I need some advice for the last year I have had my nails done with by a friend of mine and they were excellent she has now gone to Australia for three months  so I had them taken off well I missed them and decided to have them back on, problem is I got gel nails they looked like I had put them on in the dark myself and after 24hrs they had all lifted and one fell off when I camplained to the lady she said that gel nails dont suit everyone no refund, no offering to do them again nothing. Is it true not all people can were gel nails or am I being fed a load of bull
Mary

Hi, I can't say I have experience of gel nails, but surely they should have lasted longer than 24 hours and looked nice to begin with! Did she mention beforehand that they don't suit everybody?  I think she should have offered some compensation.

Fiona

No she didnt say anything about them not suiting everyone I have had a set of acrylics(sp) put on and am much happier well at least I wont be going back there to get them done again and I wont advise anyone else to either
Mary

My pal is a nail technician and she says its bull. Stick to acrylics and dont pay to have them re-balanced just get em redone at the usual intervals.

to be honist shes got it the wrong way round gel nails are far more flexible then acrylic and should stay on . im not sure exactly whats gone wrong here ,did you put your hands in oil or cream? acetone nail polish remover on them ? if not it  probably is bad prep work sounds like bad work all together. fiberglass is stronger , but the best kind of nails i think is a brand of nails called cal gel . thats what i now use and it stays on and for you nail polish lovers you can have 30 perminate colours put on . although this will grow out but you can get the colours re filled ;)
Unfortunalty even thou shes done a bad job and it is a bad job the nails should stay put or she should at least try to re stick the bits lifting!. there are no current quailfications needed to be a nail tec . so any old person can apply them thats when you start to get problems like infections of the nails often you will see lots of forgien people in a salon who dont have any . I went to college 3 yrs to be a beauty therapist although you have to be quaified to do the rest of the body nails are yet to become part of the law , and when dealing with the body there should be care and knowlege taken :(  it does get me mad that some girls have a day training and think there a beauty therapist , there not there a beautician ! 3 years ago i was planning to open my own salon but . Im thinking about being a dermatologist  its another years training but sounds a cool job :D

I always have gel nail extensions and they are fab.
I've had acrylics before and they make my nails disgusting and flaky, I would never have them again!

What a load of rubbish, I'm a newly qualified nail tec and have only put around 20 sets of gel nails on up to now but they have all lasted longer than that. I don't think gel are as strong in my opinion, I think acrylic are the strongest. I would have kicked up a stink. was she working in a shop?

the trouble is that acrylic is strong but not fexi so where the nail should bend a certain amount they dont and thats often why they come off , ive used about 6 types of gel and some are very poor , you can basicly peel them off , and others are as strong as acrylic but  flexible . having said that fiberglass or silk nails are alot stronger as the bond from a rough to rough surface is greater then a smooth product being applied .
I first started out with acrylics and i dont like the heavyness to them plus the smells not great and toxic plently of nail tecs have perminate migranes now.
My friend owns a well know nail catalogue and she only uses gel , pretty much the same reasons as i do
Now i use cal gel ,organic and wont ruin your nails . you should give it a go i dont think youd look back

i do calgel nails and have done for 2 yrs now. it sounds like bad prep to be honest off the nail tech who did your nails, as youve had nails before youll have an idea of the end result and with you saying it looks like she'd put them on in the dark then i think she didnt do a good job at all :( people like this shouldnt be allowed to be doing nails on people as it gives the rest of us a bad name who take care when doing nails properly. Gel nails are far more flexible than acrylic which is why they are suited to the kind of client who wants a more natural looking/flexible extension which this lady should have gone through with you before starting the treatment with you in the first place. Calgel and biosculpture and both more flexible than other gels as they are the soak off ones the otehr gels are more 'harder' and are therefore suited to a client that uses their nails a lot and need a strong gel to keep them perfect.Also is you returned in 24 hours to you she should of done something than just nothing, she could have offered you a free soak off/manicure to put your nails back to normal condition at least!

nails :0)

Thanks to everyone who replied it is so hard to find anyone round here who knows what they are doing most of the salons send people on 2day courses and then let them loose on the general public, it would be great if they were regulated and you could find out who had done a proper course.
Mary

Hi,

I have a question for all gel nail techs... I started having gel nail applications in mid-June.  I've been there 3 times so far, but a week ago, when I was there for my application, 3-4 days later, the gel started lifting.  I went back last Friday to redo 4 nails which the gel had completely lifted off.  She redid the 4 nails and by Sunday they came off again. :(  I'm very dissapointed since I really liked having nice nails.  Should I go back?  They are all licensed in that salon so I was sure it was ok.  Where like 6-7 co-workers that go there and I'm the only one having this issue.  Is this normal?  Today, I have 6 gel nails and 4 without, not a pretty sight. :(  and 2 more could come off, if I'd pick at it for a bit, the white part is not even stuck to my nail.  Any advice?