Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Worst nail appointment ever

I love doing my nails, I mean, I LOVE doing my nails, and getting them done. I got turned on to gel nails way in the beginning of the year and I loved them. They lasted for forever and people loved them, plus they were super durable which was great for work. I got them initially because I had been doing my own nails weekly as sort of ritual to keep myself from biting and picking at my nails, an awful habit I had. It was working, until I got super busy and was having trouble devoting my time to it each week. The idea of having someone do my nails once a month (sometimes longer) and still having them strong and beautiful was amazing. The caveat, the girl who does an amazing job on my nails is an hour away for me... Yeah that bit makes it a bit harder. I know there are plenty of places that do gel nails, but I've seen many in my area that their work just looks plain tacky, not classy.
I made the decision to get rid of my gels after several weeks of debating it. I called to make an appointment for a fill and since my usual was not available, I figured I'd spare her the breakup and get them off while she wasn't around. Trust me my friends, there is a price to pay for cheating, no matter the kind.

I got to my appointment, and the man who was supposed to be taking off my nails was still busy with his previous appointment and handed me off to another man. Unfortunately it was the one tech in the nail salon people tell you to avoid. There's always one that people warn you "if so and so can't take you, at least don't go to _____" or they tell you who's just as good I case of emergency. So my luck, I get the guy no one wants. He begins my asking why I want them off and I explain, to which he begins chastising me, saying a fill would be better. I explained a second time and he shrugged it off. He asked if I at least wanted a manicure and I said yes, please. Then I got the lecture about why Shellac is better than polish, I explained I just wanted regular polish. Apparently, none of my answers were good enough. He started to drill off the top layers of the gel, which is fine and dandy, but then he grabs a fake nail and starts trying to pry them off of my fingers and a cuticle clipper to start clipping chunks of my nails parallel to my nail. Now mind you, not only is this not the right way to take off my nails, but pieces are flying into my face and onto the girl at my side (who at this point I believe was equally disgusted. The right way is to soak the nails in a solution to break down the remaining gel.  Next he had one of the other techs come over to look at my nails, the other tech proceeded to ask my how long I wanted them and I showed him a specific length, not super long, but a little long, I had plenty for him to work with. He then proceeded to use the drill again to get more of the gel off and all of a sudden nicks me with the drill and says, "whoops, guess I can't save that one!" He then proceeded to whoops at least 3 more healthy nails. After annihilating my length he managed to whittle my nails down to a ridiculous thinness, so much so that it was painful and I had a burn from the drill on my right thumbnail. Once he decided he'd done enough damage with the drill he began to wipe my nails with acetone (now he decided to use it.) I had a scab that had finally formed where I cut my ring finger, it ended probably about a half centimeter below my nail bed, I say had because he decided to grab a little lower on that particular finger and ripped the whole scab off. He looked at me and shrugged it off. Once that was done he filed my nails and proceeded to break pieces off the rest of them and then painted them saying, your nails will be weak for a while so expect them to break easily. I was so upset. I understand that the techs make money based on how much you have done, but I am a generous tipper, even when I don't spend a lot, and had he done a quality job I would have tipped him well. I nearly cried on the way home. I was so upset and I will NEVER go back there again. I should have complained as soon as he started trying to pry off my nails, but some stupid part of me kept quiet and that stupid little man gave me a burn, cuts and ripped off a scab on top of ruining my nails, it was truly insult on top of injury.

If something like this ever happens to you, at a salon or restaurant or any kind of business, speak up immediately, don't do what I did. I want to kick my own butt for it. 

So now my precious nails are torn to shreds right as I had a work holiday event, my birthday, and Christmas and New Year's Eve with all their parties coming up. I'm going to have to figure out a way to rescue my nails. I would show you how bad they look, but it's truly awful. I might do a nail rescue video and you might see them there.

Have you ever been through an awful experience like this? Did you speak up and if so what did you say? I didn't want to make a huge scene.

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