The Nail Salon (from HELL)
Vanity, Daily Gibberish, ranthissimo|Earlier this evening, I went to get my nails done. I usually just get a manicure and clear polish on top. I don’t like my nails colored, I like them natural. Tonight I went to a different place because I’m not at home, so when I walked in the lady says, “Can I help yuuuu?” I said, “I need to get my nails done.” She said, “Pick out you colla.” I told her I didn’t want a color, just the clear so she told me to have a seat.
OK, my turn. I sat down and she mumbled something underneath her mask. I thought she said, “Do you want your nails done”, but what she really said was “do you want acrylic nails”. I said “yes”. Within less than 8 seconds, she completely chopped off my nails as I sat with my mouth agape and horrified. I said, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She said, “I thought you want acrylic nails.” I said NO!!! I don’t want acrylic nails! I said I wanted my nails done! She said, “You ask for manicure. Not have nails done.” I’m like F*CK! I guess I’ll have to have them now if I want any nails at all! She got up and went to get something from the sink and for the first time I understood one word she said. “Oops!”
My heart was beating out of my chest. I hate, no… LOATHE unnatural looking shit! (Unless, of course, it’s my hair, and all’s fair.) How could this be happening!?! She assures me acrylic nails are GOOD for my nails, and how strong they will be. In two weeks when they grow out, I can come back in and she’ll take the tips off. Great! I don’t even live here! You’re never touching my nails again, bitch!
About that time, she takes a dremel tool and GRINDS the tops off my nails! I thought she had set my pinkie fingernail on fire, it hurt and burned so bad. Then she ground away around my cuticles and it was painful. Like a pro, she put the nails on - which were pearlescent and so not natural - and then that powdered crap with the goop on it they use for filler. She used a different attachment to smooth down the acrylic filler part, but my nails weren’t liking any of it. She asked me if I liked them when she got done, and I said, “NO!”
They are so tender and sore. Ouch! Ouch! OUCH! There are these red streaks underneath my nails where they meet my cuticles. Never again. She is next in line to find my knee in her chest. : )
November 18th, 2007 at 9:43 am
OUCH! That’s why I REFUSE to get my nails done in places like that. The two experiences I’ve had in mall/strip-mall type places were horrible. When I DO get my nails done (which is rare), I pay the extra amount to go to a salon with an English-speaking tech who doesn’t use motorized tools. It takes longer, it costs more, but I’ve never left in pain or regretting my decision. So sorry you had to deal w/ this. I hope your nails really are better in 2 weeks!
November 18th, 2007 at 10:46 am
It feels like I have plastic dimes on top of my nails. They’re so thick, and what happens if I get dirt under them? At least the lady at the nail salon near my house knows what I want… and no, I don’t get it done that often either. But don’t you think that if a person walks in with decent looking nails that aren’t acrylic they’d think twice before chopping them all off?
November 18th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I’ve had my nails done once in my life, for my brother’s wedding about 14 years ago. I really am a tomboy, and doing all the frou-frou girlie stuff is so not my bag. I’m sorry to hear about your bad experience. I suppose it solidifies my feelings that I don’t need to have my nails done. Besides, like the episode on Seinfeld (I hope you saw it), when the manicurists are speaking a different language amongst themselves, they are always talking about the customers in a bad way. I don’t need anyone talking smack about me in front of my face, hahaha!
November 19th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Well that seals the deal for me. I’m NEVAH getting my nails done. And I so wanted a nice set of black acrylic fingernails….. NOT!!!
November 19th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Oh, honey, that is awful. You shouldn’t have red streaks. I used to get mine done around the holidays but found me some really good vitamins and mine look great now. Go to a salon near you and have those things soaked off. They do hurt your nail bed and they will distort your own nails as they grow out. I don’t care what they look like, it will be better to have them taken off sooner rather than later and your nails will recover faster. Ask the woman who normally does them for some gentle cuticle cream or oil. Or go to a Sally Beauty Supply and ask them. You may need to cover the cuticle with some neosporin first. You may need to report that salon to the State Board of Cosmetology. It sounds like they don’t need to be practicing.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
OMG Kerri! I am laughing, but only because that too has happened to me. I swear I almost “cut the bitch” when she ground my cuticles down and made them bleed!
Never again!
November 19th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I used to work in a salon and I was licensed to apply acrilic nails AND I used to have acrylic nails and the lady used a dremel tool. She NEVAH hurt me with the dremel. The fact that you were in pain is a HUGE red flag. This woman was NOT qualified to do what she was doing.
Frankly, I do NOT recommend you try to take them off any time soon. Try to let them grow out. Why? Because you are bleeding in the nail beds.
Taking them off wil peel off more nail and make them thinner and your nail beds more sensitive. At best, you will be in more pain. At medium, you will get an infection in your nail beds. At worst, you could end up with permanent damage to the growth pattern of your nails.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Holy crap! I would have left at the chopping off point! Hope you don’t get an infection. Cuticles protect the nailbed, don’t they???
November 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
On WHAT PLANET could grinding off the top of your nails be GOOD for them??? Yeah I have had this done years ago, and it MOST DEFINITELY WAS NOT good for my nails. I know what you mean about the natural look - I am right there with you. I work with too many chemicals (and tools) during the day to keep the polish looking decent for more than a day. So its not worth it.
Toes are a different story, however. :)
A couple months ago, I was getting a pedi and the salon owner was telling me about a newer thing they’re calling “backscratchers.” It supposedly entails a thinner layer of acrylic (a completely different kind, she said) and NO alteration of the nail beforehand. So basically its just a thin overlay to help your nails grow out longer and stronger. Just mentioning it in case you want to look into it as a way to protect your nails until they grow all they way back out. I’m worried they’ll be really weak when you take those acrylics off. Mine sure were. I’m sorry, hon!
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:08 am
Years ago a friend was learning to apply acrylic nails and she asked if she could practice on me. WTF was I thinking? It took hours, was painful and ruined my nails for about 4 years. They looked nice though :)
November 29th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Kissy kissy, baby. You got stripper nails. Sorry bout that. Man, I should get with you and tell you ’bout this man I’ve got a crush on….LOL…
December 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
I HAVE A COSMETOLOGY LICENSE, For those of you who insisted on going to the cheaper salons and non-speaking english, don’t complain to those who charge more and do not use a dremel such as myself, I have had more then my share of “Oh I can get this or that done cheaper” I also had people complain after I told them my good advice, they go to a cheap salon that did a lousy job and then they come back to me for more advice after they got damage done, I do not help them further as they did not listen to me in the first place.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
OK, I don’t know where you read that any of us “insisted on going to the cheaper salons”, but I’ll approve your comment anyway because we all like to rant. :)
March 16th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Acrylic nails ruin your natural nail no matter how careful the nail technician is. The constant filing and filling of the natural nail plate over time weakens the nails and can cause the nails to eventually lift from the nail bed itself.
You should never ever use a drill on the natural nail plate, ever! nor cut the cuticles, they are there for a reason, a natural buffer to keep dirt and debris from entering near the matrix (root of the nail)
not to mention that some women have been having acrylics done for 10 + years and never had a problem, yet go in for a fill and experience an allergic reaction.
I would order from fingernailcare.com I get my nail cream there, the forum will attest to how many this cream has worked for. Just read the forum for horror stories related to fake nails. You don’t need me to convince you.
I bit my nails for 22 years and now have long, strong pink nail beds and white tips.
This cream works! you can have natural nails, even if you don’t even look into the cream I beg you to please please cease going for fake nails, they will ruin your hands, not to mention the infections you can pick up from unsanitary salons
March 16th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
The red streaks you talk of are called “Rings Of Fire” and it’s from drilling of the natural nail plate.
I can’t believe the incompetence of these discount nail stores, I am not racist but it always seems to be vietnamese or Korean nationality , just like the Indian community in the UK rip off the British at their corner stores.
April 3rd, 2010 at 9:08 pm
So can anyone recommend a good place in San Diego where I could find an english speaking tech who does NOT use motorized tools…?