How to save your clients’ nails with these 10 tricks

Dear fellow nail technician here as you know our clients are not all the same some come with a variety of nail problems.

In this article, I will endeavor to explain in detail all the nail issues you may encounter on your clients’ hands, and how to help them solve the problem.

• Onychomycosis how to deal with it, knowing how to recognize it;
• Onycholysis, a very common condition with improper manicure;
• oily nail is not a problem, just choose the right adhesion promoter;
• smalt coming off? Perhaps it could be onychotillomania, or a poorly done manicure, read further.

Pathologies and Enamel

Mycosis Onychomycosis and Semi-permanent nail polish? Just like the skin, nails can also be affected by diseases capable of compromising health and beauty.

We cannot afford to work on any kind of nail, trying to make a profit regardless. Our, your job is also to safeguard your client’s health, certain nails first need specific medical care!!!

So thanks to your experience and professionalism, you can also advise your client to go to their general practitioner or doctor of duty.

This will not only build trust, but also create positive word of mouth for your image! Believe me.

What to do in case of Onychomycosis Mycosis and Semi-permanent nail polish?

A good nail technician, should be able to know elements of dermatology and morphology of the hands and nails and to recognize all possible color changes or diseases; to know perfectly what is to be treated while also solving problems arising from neglect.

In the case of specific issues, an excellent nail technician must know when she can proceed with her work, and when she cannot.

In your relationship with your client, being able to provide her with correct and appropriate information based on the issue she presents to you will be a plus point.

All of these, surely, are topics that can be learned through a good training course; I will simply list the most common issues.

These notions are really important for your work because sometimes it’s better to say no to a client but let’s delve into the various topics related to, and not limited to, Onychomycosis Mycosis and Semipermanent Nail Polish.

Nail problems

Knowing nail problems and their triggers is crucial to recognizing their symptoms early and treating them in a targeted way.

Strong elastic and shiny, pinkish-colored nails may lose their original appearance; due to infections of various kinds their development will be altered by dystrophies or possible malformations.

The nail surface may lose uniformity , the physiological thickness becomes distorted, and the typical transparency of the nail plate gives way to a color ranging from white to yellow to dull gray.

Trauma, poor hygiene, hypersweating and the presence of certain diseases can all contribute to the onset of mycosis.

Let me begin by pointing out that an oily nail is not a sick or problematic nail, it is simply a characteristic of the person like having a “dry” nail.

In case you are faced with such a nail, the advice I can give you is to mattify the nail well before the manicure and apply an acid primer.

The latter is an adhesion promoter that will help you with oily nails so you don’t have nail polish peeling or chipping.

And now back to us, listing together below the disorders from which nails can be affected, delving into them with details useful to your professional craft.

Onychomycosis and
Semi-permanent nail polish

Among the most common and widespread nail disorders is onychomycosis, also called mycosis of the nail, an infection caused by mycetes and fungi that proliferate beneath the nail coat and go so far as to destroy the nail; capable of attacking tissues rich in keratin, a protein in skin and nails.

Onychomycosis mostly affects the toenails, causing an unpleasant appearance.

One can come in contact with this type of fungus in environments such as swimming pools and gyms. Nail mycosis can also be promoted by trauma (even mild, but repeated).

Nails grow dull, thicker, jagged, and tend to break and flake. In severe cases, the nails even go as far as lifting and falling off.

The moment you find one of your clients with this kind of problem, the best thing to do is to advise her to have a visit to her general practitioner or whomever.

Treating a nail with onychomycosis is really risky, you could attack it yourself and even worse to your clients, yes of course you sterilize the tools but the nail polish brush does not.

You never know, better to be fussy and obnoxious than sympathetic jibes! Now that you know in case of Onychomycosis and Semipermanent Nail Polish what should you do?

Under no circumstances should you treat a nail with onychomycosis; this advice will allow you to work ethically and professionally.

Onychodystrophy

Onychodystrophy presents with a change in the normal shape of the nail plate; it is an alteration of the nails also caused by physical trauma, mainly affecting the thumb or big toe. It presents with defective nail development, the surface is jagged and wavy, and they break and chip easily.

In the most common cases, onychodystrophy, it affects only one nail on the hand or foot (thumb or big toe). This issue can also arise from using manicure or pedicure tools that have not been disinfected, so I always recommend thorough sterilization to avoid onychodystrophy from an inflammatory origin.

These are important notions, because surely you are working properly, but unfortunately many are posing as professionals and can cause this issue that you will address with flying colors and resolve the harm caused by third parties to your client.

In cases of nail dystrophy, of posttraumatic origin, the nails are more brittle tending to break, chip or flake, the surface appears jagged and wavy with altered color.

Onychopsoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease that generally affects the skin, but can go so far as to affect adnexal tissues, such as the nails; thus naming itself onychopsoriasis.

This condition can attack different age groups, less frequent on older people, nails affected by onychopsoriasis may arise more typically during a period of high stress.

Nail psoriasis is part of autoimmune diseases, meaning that the body has an altered immune system, and responds to bacterial and viral attacks to a greater extent than normal.

In cases of onychopsoriasis, the nails tend to thicken, discoloring or yellowing resulting in more brittle nails; leading to dystrophies or malformations of the nails, the nails lose their healthy, strong and shiny appearance.

With nail psoriasis, it is essential to do proper prevention, so it is imperative to know how to recognize the problem by always advising your client to visit her primary care physician or directly to a dermatologist.

Onycholysis

Onycholysis is a condition that causes total or partial disconnection of the lamina from the nail bed, generally the process of onycholysis starts from the margins or the lower (distal or lateral) part.

Often this condition is confused with onychomycosis, we must be careful when we are faced with a client with this type of nail!

Because visually they are very similar, a proper history with the right questions will help you differentiate it without any doubt.

The most common cause of this is due to trauma, even minor trauma, such as: a manicure done incorrectly, where the reconstruction tip is removed by positioning itself at 45° instead of 90°, or shoes that are too tight where the nail of the big toe repeatedly goes to bang against the shoe thus causing micro-trauma by lifting the nail.

This is the onset at traumatic onycholysis.

The signs of detachment are:

• The irregularity of the border between the pink and white part of the nail
• The dulling of a large part of the nail bed

Senile lines or Beau’s lines or wavy nails

Fingernails may have irregular grooves or depressions for several reasons. If these marks affect only one finger, the depressions may be the result of trauma such as too aggressive manicuring. When all nails are simultaneously wavy, however, systemic conditions are more likely to be present.

If more or less deep furrows appear, transverse to the surface of the nail plate, they are called Beau’s lines. These depressions reflect a slowdown or interruption of proximal matrix activity. If Beau’s lines are multiple, on the same nail, they indicate repeated damage. Visually, the nail appears concave; various may be the causes of Beau’s lines:
– Traumatic: manicure, onychotillomania
– Dermatological
– Systemic

Beau’s lines or senile lines, also called wavy nails, most often, can be attributed to microtrauma or the side effects of certain medications, which progress distally with nail growth, or they can arise due to an iron or keratin deficiency.

This issue is easily solved with a nice manicure with a special product that, modesty aside , we sell from the Frida line our Ultra Repair. Buy it Ultra Repair Frida Kit.

Vertical lines or onychoress

The appearance of vertical streaks on the surface of people’s nails can depend on several conditions.

The client presenting you with this type of disorder will show you a nail plate with many parallel lines, which are in a vertical direction and may be more or less pronounced. At the same time, the nail may be thinned and brittle.

Nails with vertical lines are also common in older people; in this case it is a phenomenon related to the natural aging process of the nail.
Vertical lines can be attributed to:

• nail fragility
• trauma
• onychophagy

In any case, regardless of the three points above, what I can recommend is a nice manicure so as to gently and thoroughly smooth the nail; and then proceed with the application of semi-permanent nail polish or gel or acrigel. Your choice !

Onychophagia

Onychophagia is a very common disorder, also called “nail biting.” Very common behavior, occurring at any age.

What to do with people who gnaw their nails until blood comes out!

The best approach is, in addition to listing the damage you inflict, to do a manicure to rebuild the nail. The best product I can recommend for this type of problem isAcrygel applied with dual forms; so you can protect the natural nail from any nail starvation attacks.

Helping it grow, and restoring it to a healthy, visually pleasing appearance, without forgetting that by doing so we protect not only our nails but also our tooth enamel!

Onychophagia tends to represent people who are under stress or somewhat anxious; however, here I do not intend to examine the medical-scientific aspects or psychological causes, which are the task of professional specialists.

We will treat (you and I) exclusively the cosmetic issue, obviating the possible damage of onychophagy by nail enhancement with a perfect manicure as you know how to do!

Onychotillomania

Another issue to combat? Onychotillomania!

In this issue, the client repeatedly teases her nails causing parallel grooves and ridges to appear.

It most often appears in nails where the cuticles are routinely pushed back causing nail dystrophy during growth; in cases of onychotillomania, nails with bleeding can be found.

Here again your patience must be a lot, take a stern; but still friendly and understanding attitude, in such cases can give a good shake to your client who is literally destroying her nails! Remind her that the more she ruins them the more patient she will have to be to see results and improvements on her own hands.

You can treat this issue with a nice gel build-up, so your nails will be strong durable and beautiful to look at.

Onychoschizia lamellina

Lamelline onychoschizia, this big word, is the most common form of nail brittleness that almost exclusively affects fingernails.

Common in the female sex between the ages of 20 and 40, this is the most susceptible age group; it may also occur more frequently in the winter months.

It presents with a flaking of the most superficial layers of the orrizzontal lamina in its distal proximal part.

The lamina breaks at the free margin, continuous use of nail polish or unprofessional manicures thus leading to nail fragility that is evidenced by small patches that flake/peel easily.

For this issue I suggest you look at how extensive the lamellar onychoschizia is, if you should have a person with very brittle nails before doing a manicure with application, of the product she requested, you should treat her nail with a defensive and strengthening product (such as our Nail Repair Frida click Here ) for at least a month or else you risk the enamel lifting. What is more optimal is to sell her the product so the client does it herself for the days you require, after which you can start with your own aesthetic manicures.

If, on the other hand, you get a client with a mild lamellar onychoschizia, you can proceed with your work perhaps by strengthening her nails with a gel or acrigel reconstruction.

Leuconichia

The presence of white spots on the nails are simple nail discolorations, commonly called “leuconichia.”

These white spots, are inside the nail move distally as the nail grows and often disappear before reaching the free edge.

Leuoconichia is an alteration of the nail plate, characterized precisely by the appearance of this white speckles, not as grandma used to say “lack of calcium.”

This feature, may be due to microtrauma (e.g., poorly done manicures) or altered growth of the nail itself leading to the creation of air bubbles between the keratinocytes.

Leuconichia corresponds to areas of altered maturation of the matrix (root) of the nail that produces clusters of immature, nontransparent cells that reflect light causing the white color.

It can affect two or three fingers on the hands and has no worrisome consequences, as the white specks grow with the nail and gradually disappear.

Conclusions

As you well know, dear friend, as a nail technician it is critical to recognize the issues described above. By trying to list the most frequent problems, I hope to have given you important notions, reminding not only you, the future nail technician, that it is important to work professionally.

Only then will you get flawless manicure work.

I feel like I’ve said it all !!!
I greet you dearest and thank you for your attention.

Happy Nail from Roberta of FridaCosmetics!