Thinking of getting my nails done in local nss

[leonnib]

my experience is fine also.. i go every 2 weeks and my nails are fine no soreness, nothing.. atmosphere is friendly my nails look fab and they do a great job..
but ive been too a few and there not all brilliant so its finding a good one ....but ive tried non- nss also and again wasnt brilliant so ive stuck to the one im with now

 

[angel fingers]

If your good friends with any of the girl who go to the NSS to have their nails done why don't you tag along? Don't think it's uncommon for a friend to accompany someone. Then you can watch what they do, but no damage to your own nails x

this is my advice too.
if you really must see whats going on, go in with one of your colleagues when they have their nails done.

 

[kel's25]

i have had my nails done at a nss where im originally from (before i knew about mma) i have to say i was really happy, they didnt over drill my nail and used the one bead technique.

However i have since moved and there is one nss in town, her nails are thick bulky and ugly looking every infill she has done on my clients has a ring of fire. so i think its down to the nail technician, technique training and product.

with the mma nails they have such superior strength my nails dont compete with that, ive had some clients swap over to me but found my nails break more than nss nails. do you think that due to the mma properties and the unnatural thickness of the nails?

xx

 

[katiebbaby]

Lately I have had lots of 18-20 yr old girls coming to me to get there nails done and i am sick of hearing the same old story about these nss salons, There nails are in an awful state,,,and where I live they charge nearly £30 for a full set so I would not say necesserily cheap.

One client was telling me how the technician pushes her side walls and eponychium with his long nail, and it really hurts, and how the drill makes her feel like crying and she cant sleep as her fingers throb, she goes home and has 2 paracetamol before bed, I amazes me why, but young girls (predominantly) think this is normal. One client said how she is so relieved she doesnot have to go back there anymore, she thinks I am super clever as I educate her about how nails need to be looked after and why it's important to use specific grits of file etc,,,no im just educated by a good company and passionate about nail care,, unfortunatly most nss salons are more concerned about the LOOK of ne nail and £££$$$$.. not the natural nail, otherwise they would realise that it HURTS to yank nails off and burn peoples nails,,yes they are talented, but no passion, imo

 

[Natalieabdn]

i have had my nails done at a nss where im originally from (before i knew about mma) i have to say i was really happy, they didnt over drill my nail and used the one bead technique.

However i have since moved and there is one nss in town, her nails are thick bulky and ugly looking every infill she has done on my clients has a ring of fire. so i think its down to the nail technician, technique training and product.

with the mma nails they have such superior strength my nails dont compete with that, ive had some clients swap over to me but found my nails break more than nss nails. do you think that due to the mma properties and the unnatural thickness of the nails?

xx

I would try and educate your clients about the use of MMA (not good).

Have you read this?

http://www.salongeek.com/health-safety-unatural/2698-mma.html

xx

 

[angel fingers]

they dont have much talent in my town. just look like little spatulas.
but they are quick.

'yer pays yer money, yer takes yer choice'

im not short of clients, each to their own.

 

[MissOwen]

I went to my local one before i started training. Heres what i remember.

Nail plate roughed with a sanding band on a nail drill.
Brushed with manicure brush.
Tips applied.
Acrlic applied in one large bead.
Filed over with drill.
Sent to wash hands.
Passed to a different lady to have french tip airbrushed on then a top coat applied.
Sat with hands under some sort of lamp, nt sure if it was a dryer or a uv lamp though.
Checked by another lady 5 minutes later.
Nails sprayed with something in a tin.... i guess its some sort of setting thing!
Pay another lady.
Leave.

I thought they were great at the time, i didnt have to book an appointment, i didnt have to wait, it was cheap, i had rock hard nails which seemed like a good thing when i didnt know anything!!

But, only went back for infill (and it was just that!) once!! Mostly because non of the people in the shop spoke a great deal of english (this is not a racist comment in anyway!) which made it hard to comminicate what i wanted to them. They also sat, obviously chatting about my nails (i'm a biter) in a language that i couldnt understand, which made me really paranoid about what they were saying!!! Also, all the passing from one person to the next nade me feel a bit like a production line product!!

The speed of the service was great, the lack of a friendly customer service was what i thought it was lacking.

My friend has always gone to the same NSS that i did until recently. I now go to her, and she always says how nice it is to feel relaxed. She is also really pleased that her fingers arent red and sore for 48 hours after having them done!!!

I work on providing the things the NSS cant, a friendly, one to one service, where my client feels important and well looked after.
I also choose not to bother worrying about them, some people will see the light sometime and decide to get their nails done in a nicer manner, some wont!!!

Just remember, every NSS is different! The one local to me may be a completely different to your own local salon. Some are good and some are bad!!! If your local NSS provides a good, cheap, quick service, people are going to use it!!!

Hope this helps a bit

Just to add (after Bagpuss highlighted in her post) I'm on no way saying this is ok! Its not, it gives me the heeby jeebies now when i think about it! I was simply listing the steps i remember to give the original poster the information she asked for :hug:

 

[skankinchar]

I must admit that I too have used these salons. I have had a couple of bad experiences, namely having my cuitcles filed with the drill (ouch) and having the man who was doing my nails digging his long nails into the sides of my fingers
eventually i saw the light and have found myself a lovely new tech who doesnt abuse my nails and gives me a fantastic set of acrylics

 

[Lynne Baker]

This is what is attracting so many clients!...
The 'NSS' because they are providing more people with what they want! Quick, inexpensive and perfect nails and fewer instances of extreme damage!

And therein lies the rub. These are the skills that nail techs need to develop: the ability to deliver quick, inexpensive and perfect nails without damaging the natural nail.

 

[Mrs Geek]

You know what - we talk about NSS but who the hell really knows if the salon is NON STANDARD or not??? Why because someone from an Asian background works there? That's insane! I could mention a tonne of salons in Leeds that you could call NSS for many reasons and all are run by white girls (is that the correct thjisng to say??? who the hell knows???). Just because someone is from China, Korea, Philappines, Vietnam DOES NOT MAKE THEIR SALON NON-STANDARD! My god how RACIST is that?

Many of these 'discount salons' (lets call them discount becasue that is most definiatly what thye are - cheaper than the norm) are decent at doing nails. Sure their PREP can be questionaable... but blimey - I have seen nail teks cause as much damage if not more, with a 240 grit file in a Conversion!!! :smack:

The reason people like going to discount salons is what???

SPEED!!!

Yes that is probably the main reason - Speed. It IS possible to do a beautiful full set in an hour without comprimising the health of the natural nail.:!::idea:

Quit bleeting about discount salons and get on with your own business. There are women who want speed and dont care about a relationship with their nail tek. Then we have many more who DO want that relationship - they come to YOU!!

I sound frustrated yes... I just wish people would stop getting on their high horse about MMA / EMA / NSS - you have no idea what is even in that bottle until you do a test!!!

Isn't it better that we try and work together and educate discount salons? The Asian race is very humble race of people and they also want to do a good job. They are hard working and deserve some respect. Of course I know not ALL discount salons will do a good job - many don't but the point is many do!!

What about all those teks who learnt back in 1992 and have had absolutely NO updated education since... I know who I would prefer to go to!!!

 

[mum]

Well said Samantha!!!

How many hideous nails have we all seen that have nothing to do with NSS, MMA OR RACE!!!!

 

[persianista]

To be fair, I have no idea if the salon I went to was what you term NSS or not. She appeared very skilled and very fast. At no time was I aware of any lack of hygeine. She didn't hurt me at all and when I soaked the nails off my own nails were ok underneath.
Reading on this forum that it takes around an hour and a half to do a full set for a trained tech, I assumed my 40 minute job was NSS.

 

[PeepPaws]

Errr,,,,,Hellooooo :bestest sarky voice:

If your clients want speed,,,offer the PopIts!!

 

[nixxxminxx39]

hi there

I used to go and have my nails done at one of those salons, when i finally took them off, my nails were paper think and i had dents in my natural nails where the tip had been, took 4 months to get my nails to look half decent again, kept using opi nail envy on them and that sorted them out, but still thin...

heres what they did, no pushing back of cuticles or removal of cuticle, just away with the nail drill till nail plate quite thin, apply tip, then start with white acrylic on the tip, they used a another tip to quickly flick it so they got the smile line....never known anyone else do this?

and they do all 10 tips like that with the white acrylic, then start putting the pink on.
then nail drill out again to shape nail...
ask you to wash your hands
cuticle oil on and buff up with the nail drill with buffer attachment on
they look really good, but problem starts when go for infills each timen youn get a slight line...and also fishy kind of smell when they use the drill to take down the acrylic to infill it.
i stopped going as very rude, they don't talk to you, and do not understand what you want sometimes. have to say they are good at nail art...but they do knacker nails so would not advise you to go, but is a learning curve i suppose, thing is you'll be wanting to scream at them not to do this or that...nail drills are not good, in my opinion...even when you say to them my nails are thin so not much drilling they just do what they want......
anyway there you have it my experience, went to 2 different places and they did exactly same thing...

 

[dolly666]

I used to wear these nails when it was time to take them off after a year of infills my nails were paper thin.Ok for short term use but if u care about the health of your nails id only go to a hygenic salon now.
The language barrier gets in the way u dont really get what u want unless u want "white tips" cos that the only phrase they understand.Not good.

 

[Susie H]

The first salon I ever went to employed English girls who had trained at Northampton collage, They used an e-file to strip my nail, they applied a form, sculpted a perfect white tip and then filled zone 2&3 with pink, shaped with the e-file and then passed me to the work experience girl who used a block file followed by a sealing polish, by the end of six months I had rings of fire but apart from that the nails were spot on. shape etc.
We have a lot of nail bars in our town, I wouldn't set foot in them, they look dirty from the out side and at the end of day leave their work stations with half filled pots of monimor etc.
But nns? No, most of them are not. They are owned by one family, who also has direct import for OPI, which I think we can all agree are good products. They are all well trained, as were those English girls all those years ago.
But when the public doesn't care and just wants a set of £20 porn star nails then you either slap it on and shove them out the door or, you offer something more. These nail bars don't offer spa mani and pedi or glitter tips and I've only seen a couple of them offer 3d nail art and they have clean shops and offer retail products.
You should stop worrying about what they are doing and start worrying about what you are not doing. I was smack bang in the middle of town but I had plenty of clients, of all ages, they came to me for many reasons, yes for some it was because I spoke English and they could have a good old gossip with me over a cuppa, some it was because they liked to people watch and my station was in the window and for others it was so they could gawk at the tattooists work with out having one done, but whether they were 16 or 60 they all got the same thing from me, my best work and the end result that they wanted. People will pay more, but they have to see for themselves why they are paying more.

 

[MissOwen]

Well I'm interested now. What is the label NSS supposed to cover?! In my mind i see a NSS as a salon that provides little or no prep routine, no choice of application technique, no real enhancement shape (no apex) and poor hygiene. I also associate the term with poor use of nail drills.

I dont think it centres on any particular race, i didnt mention any race in my previous post, merely that they didnt have good english skills, which i think is poor when working in an english speaking country. I wouldnt open a business in Spain without learning Spanish!!

To be honest, to the original poster, the only way you will know if your local 'nss' is really competition to your business, is to go in either to have your nails done or with a friend!!! Either you'll come out with a nice cheap set of nails, or you'll come out with sore fingers wondering why anyone would ever go there!!!

 

[Scottish_girl]

Ive went to my local Nss twice befor ei decided to do nails, it was recommended to my by a friend, who said it was "quick and cheap"

When i went in i was asked if i wanted white or natural tips, below is how it went after that!

• Filed my nn with nail drill (burnt me)
• brushed over nails with a nail brush
• applied tips
• applied a clear liquid (im presuming it was a primer) (burnt me again)
• applied clear acrylic with a brush that i wud of said was at least a size 20!
• filed until smoother again with nail drill
• told me to wash my hands
• applyed nail art
• applied a uv top coat (my whole nails seems to be on fire by this point! to which i was told is normal, knowing no different i just stayed still!)
• Moisturiser

then paid and left, all in all it took about 45mins

My nails had huge indentations when the acrylic started growing out and when i finally had them removed the fish smell was eye watering!!

DONT DO IT!!

 

[sachi]

The salons that many of you are talking about so often use MMA which needs a physical bond to the nail plate so a drill is often used. This is the worst aspect. They do this because this is how they have been taught and these are the products they have been supplied with. MMA is not banned but it is inappropriate to be used for nails

My bad. Here in my state, it is banned to be used in Nail salons and if they are caught with it they are fined.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs Geek View Post
You know what - we talk about NSS but who the hell really knows if the salon is NON STANDARD or not??? Why because someone from an Asian background works there? That's insane! I could mention a tonne of salons in Leeds.

Um... The smell for 1! The smell of and MMA salon will kill you in no time! My head hurt every time i left!
And the way they prep the nail for 2!
and lets not forget... how strong this crap is! So no, I will not get off my Horse thank you very much! I will tell every one I meet what a good set should be!
and MMA aside! Lets talk about the ring of fire on the poor nail bed! NOW, if you know a salon that is all Asian and they DON'T use MMA and they DON'T put a ring of fire on all the girls they touch... then THIS post is not about them. Be it Asian, White, Black, Red, or flipping Purple and Green, the point is the girls are in the OP story ARE getting poor nails!

 

[Mrs Geek]

Um... The smell for 1! The smell of and MMA salon will kill you in no time! My head hurt every time i left!
And the way they prep the nail for 2!
and lets not forget... how strong this crap is! So no, I will not get off my Horse thank you very much! I will tell every one I meet what a good set should be!
and MMA aside! Lets talk about the ring of fire on the poor nail bed! NOW, if you know a salon that is all Asian and they DON'T use MMA and they DON'T put a ring of fire on all the girls they touch... then THIS post is not about them. Be it Asian, White, Black, Red, or flipping Purple and Green, the point is the girls are in the OP story ARE getting poor nails!

Sachi I am very aware of all this and I think you missed my point! :grr: