Yesterday, I received a text message asking about the prices of my extensions with gel French manicure. Let’s call this person Miss X.
After I quoted her the estimated price, she exclaimed that Bugis is only charging $60 whilst I quoted her $100. (And she was pretty rude about it to me too, how nasty!) Hmmm… I don’t know about certain salons but I’m highly confident that you can’t get sculptured acrylic extensions + gel french manicure at $60 at Bugis. I’ve worked at a salon before for 3 months and I do know the market price for such services.
Anyway, this is not the main focus of my post. The main thing is… You should not be comparing prices of a home-salon to an outside salon. This is because I spent over $10k getting myself educated on nail technology, and I have adequate experience on extensions and gel nails. Therefore, you can be assured that your nails are in good hands of a certified professional. Also, the products I use at my home salon are top quality, I use USA products for acrylic, Korea/Japan/USA for gel and exquisite ultra thin Japanese stickers and embellishments. I spend lots of time, effort and money to get myself educated and so I don’t think its fair to me when you compare my prices to an outside salon.
Why would you want to get your nails done for dirt cheap when the quality of the nails done isn’t there? It’s the same for beauty and cosmetic products. I’m sure most people wouldn’t want to put cheap products on their faces which can lead to potential breakouts. This is the exact same concept for nails. ‘Cheap nails ain’t nice and nice nails ain’t cheap’.
And how can you be sure that the nail technician/manicurist attending to you is amply qualified? Does the salon display certifications of their manicurists? Does she know the correct procedures and basic theory? These are some questions to keep in mind if you’re considering to get your nails done at a outside salon. This is because Singapore’s nail industry does not require a license to operate a nail salon, so therefore any Tom Dick or Harry is able to call themselves a ‘nail manicurist/technician’ without receiving proper education and training. Some of my clients experienced bad behaviors at the salon they went previously, especially for soft gel removal. Most salons do not follow the soak-off method, they file it off completely. This is VERY DAMAGING to your nails because the filing process takes away layers and layers of your nails and eventually they will be super weak and thin and sometimes it hurts pretty badly. And there’s always rumors that continuously doing gel manicures will lead to weak nails and you’d need to ‘rest’ your nails in between manicures. That is not true. It becomes weak because of the incompetency of the nail technician and the way she removes that gel polish off your nails. Therefore, it isn’t gel that is making your nails weak, its the nail technician that you’ve trusted your nails with!!! I can proudly say that most of my clients do gel manicures with me continuously, set after a set, and their nails did not become weak at all, this is because I treat their nails with care and apply the correct procedures.
So before you start comparing prices, why not take a look at what products they are using?? Most outside salons use gel/acrylic products from China (because the cost price is cheap and hence more profit for them) which are smelly, super thick and groopy and they will not last long. In fact, they might even harm your nails in the long-run!!
Well, I believe in ‘一分钱，一分货’. A penny well spent is a dime earned. So do more research before committing yourself to a salon to get your nails done, be it for a special event or just for a casual outing; because it will either make your day or wreck it!
P.S. I checked on Miss X’s instagram on pics of her previous extensions and they were way below average in terms of appearance. (No c-curve, extensions were crooked, french smile lines is flat and straight, no arch etc) So this proves my stand… how much you pay is what quality you’re gonna get 🙂
I hope this post was helpful 🙂 Merry X’mas to all of you!
just my humble opinion!
Mental For Polish 