Nail Care Services and Techniques
What this domain tests
Service technique items test sequence and product control: consult first, choose the right abrasive and form, protect the natural nail, and know when to stop.
Filing and shaping
Hold the file at a slight angle and file the natural nail in one direction, sidewall to free edge, with a fine-grit file (about 180 grit or higher). Back-and-forth sawing delaminates the plate and produces peeling. Reduce length before refining shape, keep sidewalls intact, and never file into the nail groove. Coarse grits belong on artificial product, not natural keratin.
Cuticle and skin care
Soften the cuticle, push it back gently with a rubber-tipped pusher, and remove only non-living tissue. Cutting live cuticle opens a portal for infection and falls outside a manicurist's scope. Nippers touch only a hangnail or clearly dead tag, and any blood ends the service.
Massage and polish
Apply warm lotion or oil, then effleurage, petrissage, and tapotement moving toward the heart; skip massage over inflamed, swollen, or broken skin. Clean the plate with remover before base coat, keep coats thin, cap the free edge, and dry between layers.
Artificial nails
Match product to nail: tips or forms for length; acrylic mixed at a proper monomer-to-polymer ratio that looks wet rather than runny or dry; gel fully cured under the correct lamp. Prep with a gentle dehydrator and primer and never over-etch. Remove by soaking in acetone - never pry or force a lift.
Worked example
A client with thin, peeling nails asks for long square extensions. Reasoning: square corners plus added length put torque on a weak free edge, and the peeling shows the plate cannot tolerate aggressive prep. Correct service: shorten, refine to a rounded-square, use a fine abrasive, apply a light overlay, and explain why a shorter length protects the nail.
Traps
Filing back and forth on the natural nail, over-thinning the plate, flooding the cuticle with monomer, and running an electric file across natural nail keratin.