Nail technician shares ‘worrying increase in substandard experiences’ and hopes to educate the public
A nail and beauty technician from Northampton, who has nearly two decades of experience, has set up a new venture to educate people on what they should expect from the industry.
Claire Plant, who founded Lily Nails & Beauty in Delapre 13 years ago, has seen a “worrying increase” in the number of clients who have been elsewhere and had “substandard experiences”.
She believes these poor practices have become more commonplace since the pandemic, when people did short online courses and began working on clients without enough experience or knowledge.
Claire’s new platform, ‘Educating Joe Public - Nails and Beauty’, aims to share as much information with the public as possible via Facebook.
Having been established just nine weeks ago, Claire hopes it will engage the people of Northampton and beyond – and give them an insight into what they should and should not experience at appointments.
“There’s a lot more to nail and beauty treatments than people realise,” said the salon owner. “Thorough training is needed to care for the client correctly, and this can’t be learned in just a day or a few weeks.”
Knowledge of anatomy and physiology is needed to identify abnormalities in the nails and skin that may warrant a doctor’s appointment, as well as the science behind the products used.
Claire continued: “I get told by clients that they have regularly experienced pain and burning during their manicures at other salons, or they’ve developed irreversible conditions caused by overfiling.
“Or how waxing therapists use the same spatula over and over again throughout the treatment, which is unacceptable.”
Claire has been praised for the cleanliness of her salon, which she described as “paramount and a non-negotiable”.
“We have amazing nail techs and beauty therapists that are being overshadowed by cheap and substandard salons reducing prices to try and gain a client base,” said Claire.
The new education platform will explain the basics, from manicure tools and what they are used for, to the scientific side to help clients understand why certain processes are important.
“Our industry lacks proper regulation in the UK,” the salon owner continued. “Whilst there are leading experts working to roll out appropriate measures for this, we’re a long way off from them being commonplace. It’s my belief that we can’t do this alone.
“We need the public’s help to call out bad practices in salons and help us raise the standards of the nail and beauty sector – but they can’t do this without knowing the right information.
“Treatments are a luxury and that’s exactly the standard you should be receiving. Clients should be treated with respect and made to feel important.”
Having built up a regular client base over the past 13 years, many who have stuck by her from the beginning, Claire hopes to build this same trust with those who join the Facebook group.
She concluded: “Unless you’re in the industry, you haven’t a clue what should be happening. You trust the salon is providing a good service and doing everything they should – but sadly this isn’t always the case.”