I imagine many of you have used cleansers, acetone or dehydrators after prep and before application for years. Here at Nail Order we believe that not only is it an unnecessary step but it may actually be affecting your retentions and here we explain why.
First imagine a natural sponge, where when exposed to water it swells and becomes more flexible, then when it’s devoid of all moisture it shrivels and becomes more brittle. This is pretty much how the natural nail acts when exposed to (or removed of) moisture. Now imagine this sponge covered in gel when it’s at its most dry, then think about what would happen to that gel if that sponge was rehydrated, it would flex and expand. It is our belief that it's this flexing action of the gel, once applied onto over dehydrated nails that can cause lifting.
Another reason that using additional liquids before application could cause retention issues is that some nail techs may not be waiting for the liquids to completely dry before starting with their gel application.
What do we recommend instead?
Our best practice, that we recommend, is to sanitise (we like to use our hand sanitiser/ multi purpose spray) the hands and nails prior to beginning the prep. This way, by the time you have completed your prep the body has naturally rehydrated the nails (at least to a degree) back to their more natural state, reducing this flex. Whilst gel should flex a little with the natural dehydration and rehydration of the nail, the nail is seldom exposed directly to products designed to extract all moisture.
Our second recommended step, once you have completed your prep, is to perform thorough dry dusting, to remove all debris from the nail plate.
Lastly we recommend the use of our primer or Xprime with all of our gel treatments (unless using Xprep for Xtensions). This in itself will assist in cleansing the nail plate and leave the surface primed and ready for gel. Its always important to ensure that primers are fully dry before commencing with your gel application.
This may be a practice you struggle to get your head around but trust us, it works and we have had so many nail techs report an overall improvements in their retention with various brands they use.
@nailorder Nail techs often ask us why we don’t recommend the use of acetone or dehydrators after prep when it comes to applying our gel products. Let us explain why!💅✨ #nailtech #naildehydrator ♬ Cafe music, corporate VP, comfortable(1277239) - zukisuzuki