Gel removal options no longer only consist of wrapping fingers in acetone-soaked cotton balls and folded foil.
Our industry recognizes that structured soft gel is the standard practice of doing quality gel nail services—at least if you opt to get your nails done with an independent nail tech. Independent nail techs are often highly trained in the latest and greatest nail technology!
There are three ways I remove gel nails, and have been, since I decided to niche into structure soft gel only, back in the year 2016.
As a side note…
Remember, the baseline for identifying what kind of gel nail products you use is whether they are soft gel or hard gel.
If you’re new here. I use and teach soft gel nail product knowledge.
Soft gel is soak-able in acetone and suitable for those who want to enhance the look and feel of their own natural nails, whereas hard gel is more suitable for those who need extreme nail makeovers like nail reconstruction and extreme lengths and shapes.
🌸These are the three ways I like to remove my structure soft gel:
- Soak-off: There is only one time I will soak-off clients’ nails, and that is when they take their gel nails off completely for a rest. When clients want to take a break from gel nails (whether that’s because they’re having a baby, a new job, budget, etc.) I like to leave as much keratin on the nail as possible, and I will go ahead and soak-off completely, rather than remove and prep the nail with an efile as if I were to re-apply the product.
- Fill: I do a “fill” service only on nails that have been serviced within 14 days or less. Not a single day after. A fill is the service where I remove the top gel, color, and re-prep the nails, only to fill the bit of grow-out.
- Rebalance: A rebalance service is the process where I reduce the product almost fully, completely flat, and restructure the nails as if they were a fresh set of nails. All clients with 15 days of wear and longer receive a rebalancing service.
If you are still struggling to get to the stage where you can service your clients within a predictable and consistent time period, it is time to nail your step-by-step application.
A repeatable process makes your applications last long across the board and also allows you to move away from completely soaking off nails each time, thereby allowing you to get faster and preserve the integrity of the nails.
Have you found your step-by-step for long-wearing gel nails, application speed, and helping clients achieve their natural nail goals? If you haven’t, I share my exact processes inside the Master Gel Nails Course, or you can get started with the free masterclass here.
Content written by Paola Ponce
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