Home Maintenance and Nail Oil

I recently had a conversation with a nail professional who was complaining that her clients do not cooperate with her when it comes to home maintenance. She explains to them the importance of home maintenance, the use of high-quality nail oil, etc. She even gives each client written instructions and a complimentary bottle of nail oil. However, they just don’t do it. So they continually have service breakdowns because of the nail plate and product being too dry.

Often when nail professionals say the enhancement is too “dry”, they really mean too brittle. Too “dry” would mean that the coating contained too little water since dry is the opposite of wet. But these coatings do NOT contain water. Saying enhancements are too dry isn’t very descriptive and misses the point. It can prevent a proper understanding of the real causes of the issue: that the nails are too brittle and not because they lack moisture.  Nail oils don’t add moisture to reduce dryness, that’s not how they work.  Instead, they reverse the brittleness of the nail coating by absorbing into the plate to increase flexibility.  They allow the nail layers to slide past each other more easily. Since the real problem is brittleness, a good solution is to reverse brittleness with nail oil.  

When it comes to the product, my advice is to first ensure the correct application techniques are in use. Review the product’s application instructions to ensure you’re not deviating from the proper procedures. If you are, this should be the first thing you suspect is the reason for the nail coating’s brittleness.

If problems continue and you are sure everything is correct, talk to the client about their lifestyle. Are they doing something that is increasing brittleness? Like not wearing gloves when cleaning, excessive hand washing, overuse of hand sanitizer, etc? Some clients wash their hands dozens of times a day. This is too much and can lead to nail brittleness and skin irritation. Providing proper information is the best way to ensure clients are adhering to their home maintenance.

Explain to them the best way to prevent nail enhancements from becoming brittle is with regular use of high-quality nail oil for home maintenance.  They work much like a leather conditioner that prevents brittleness in leather. Explain that what they do with their hands is out of your control and you provide them with nail oil to keep the enhancements in top shape. Explain that your extra repair work with every appointment costs you time and materials and that you will have to charge extra for these.

If they are still unwilling to properly maintain their nails, then I would indeed charge them for the extra repair time or I’d fire them as a client. Wearing artificial nail coatings requires proper maintenance. Those who refuse to properly maintain their nail coatings should not wear them. Here is a tip for encouraging the use of nail oils: tell the client that while they are watching their favorite TV shows each night, to use the time to apply the nail oil and massage them into the nail and surrounding skin. Reminders like this may help them remember if their checkbook doesn’t. Any client that does NOT take the responsibility to properly maintain their enhancements is bound to cost you time and money making unnecessary repairs.