Nail Manicure - part 2

| November 11, 2011 |

I like to do manicures using water, warm cream and cuticle remover, depending on my client. On men it’s always a water manicure with warm cream. I rarely soak my women clients nails in water, it’s either warm cream or cuticle remover.

If I’m doing a water manicure I vary what I put in the water, but always make sure it smells great and is moisturizing. Not too perfumey, just something mild. I also like the fizzing tablets. Make sure everything you use on your clients is sanitary. For example heat up small amounts of cream at a time, use that cream for one client then throw the container & cream away. I soak each hand after I file it, then pull one hand out at a time to add the warm cream. This way the first hand can sit a few minutes before I push back the cuticles and gently wipe off all the cream and water. There is usually a little more cutting of the cuticle when doing a man’s manicure, but I still try to keep it to a minimum.

After you finish pushing and trimming the cuticles, apply a cuticle oil to the cuticle area, Gently rub it in. You don’t have to spend much time on this at all as the next step it to apply cream and then massage the hand and wrist area. Now take a little time doing this as it is usually one of the clients favorite parts.

Men usually just want a light buff on the nails so I use a chamois buffer and buffing cream. Put a small dot of cream on each nail and lightly buff until the desired shine appears. I also have nails for males on hand which is a great product, it’s much easier to apply then buffing, is matte so you can’t really see it and protects the nail better then buffing. Make sure you thoroughly clean the nail before applying polish.

The time you take to do a natural manicure will vary, but I typically do book a half an hour appointment for them. If you have someone with really bad cuticles you will easily take the half hour to finish the manicure. If it takes you less time then you have a little room to groove in your day. You can use it as catch up time if you are running behind or can sneak a client in for a repair without messing up your schedule.