I gotta tell you…
Today’s topic is one that I want you to keepsake in your heart for as long as you do nails. It’s an evergreen topic, and so whenever you see the market pulling in this or that direction just remember what you learned today.
Every product has a fit in the market.
Whether hard or soft gel, acrylic, polygel, gel polish, regular nail polish, etc.,
But just because everyone can fit a little bit of this and a little bit of that doesn’t mean you need to stock up on all the things and find out what each client may fit.
Nope, that is a recipe for overspending your way out of business and applying services that will often not last.
The reason why my student Katie, has been able to build a clientele that earns her more than she did as a paralegal of 25 years or why my student Viviana was able to move to the resort city of Cabo San Lucas and build a business of 0 to 100 return clients within a year, is because they specialized in a nail system suitable for all clients… And that system, is soft gel.
Today, I will share with you the differences between soft gel and hard gel, and when it is appropriate to use each.
🤔Soft gel or hard gel, which to use?
🤓Soft gel is for short nails. Hard gel is for long nails. Ok, bye.
Not so fast. It’s not that simple.
🕰️ First, let’s understand nail history…
You may have thought that soft gel originated in its thinnest form, as a gel polish. I.e., During the gel polish boom of 2009 (i.e., with the birth of brands like Gelish and Shellac), but the truth is that soft gel goes back 36 years! Yes, and that first gel nail development was a structure gel. How crazy is that?! 36 years later, and structure gel is still trending.
But what happened for the majority of those middle years that made the market disregard it?
To find out, I want to give you a bit of nail history.
In the 90s and the early 2000s the market went really hard, and really cheap.
This was the non-standard salon era. Where non-standard salons raced their way to the bottom by offering the cheapest products, at the cheapest labor costs.
Under this oppressive environment, there was hardly any room for nail products to compete, and product innovation went to its lowest. Without any social media to quickly educate on other competitive options, technicians and customers alike were led to believe that there were essentially only two types of products in the market, nail polish or acrylic.
Somewhere in the shadows lied hard gel systems, and in the dark distance, sat soft gel. Structure soft gel.
✨You see, structure soft gel is a very premium product. It takes a good amount of raw material to get it to have viscosity, and the right proportions to get it to apply and feel right.
In 2009, the viral appearance of gel polish started to bring structure soft gel out of the shadows, for good.
You see for once in a VERY long time. We’re talking 20 years. Clients finally felt like they could wear their very own natural nails. Without the hard artificial feel and often lifting acrylics, and without the annoyance of only a few days wear from chipping nail polish.
But then what happened?
Soak-offs started taking a toll on client’s natural nails leading them to fear gel polish manicures and either opting out of gel nails completely and going back to just nail polish, or submitting themselves to the torture of acrylic nails at non-standard salons for those special occasions.
Due to the lack of marketing efforts from structure soft gel companies, the market was left with a void to fill again. A very profitable one actually.
The desire of clients to be able to walk around fulfilled saying, “These are my own natural nails.”
You see, that is truly the customer’s biggest desire. To boast about the beauty of their very own natural nails.
The market slowly started scouting a better solution to gel polish. A very small niche of nail artists like myself caught on and found what was already lying there, structure soft gel systems. In the form of Bio Sculpture and Japanese gel brands, and new innovative brands are emerging.
But as a whole the industry and the salon client was still used to cheap and fast.
Something that these structure soft gel brands were not about.
So that void of affordable, faster, and long wearing on natural nails was filled with bottled builders.
And hence the explosion of bottled builders within the last 7 years.
But it didn’t come without a cost.
Shortly after bottled builders took off, so did a plethora of allergic reactions.
You see, as I mentioned earlier…
👉🏻Structure soft gel is a very premium product. It takes a good amount of raw material to get it to have viscosity, and the right proportions to get it to apply and feel right.
The pioneering brands in bottled builders did not build and test their formulas from scratch, and relied on buying preformulated structured gel formulas from questionable manufacturing parts of the world that had a high concentration of monomer, which happens to be the most allergenic component in a gel formulation. Not having proper ingredient ratios and the use of low power curing units lead and continues to lead to severe allergic reactions.
And that’s how we got here, where we are today.
Today clients want nails that feel strong, are long wearing and that feel their own.
So soft or hard gel? Let’s talk about it.
🤔Who fits soft gel?
Soft gel is a nail gel product that can be soaked-off in acetone and has different levels of flexibilities.
It is an excellent fit for clients who want, up to a natural long length, and the longer the length the higher viscosity gel you should use.
And that’s the cool thing about soft gel, that it comes in a range of viscosities from no viscosity to the highest viscosity being found in pots.
So… Who fits hard gel? 🤷🏻♀️
Hard gel is a nail gel product that cannot be soaked-off in acetone, it’s pretty rigid, and the ideal way to give it flexibility is to use a soft gel base underneath it first.
Soft gel on its own cannot meet the demands of too long or extreme nail lengths and shapes, and so this is where hard gel naturally fits.
Clients who want to continue growing their nails beyond ⅔ of the total length of nail plate attached to the nail bed, should consider switching from a soft semi-hard builder to a true hard gel builder.
This includes reconstruction of natural nails that slope downward like a claw.
Anytime you find yourself needing or wanting to add more structure soft gel to reinforce nails, is a good hint to switch your soft gel builder to a hard gel builder. And again your base gel can remain a soft gel!
Yes! So as a soft gel specialist you can incorporate some hard gel to your applications.
Back in the day, companies and nail artists believed that the harder the products the better the retention.
Hard base, hard colors, hard builders, hard top coats. Harder for better longevity.
And that isn’t the case at all. In fact, it’s the perfect recipe for frustration because the truth is that in order for enhancements to last on natural nails they have to be in sync with the natural nail’s flexibility. In other words, the product has to move with the natural nail or it will lift. Most clients have flexibility to their natural nails, which is why soft gel is a universal fit for all clients. Even when you just use it as a base gel for hard gel.
Thankfully new gel nail technologists understand that in a few instances soft gel and hard gel can work together for a strong wear.
Which is why I have been hooked on the work April Ryan of RÉDI nail products has been doing. She understands this concept and has developed unique soft and hard structure gel formulas that can work together to achieve all of your natural nail goals. You may know her as the inventor of those practice silicone hands.
So what can we learn from this journey of soft gels and hard gels.
Ugh…! What I have told you since I started this channel.
Start with soft gel, make it your niche. It’s the most profitable.
💭Why? Because the overwhelming majority of clients want their very own natural nails overlaid. They want their nails to feel their very own. Not bulky, not artificial.
And how do I know this… because in 10 years as a soft gel specialist I’ve taken care of clients and created content and education using soft gel systems only.
I founded the Master Gel Nails Course 6 years ago now, and up until this point it has only taught nail artists how to thrive in their applications and business using soft gel only. Because specializing in soft gel only, atleast at the start of your nail journey can take you very far.
It’s the same program that helped Katie, whom I mentioned earlier, leave her job as a paralegal of 25 years to become her own boss and make more than she ever did as a paralegal.
And the same course that helped Viviana move from New York to the resort city of Cabo San Lucas and thrive with her own nail business because she chose to specialize in soft gel systems.
If you want to quickstart your nail journey and learn how to apply the most universal gel nail system and master monthly wear, then you too belong in the Master Gel Nails Course. Tried and true now for 6 years.
I’m telling you, if you can help clients achieve their natural nail goals, you’re in business for a lifetime.
Group class enrollment closes in just 4 days. If you crave focus and success, I would love to have you.
Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video.
Paola Ponce is a licensed nail tech of 10+ years and a certified Japanese gel educator.
Learn more about her journey as a specialized gel nail artist and her gel nail application course inside her free masterclass here.
These blogs are copyrighted material, and any use of this blog is not permitted without written consent first. Some of these blogs contain affiliate links that give us a small commission when qualifying purchases are made. Thank you for your support, which helps us to continue creating valuable resources and content like this.
