The Challenges of Qualifying as a Nail Technician from Home

After 4 years of painting my own nails (and my family’s), I decided I would take the plunge and become a qualified technician – why not earn a little extra cash from the hobby that I absolutely love?

After trawling through the internet for months trying to do decide what course to do (home learning or college/ beauty school) – as there are so many differences between the suppliers and prices varied from cheap (and too good to be true) to the ridiculously expensive. In the end, I decided to do a Full Nail Tech Course at home with a mid-range company where I would be sent the products I needed to pass and had the choice of free resubmission if I needed it.

The next day, I called the company who arranged everything for me. Due to this being a learning at home course I needed to set up a username and password for the student support website – this is an online chat/email service where you can consult with qualified instructors to help with any difficulties on the course.

I couldn’t wait to get started when all my parcels arrived – each course came in a different box. I had four boxes come all together, Spa Manicure and Pedicure, Gel Extensions, UV Gel Polish and Acrylic Extensions, it felt like all my birthdays and Christmas’ had come at once with the number of products I now had for professional use.

I decided to start with the basics (Spa Manicure and Pedicure) I watched the DVD and made notes and I was determined I was going to whizz through this course as I already knew most of the techniques due to doing my own nails for years. What I wasn’t prepared for was learning all the correct terminology for the nails, hands, legs and feet – I wouldn’t consider myself to have a high academic ability and at school/college I had always preferred creative subjects. This is where the doubt crept in, I never once thought about what if I fail, I always thought it would be easy I knew how to do nails which definitely made me naïve. Of course, it’s not easy – people study and perfect their technique for years before mastering it! I completed the test papers necessary, but part of the exam is to send in photos of my work on a live client in six different case studies with the polish that the course wanted, I found it difficult to find the time to do other people’s nails. I still had a full-time job as well as a part-time job and it was coming up the busiest time of year at my work, add into the mix I don’t drive and didn’t live that close to my parents it was a struggle to find anyone willing to wear the colours that they wanted.

So, I decided to start another course and I would try to find clients when I could. So I started gel extensions, I knew this one would be difficult as I had previously tried to do my own and it ended badly! After a year or two I had found my preferred products (a bottle builder gel) and regularly did gel overlays over my natural nails but now I had to use the products they provided – they were great quality products, but I always disliked using a brush with a builder gel in a pot and that is exactly what I would have to use. I watched the DVD, made notes and completed all the test papers (8 in total).

Once I had completed the exams, the practical training was next. This time, I thought it would be quicker as they didn’t want me to practice on live models they provided a practice hand and nails – I fell at the first hurdle. I struggled to glue the tips onto the nails without air bubbles, the tips I used for personal use were different to the tips provided. No matter how many times I tried and re-watched the DVD I just couldn’t get the hang of it and I didn’t want to ‘bother’ the support team over something I thought so trivial.

I am a visual learner, this is something I should have thought about when deciding what type of course to do and I need someone to push me to keep going – I was motivated to do the course but every time I failed, I had no-one to encourage me to continue and I was close to giving up. I decided to take a week off as working was getting busy and try again after a break.

During my break, I joined a support group on Facebook and it turns out this is a very common problem for everyone – this instantly made me feel better and everyone shared their tips and advice that the support team had given them. I decided to give it another go using the advice of other students I noticed a difference straight away – I can now tip the nails every time. I have continued the Gel Extension course and now just need to practice my technique to perfect it, I need to send off 6 sets of practice nails to show progression with dates and how long each set took.

I have recently sent off my UV Gel Polish course. This is the course that I had the least amount of difficulties with, I regularly used gel polish on myself and my family, so I flew through this one and I had plenty of volunteers at work – in exchange for a Gel Manicure, I give them all Spa Manicures in the colours/techniques that the course required and then removed the colour and applied the gel colour of their choice. Meaning, I could send off my Spa Manicure and Pedicure course.

Overall, I wish I had gone to college/beauty school to become qualified - it would have taken me more time in the long run but at least I would have face to face support of teachers and other students as well as dedicated time to complete the qualification. At the minute I often take week breaks because I am just so tired with my full-time job and I practice as soon as I get in until I go to bed – which isn’t healthy. But, one of the reasons I opted to learn at home was, so I could become qualified a lot sooner.