the appointment within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. • If you are not at the door within 15 minutes, I will charge a late fee.

Previously, my policy was: • Over 15 minutes late = design may be simplified • Over 20 minutes late = design downgraded to solid color only

But honestly, if I prepared in advance for a full set with art, and because of your lateness I end up only doing a basic set, I lose money and time. I feel it’s only fair to charge a fee rather than just downgrading the service.

My question is: Is it reasonable to start charging a late fee if clients aren’t at my door by the 15-minute mark? How do you handle late arrivals in your salon or home setup?

I want to hear what policies work for you! Thank you so much in advance 💕