Thanks to everyone who joined us for November 14th’s episode of TUNE IN TUESDAY! The chat stream was ON FIRE during the live broadcast, and we’ve had a ton of questions across social media. As promised, here is the Q&A from the show. A lot of our Tune in Tuesday community had similar questions, so I have consolidated the questions below, to get everything answered concisely. Thanks again to everyone who got involved!
“What eFile do you use and would you recommend it?”
My chosen eFile brand is KUPA Inc. KUPA is one of the oldest and best trusted brand of professional eFile systems in the world, and are trusted by Nail Pros worldwide. KUPA has a long legacy of high quality manufacturing in the USA and Japan, and having tried out other eFile brands over the years, KUPA is always the one I have come back to. Another deciding factor is the support available through KUPA’s UK distributor. I am based in Edinburgh, UK, and I use CND for my professional acrylic, gel and gel polish supplies. Sweet Squared are the exclusive UK distributor for CND AND KUPA, so I am able to get integrated support, education and supply all from the same organisation. Sweet Squared offer an ongoing repair and maintenance service called KUPA KLINIK . I believe this is essential when investing in a piece of professional hardware, such as an eFile.
Check out all the KUPA products carried by Sweet Squared HERE, including gorgeous limited edition colours including rose gold chrome and leopard print.
“My Enhancement Rebalances are sooooo slow! How long should it take, and how do I get faster?!”
Enhancement rebalancing is 90% of the work I do as a Nail Enhancement specialist. How long each service takes from start to finish depends on the client… how long they go between appointments, if they wear nail art or simple colour, and if they diligently adhere to home-care, or not. In general, 90 minutes is a good average. I have some clients out the door in under an hour, and a few that take a good two hours with designs and other service add-ons such as CND PRO SKINCARE. Many of you in the chat stream mentioned that your rebalances take 2 hours, and for a straightforward rebalance with simple colour, I can understand why you feel this is too long! 90 minutes would be a good goal to aim for. Please don’t think that simply switching to using an eFile will magically shave 30 mins off your service time right away. The eFile will take some getting used to, and it’s also important to consider… what part of the process is taking so long in the first place? Whether hand filing or eFiling, if you want to get your service time down, I recommend that over the next week, you start by timing yourself and making a note of how long each part of the process is taking you. Then you will have the data you require to address whatever part of the procedure you need to work on. For example, if you discover you are file-prepping the product and preparing the natural nail for re-application in around 30 minutes, then the issue is not going to be resolved by a faster filing technique, as this is already an ideal amount of time to spend on this stage of the process. If you discover, however, that it’s taking you more like an hour to complete the file-prep, then it’s clear that this part of the service needs to be looked at.
Splitting the total service time into thirds is a good average goal; one third of the time is spent file prepping the product and preparing the natural nail, the middle third is spent reapplying enhancement product, the last third finish-filing and applying a colour coating. 30 minutes for each of these thirds, would equal a 90 minute total service time.
Hand file or eFile, here are the most common troubleshooting issues for a slow service time with enhancement rebalancing:
- Removing way too much product when filing-prepping. Remember that the aim of the game when rebalancing, is to only remove what is absolutly necessery, and re-apply a small amount of product to bring the structure of the nail back into balance. Often, Nail Pros are unsure about how much or what exactly needs to be removed, so go ahead and remove loads of perfectly good existing product ‘just incase’. This adds a lot of time and unnecessary filing trauma to you and your client. It also means much more product has to be applied to replace what has been filed off – driving up your cost per service substantially.
- Applying too much new product during application. If we are new to rebalancing, and are in the mindset of applying full new sets, we will likely go ahead and apply as if it were a new nail we were creating. Keep in mind that a rebalance should have a very small amount of product applied compared to a new set. If you put on lots of extra product, you’ll be there forever file finishing the overly thick nails you just created.
- Removing the gel polish coating first, before file-prepping all ten nails. Many times I have observed Nail Pros filing off the colour coating first from all ten nails, then going back to the first nail to begin file prepping the product for the rebalance. This is unnecessary and takes a lot of extra time! When a nail enhancement is coated with gel polish, think of that colour coat as being part of the enhancement: you don’t have to remove all the colour first separately, you can begin enhancement file prep right away and the thin colour coating will simply file off during that file prep. There is no need to attempt to remove it as a separate stage of the process.
To find information on Enhancement Rebalance classes both in classroom and online, go HERE.
“What eFile BITS are you using and what RPM should they be used at?”
KUPA manufacture many many BITS for use with their eFiling systems. There is so much variety that it can be hard to know what you need and which BITS to get in the beginning! In the show I used four different bits, each recommended to me by Sweet Squared Education Mentor, Sarah Marr, who is my go to expert on the KUPA eFiling system.
Firstly, when it comes to RPM, and what speed you should set the machine to for each bit, there is a simple rule we can follow. When working on nail enhancement product, have your RPM set to 12-15K RPMs (dial set to about 12 noon on the clock face), and when working on the natural nail, have the machine set to 4K RPM (about quarter to 12 on the clock face). This rule applies across the board, no matter what bits we are talking about. Another good rule to follow, is that carbide bits should be used on enhancement product, and diamond bits should be used on the natural nail.
KUPA eFile Bits I Recommend
Silver 3 in 1 Medium Carbide Bit – Fantastic for file prepping enhancement product, removing colour coating, or even reducing enhancement length. I use this bit most of all, it’s my number one! The RPM is set to 12-15K RPMs (about 12 noon on the clock face). This bit if for enhancement product only and not recommended for the natural nail.
Diamond Enhancement Bit – This lovely wee bit is ideal for file prepping the natural nail in preparation for nail enhancement product application. With the RPM set to 4K (about quarter to 12 on the clock face), we can easily and gently remove non-living tissue from the natural nail plate, remove shine from the natural nail, and smooth calluses and flakes of dry skin from the lateral folds surrounding the nail plate.
Diamond UNC Bit – I use this one to clean under the extension edge of the nail. We don’t need to do this every time, or on every client, but for those growing out extensions, or for nails that regularly become stained on the underside, this super slim little bit is perfect for a gentle clean up. Working on the natural nail, even the underside, means a lower RPM. Set the dial to 4-7K (about quarter to 12 on the clock face).
The Typhoon Radius Bit – This bit is recommended to Nail Pros who used the old Zippy eFile Sweet Squared used to distribute. The most popular bit from that system was called ‘the speedy bit’, and the KUPA Typhoon Radius is the ideal replacement.
“Can I use an eFile to remove Gel Polish from the natural nail?”
It’s true that some brands of gel polish are very ‘hard’ and difficult to soak off. Some manufacturers even advise to hand file or eFile their product to remove it. When applied over nail enhancements, using an eFile to remove gel polish is perfectly fine, but to remove a colour coating from the natural nail, real care needs to be taken. Personally, I would never apply a gel polish to the natural nail that didn’t remove quickly and easily without filing. It’s just not worth it. It might seem like longevity of the service is the most important thing if a client complains their service doesn’t last as long as they desire… BUT over time, filing off coatings from the natural nail again and again, will weaken and damage the natural nail, meaning that nothing will adhere well, and the client’s nails need to grow out to recover. This is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. If a client wants long lasting, durable colour, an enhancement coating (such as CND PLEXIGEL) prior to gel polish application, is by far the best solution. This will protect their nails and allow them to grow and be maintained in a way that promotes health and length naturally, if that’s what they desire.
For clients with great natural nails, who don’t need or want and enhancement coating, my recommendation is CND SHELLAC Gel Polish. It lasts 2+ weeks on natural nails, and the removal is a dream, there is nothing else like it in the industry. With CND SHELLAC we may never need to file or buff the surface of the natural nail, and the exposure to solvents is minimal as the patented ‘butterfly removal’ is quicker than anything else out there.
“I notice you don’t stop the machine to change direction? Is that ok?? Won’t you burn out the motor?”
I am so glad you noticed!! This was a mistake… It is strongly recommended to turn the hand piece OFF before changing the direction of the rotation. If like I did, you change direction with the switch without first turning off, over time you will burn out the motor in your machine. I must have missed the memo… every day is a school day.
“I am very interested in improving my hand filing technique too! Can you do a hand filing demo for us some time?”
This is a great suggestion! In a previous episode of Tune in Tuesday I covered this in detail. Currently, past episodes can only be viewed if you registered in advance of each show individually, however, that is going to change… soon we will be able to access ALL past episodes, even if you have only ever registered for one. Please stay tuned for updates…
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