Natural Look Wins Hands Down Among Today’s Nail Customers

Kelly Downing, a manicurist for the Perfect Ten in San Clemente, used to dread appointments with a customer who insisted on having her inchlong nails painted brown.

“It was disgusting. By the time I put on the second coat of polish, her nails looked black,” Downing says. “I’d get an ulcer all day before she’d come in.”

These days Downing and other manicurists get fewer requests for long, lethal-looking “dragon lady” nails.

Once their customers went to great lengths for outrageous nails. They had their thick acrylics airbrushed with rainbows, pierced with diamond studs, rhinestones or gold charms, and decorated with stencils of palm trees, flowers and kitties.

“Four or five years ago, women were into claws,” Downing says. “They wanted people to see their nails. Now they’re into thinner, more natural-looking nails.”

Airbrushing is dying out, according to Teri Shaw, owner of Accent on Nails in Laguna Niguel. So, too, are eye-popping polishes.

“Last year everybody had neon nails,” Shaw says. “That’s gone.”

One woman even asked Shaw to paint her nails with a plaid pattern.

“I did layer after layer of polish, crisscrossing over each nail,” she says.

Now many customers are keeping their nails shorter, rounder and finished with a clear polish. French manicures, in which the tips of the nails are painted white followed by an overcoat of sheer pink polish, have become especially popular.

“More than half of my customers want French manicures. It’s fresh, it’s clean, and it goes with everything,” says Julie Walker, a manicurist for the Nail Affair in Newport Beach. “Women have been slaves to wearing colored polish.”

At the Nail Affair, magazine covers of male and female celebrities who have had their nails polished by the salon’s manicurists line the pink and purple walls.

“I did Chuck Norris’ nails,” says owner Teri Garrett, who has filed, buffed and polished some of the best-known nails in Hollywood. “I didn’t think he’d want a manicure because he’s so macho. But he enjoyed it. He ended up being very sweet.”

Ten years ago, Garrett opened the salon by borrowing against her credit cards. She has since moved into a larger salon and has nine manicurists working for her.

Jeannette Sheridan of Irvine is sitting opposite Garrett with her hand extended while Garrett paints her acrylic nails a bright shade of coral.

“Teri’s nails look as real as they possibly could,” says Sheridan, who has been a regular customer since the salon opened. When Sheridan was about to visit Las Vegas, she had Garrett adorn her nails with tiny dice.

“During the (Gulf) War, I also had American flags with little yellow ribbons,” Sheridan says.

Improved nail products have helped women with short, chipped nails achieve those perfectly shaped ovals. They’ve come a long way from plastic press-on nails.

Customers can have their nails wrapped in silk, paper, linen or even fiberglass for added strength.

“A lot of customers who have worn acrylics for years are trying to grow their own out,” Shaw says, adding that she’s seen an increase in those who want a simple manicure instead of artificial nails.

Acrylic nails remain the most popular type of artificial nail because of their durability.

“You can beat them to death. The polish doesn’t chip,” Shaw says. “Whereas with natural nails you have to fool with them more.”

Improved acrylics look so natural, a colored polish is no longer a necessity.

“People have gotten away from thick-looking acrylic,” Garrett says.

Linda Schweers, a manicurist at the Nail Affair, uses a pink acrylic powder for the base of the nail and a white powder for the tip so the finished nail looks more realistic than the traditional all-white acrylic. The nails are then buffed smooth.

“You want the acrylic to be real thin and smooth on the top. Some manicurists build the acrylic this high,” Schweers says, holding her finger a quarter-inch above her nail to demonstrate.

Some manicurists are in such a hurry to get customers in and out, they don’t take enough time to buff and shape the acrylics.

And choosing a competent manicurist can be a nail-biting experience. With the influx of nail salons, customers can pay anywhere from about $10 to $40 for a set of acrylic nails and about $6 to $20 for a manicure. The quality of service also varies from salon to salon.

Manicurists at the Nail Affair, who charge $12 for manicures and $35 for acrylic sets, say they have seen customers with fungus growing beneath their nails because of unsanitary conditions at other salons. Others have come in with damaged nails because hurried manicurists have drilled onto the nail when applying acrylics instead of using the slower buffing method.

“People call us for a quote on our prices,” Walker says. “The question you should ask is how long does a manicure take. If they say 20 minutes, you’re basically paying to get your nails polished and you can do that at home. You won’t get the massage, the cuticle treatment or the proper buffing.”

A manicure should be relaxing, not rushed, she says.

Walker offers these tips for better nails:

“Always have polish on,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be a color. You’ll be amazed at how much longer your nails grow.”

She suggests adding a new coat of polish every day. If the polish chips, don’t pick at it, she says. “You’re picking your nail away. The nail will grow out and chip.” Instead, remove the polish as soon as possible.

Walker keeps capsules of Vitamin E handy for rubbing onto cuticles to keep them soft. She suggests pushing back the cuticles every day and very lightly nipping away any excess cuticle (cutting them back only makes them shred worse).

In addition, don’t grow nails too long, she says.

“Everyone has a natural nail length. Anything past that, the nail will break,” she says. Length of the nail edge should not exceed half the length of the nail bed (the pink part of the fingernail).

“Nails don’t have to look long to look good,” Walker says.