Light Cured Gel Part 2

with nail enhancements there is two

basic gel types that are used these are

hard gel and soft gel hard gels are also

known as traditional gels they are

strong enough to build a nail

enhancement and they have a non-porous

surface soft gels are also known as

soakoff gels they are formulated to

Overlay the natural nail and are easily

removed with

acetone both both systems are a great

system to use it is really just personal

preference and how the guest wears their

nails both systems are going to use a

variety of gel

viscosities viscosity is the measurement

of the thickness or thinness of a liquid

gel can be described as both thin

viscosity medium viscosity thick

viscosity and then the thickest which is

a building or a sculptured

gel let's discuss these different types

of gels so that you're better equipped

when it comes to performing nail

Services a bonding gel is used to

increase adhesion to the natural nail

plate oftentimes people will call this a

gel primer a bonding gel is going to

vary in consistency and chemical

components this is going to decrease the

tendency for for your gel nails to lift

manufacturers usually will create new

technology related related to bonding

gel formulation some manufacturers use

air dry bonding systems which are no

less effective than a system cured in a

lamp so you might see with one company

that you paint on your gel primer and

with

another company that you put it on and

cure it under the lamp both of these are

very effective ways to prime your nails

for a gel service it all depends on your

manufacturers

instructions next we have a building gel

building gels usually have a thick

viscosity this is going to allow you to

build an arch or an

extension these gels are going to allow

thickness to the enhancement with just

one or two coats each gel coat has to be

cured before we add another coat hence

the building gel some gels can be tinted

some can be natural colored or we could

create a nice pink and white French tip

building gels can be self-leveling or

non- self-leveling when a building gel

is non- selfle leveling it has a thick

viscosity and can leave the nail bumpy

causing us to have to do more filing a

self-leveling gel is going to add

thickness to the fingernail but it's not

as thick or bumpy these make it so that

we can reduce the amount of filing and

shaping to our

nail another type of gel that has gained

a lot of popularity recently is a

polymer gel this is also known as a poly

gel or an Acro gel this thick viscosity

building gel is going to allow control

during application often times it's

going to come in a tube and the product

is squeezed off and then essentially cut

with a spatula and then placed on the

nail and formed we want to use a

synthetic brush so that our brush

doesn't get stuck to the gel and then

we're going to cure it oftentimes this

gel is quick and easy to use and it

gives us the best benefits from acrylic

as well as

gel pigmented gels can be both Builders

or self-leveling gels this includes

color pigment they are more common for

building styles to be used during a two

colored method often times during a um

French tip a colored French tip it is

called a gel paint which is used for

detailed nail arts as

well other typ y of pigmented gels would

be like polish that is painted over

nails with a synthetic brush for

instance

luminary soakoff gel polish is an

alternative to a traditional nail

lacquer you cure it in a lamp and it can

be used on artificial or Natural Nails

it does have to be soaked off preferably

soaked as opposed to drilled off these

are applied EAS

and they vary in opacity and

viscosity uh gel nails have become one

of the more popular nail services in the

salon finishing gels are also known as

gloss gels they could be known as

sealing gels or shine gels they are used

to create high shine they do not require

buffering and can be used over an

acrylic monomer and polymer set of

enhanc ments you do have to cure the

finishing gel there's two types the

traditional that cures with a sticky

inhibition layer that's going to require

us to use isopropyl alcohol to clean

that inhibition layer off there's also a

tack-free gloss that is going to cure to

a high Shine without the inhibition

layer the inhibition layer is a tacky

surface that is left on the nail after

the UV gel has has cured this inhibition

layer can either be wiped off with a

limp free wipe soaked in cleaning

solution or

alcohol in an odorless acrylic set it is

going to leave us with an inhibition

layer that needs to be lightly buffed

off our service area setup or the tools

and implements needed for gel

enhancements is going to be a little

different than our service area setup

for a mon and polymer set we're going to

need our UV or our LED lamp remember to

choose the lamp designed to produce

correct amount of light to cure the gel

system that we are using we're going to

need a brush we can choose small flat or

oval nylon bristled brushes to hold and

spread the gel your uh gel brush is

going to be just a little bit smaller

than your acrylic brush we're going to

need our UV or LED gel primer or bonding

gel this is designed to improve adhesion

of the enhancement to the natural nail

plate we will add our UV or LED gels

we're going to include pigmented gels

for one color or two colored surfaces

we'll choose our nail tips or our nail

forms our nail adhesive to secure a tip

to our natural nail and then a nail

cleaner to remove any surface moisture

or tiny particles that might adhere to

our natural nail to prevent that

adhesion even though with gels we are

going to do a little bit less filing

than with the acrylic set of nails we

still will need our ad abrasive files

and buffers we want to select a medium

grit about 180 for the natural nail prep

and our fine grit 240 for smoothing and

our 350 grit or higher for finishing

that nail you are going to notice that

in a gel set of nails we don't have our

low grit to remove bulk we also want our

lintree cleansing

Wipes we want to learn how to perform

more than one type of enhancement

especially when coming to gel if I have

flat fingernails I would want to know

how to use that building gel to create

an arch and a

curve with my if my fingernails have an

arch and curve self-leveling gel might

be my best option and if they come often

with broken

enhancements I want to use glues that

use

fiberglass hard and soft gels are

removed different differ with hard gels

I cannot remove them with acetone so

I'll need to file the enhancement down

with soft gels I can remove them with

acetone light filing and pushing them

off of the

nails we do want to make sure since gel

is temperature sensitive that it is

thicker when cold and runnier when warm

the heat from a client's finger is

enough to affect the gel so cure each

finger immediately after applying our

gel we do want to avoid using too much

product to prevent it from running onto

the skin because this can cause allergic

reactions or

sensitivity gel enhancements are a great

recommendation for our guests they do

take a little bit less time especially

in filing them down however hard gel

extensions are long lasting but not

quite as strong as its acrylic

counterpart if our guest desires long

nails or they're a little bit rougher on

their

hands some of the questions that we want

to ask are will you wear your extensions

for a long period of time or is this

just for an event since gel can only be

filed off they're not the best option

for short-term extension services we

also want to ask our guests what length

do you prefer and do you often have

lifting gel Services have a strong

adhesion so if our guest snails tend to

lift easily gel might be the best option

for

them so the question might come up when

are we going to choose a gel set of

nails over an acrylic set of nails

really

anytime especially if our work

environment calls for us to have fewer

fumes or fewer smells because gel smells

less and has less fumes than acrylic

that might be a better option for us how

easy does your client like the color to

be removed in the salon do they like to

change their color often when they're

doing a set of nails or do they chip

their nails often how hard are they on

their hands that would also determine if

I'm going to use a gel polish over a

regular polish