5 Essential Tips to Find a Trustworthy Nail Tech After a Move | Tami's Tip Tuesday

Welcome to Tip Tuesday, where real life meets real tips. I am Tami. I'm a child of God. I'm a licensed cosmetologist, a military wife, a homeschooling mom, dementia caregiver, type 1 diabetic who has puked more times than I can count. I've walked through deployments, infertility, brain healing, and raising our miracle baby at 40. Yep, I was type 1 diabetic, 40 years old when I had my baby. Each week I will drop practical, faithful, funny, and real-life advice to help women thrive through hair care, beauty tips, homeschooling, parenting hacks, military life and PCS survival, self-care and elder care, health, healing, and finding joy. Yes, I said joy in the chaos. This is my mission to help you. So here we go. In today's Tip Tuesday, I'm going to be talking about— I don't know how many of you get your nails done. I get mine done and I absolutely love them. I love them. So I'm going to give you 5 tips for finding a new nail tech after a pandemic. It's always, it's a challenge finding new service providers. And I want to start with the nails because you get the nails done more often than when you're going to get your hair done. Later on I'll be doing hair, finding a new hairstylist, but right now I want to talk about finding a new nail tech. And so if you— I get acrylic nails put on and like I say, I absolutely love them, and you have to— well, you don't have to, but you should get your fill done every 2 weeks to keep it strong and to keep them there. So I just had my first fill actually, and I adore this color. But so here's the deal: you're not finished unpacking, but you're unpacking, and you've got most of the boxes broken down without using your nails, hopefully. I know sometimes I do too. I was told by a manicurist of the past when I was up in Canada— I worked with her as well— but she would always complain that women use their nails as tools, and they're not tools. So don't use your nails as tools. So at this point of unpacking, your nails need to be done, your feet might be screaming for a pedicure. You just need that time to go in and find somewhere. How are you going to do that? Do you just drive around and randomly choose a place? I don't recommend that. I recommend doing some online research first. My number one thing, because I am a cosmetologist, I want a clean environment. I have gone to some places that have been very janky. Oh my gosh. Oh, just really bad. And here where we live right now in Nebraska, they are— so there's the Board of Cosmetology and they have people that are hired by the government, so they're government workers who go around and inspect salons and inspect nail places and massage parlors and all those things about beauty that are service providers. They're supposed to go around and check them and make sure that they're doing the mandatory things, right? And I have been working here When I've been working in the salon industry here in Nebraska for at least a decade now, I no longer work in a salon. I just do hair out of my home now because I'm getting older and I'm just tired and have to care for my mom. So got other things on my life plate, but I have never in my 10 years of doing hair here in Nebraska, I have never seen an inspector. Never. They just don't have enough people to do it. Therefore, a lot of these places get away with being really gross. They're not sanitizing as much as they should. They've got stuff scattered all over the floor. They've got— I guess that one place I went was just horrid. That's my number one criteria. Now, if you're unsure about where to check out first, I highly recommend, and this is going to sound really weird, but I recommend going to the salon at JCPenney, the salon at Sephora, the salon or the, the nail place at Walmart. Any big corporation who has those elements in their corporate place, they are going to set the same rules and regulations that the government has set for those places. And if they don't comply, they get in trouble. I worked at JCPenney Salon for a while, and we had the management making sure we were doing everything we needed to do. So I knew that we were being good. And that's what I experienced through our moves. I went to a few Walmart places. And once you— If you find someone that you really like at the Walmart, then keep going there. There's nothing wrong with that. Everybody starts somewhere, works somewhere. The thing that's really kind of bizarre to me in America, because I am from Canada, is the amount of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, a lot of those type of people are who work doing the nails, which I had never experienced before. It was just kind of like, that's the majority. Almost every place I go to, it's crazy. And I just found this place close to us called Coco Nails. I've seen them, I've seen the girls there cleaning up after themselves, keeping everything sanitized, cleaning throughout the day. I like them a lot. So that's going to be the number one thing is you're going to look for the cleanliness. I don't want you going into a place and getting some kind of weird infection because they're not clean enough. So the tips that I have is number one, to search Instagram, TikTok, Facebook for local techs. Use hashtags like the city you're in, nails, the base name, nail tech, your city, gel nails or dip or nail art. Those are the kind of hashtags you're going to use when you're searching. You'll find techs who post their work. Pricing and vibe, which is nice. And bonus points if they show actual client hands and not just Pinterest reposts. That can happen. I'm not huge at putting any of my hair stuff online anymore because, like I say, I have a few clients that still come to me, to my home. I don't have a proper sink, or we just use the kitchen sink and It is what it is. I still love doing hair, but I don't want to be doing it all the time. The last place I worked was the men's salon, and I loved working there, but I don't think I could do those kind of hours anymore. I can't do cut after cut. It just gets a little too much on the body after a while. So number 2 is to ask local moms— homeschool moms, church moms, base moms, they know. So if you are potentially moving to a new base and that you are going to be due for a fill or whatever, reach out early while you're on your way. Find Facebook groups for the base, anything like that. Even I search for groups with the— so we live in Papillion. We don't Base is in Bellevue in Nebraska, and we live in Papillion. So I would like #papillionmoms, #offuttmoms, because Offutt is the Air Force base. So those kind of things. Let me see here. What's next? Watch their sanitation standards. That's what I was talking about earlier. Are their tools sanitized? Are they using liners in the pedicure bowls? Do they use a fresh file for each client? Your nails are cute but not worth fungal survivor. You don't need to have a fungal infection from whatever. Number 4, look for consistency over fancy. A cute salon is great. It's cute, but the real gold is in techs who run on time, respect your nail goals, "don't rush or ignore you," and this one says, "pretty floors do not equal quality nails." So far at the place that I go, it, it is— I'm not sure where they're from, but they are either Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese. I don't think they're Vietnamese. I think they're either Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. I have trouble telling the difference, sorry. But so I've been in there twice now and seen two different people, and they've both done fantastic jobs, so I'm okay with that. If you find a nail tech and you're, you're very particular about your nails and they do that particular good job for you, ask for their card and schedule your next appointment with them. And usually it will take a few times for them to really get to know you and your nails and what what your specifications are. That was a hard word. So give them 3, 4 visits type of thing. And I'm just, like I say, I will keep going to whoever has the time. As this last time, I took my mom with me and we both got manicures and pedicures, so that was a total treat. And I had to just walk in because Sometimes my mom is not, it's just no public consumption for mom right now. But we were able to do that and she got a manicure and I got my nails filled and I got a pedicure and she got a pedicure too. So we spent quite a bit of time there and they were so kind, so sweet. And I know it's clean and I know I can trust it. So that's my big thing. Now, the other little tip I have, if you are vetting them, So, want to go try them and see what they're like before trusting them to do more with your nails? Start with a manicure before a full set. Alright? That is if you don't already have a set to be filled. And if you do have a set to be filled, if it's gel, stay with gel. If it's— stay with acrylic. Whatever it is. I have had moves that I did— Oh gosh, which one was it? There was one move that we did that I let my nails grow out, and I did soak off the acrylic. And when you soak off the acrylic, the underneath is not pretty for a while. So I just went through this, lots of nail envy, real re-strengthening my nails for a while. And that's how I started going back to get my nails done, as I got manicures to test them out. And eventually once my nails felt like they were doing much better because with the soaking off, you have to soak them in acetone and then soak, scrape off. That was the reality of that, and I do tend to get impatient and maybe dig at my nails more than I should. So part of the damage to my nails was my fault, not, not the acrylic and not them. So I had to really work on healing my nails for a while before I went ahead with a new set. So test the waters with a basic service. If you have your nails done but you're not ready for a fill, go in for a basic pedicure just to test the waters and see what it's like. Watch how they prep, shape, clean, and talk. All right? I find a lot of times, at least with these people, they will have conversation with me if I'm having conversation with them. Hello. But a lot of the time they just talk to each other in their language, which I'm kind of okay with that too. It all depends on if you haven't met anybody yet and you just need adult conversation, I would tell them. Be upfront and honest with them. Say, "Hey, I just moved here. My husband's deployed. Someone's watching the kids for me. I just need to talk to an adult for a while. Is that okay if we have a conversation while you do my nails?" or do my pedicure. If you prep them for that, then they're ready for it. If you just sit down and start chatting, they're not used to that. So that's another little tip thing I have. If you feel heard and not judged for your mom hands, book that full set with confidence. So let's re— review. Number 1 is search hashtags on Instagram and the ticky-talky or whatever platform you you use. Number 2, ask local moms where they go, what they like, what they get done, all that stuff. Have a good conversation about it. Number 3, watch the sanitation. Make sure that they're doing everything they need to do. So not just throwing their used tools back in there. If they have a different container for their used tools, then it's okay for them to just put put them in there, they're going to take them and they're going to sanitize them and repackage them again. I like this place that I go to because they pull their tools out of a clean bag. The bag— the tools have been cleaned, put in a bag, the bag has been sealed, so they have to rip open the bag to get them. That makes me feel extra safe as well. So just be careful the sanitation standards. And if you have any questions to ask me about that, please reach out. I'd love to answer any questions about that. Look for consistency over fancy. A cute little salon is nice, but sometimes— and I do kind of like those massage chairs that they tend to have. Sometimes when I get a pedicure, I definitely like those. I don't have one of those. Wish I did, but they're very expensive because I do pedicures too, but not very often. I'm getting too old for that. So Look for consistency over fancy. And 5, start with a simple procedure before you move on to other things. So a basic manicure, basic pedicure. I would not lead with an eyebrow wax if they do waxing. I would lead with getting this waxed or something like that. That's not as— because eyebrows— I've got very fine eyebrows, and I've had them shaped too thin before, and that is the battle I've gone through ever since then because they've never fully grown back. That's my eyebrows. But that's just something that I'm like, I wouldn't jump in with eyebrows. Maybe get your legs done. At least that's something that you can see how well they did, and I don't know, it, it's still gonna— hurt, but that's just because they're putting hot wax on and pulling hair out. Nothing you can do about that. So anyways, I'm gonna let y'all go now. I'm sorry it took so long on this one. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad. But I want to tell you, I have a list of these 5 things with little tips and tricks under them. Little— I've got the hashtags for you to figure out and stuff like that on there. I got a PD for my Tip Tuesday. 5 tips for finding a new nail tech after a PCS or after a move. And if you would like that, I will have the link in my description, possibly in the comments. If you don't see the link, there will be a— what is it called? There's a link in my bio that goes to all my things. So you can go check that out because I've got several Tip Tuesday things that have happened, and I've got free PDFs for all of them. If you want them all, grab them all! Make a binder of tips! So I hope you all have a wonderful day, a wonderful life. Let God lead you, and your life will never be the same. It's fantastic, I have to tell you. Have a great day. Bye! Bye!