Gel UV LED nails
Gel or Acrylic?
Which do you choose and why. Most of the time acrylic is the most popular of enhancement needs for the woman (and men) of today. But why does gel not figure in the there?
As a nail technician I mostly work with acrylic, But for a change I switched over to gel on my own nails and oh I forgot how much I really do like gel. Ok when you first train with the system you hate it! it goes everywhere and doesn't want to do as its told. Acrylic does what its told within a certain time frame, as soon as that brush hits the polymer (powder) the chemical reaction starts to take place giving you just enough time to place shape and get it set down to where you want it. Gel on the other hand is playful and in the days when I first trained was runny like honey and was a beast that needed to be tamed. Go forward a few years and now we have a variety of gels that are made for the tech and client. Super thick viscosity to help with sculptured nails not chasing that bead across the nail plate or it sliding into the side walls. And the traditional thin gels along with the self levelling gels.
Gel is basically acrylic made for you not having to getting your mix ratio correct, its made ready to go onto the nail. And will only set (cured) once its exposed to UV or LED light.
There are pros and cons to all systems out there, client expectations of the system being the most prevalent. Acrylic (Liquid & Powder) is know to be the hardest wearing for enhancements. But if you are constantly breaking them is it you or the enhancement system you choose not right for your nails.
Some techs only use gel some will only use L&P and there are others that use both. I would say its best to learn both systems are there are clients out that there will only wear one or the other system.
Gel is good for clients that have softer more flexible nails as gel will flex with the nail and is less likely to break or ping off. This being a big benefit over L&P. The clarity of gel is unrivalled as you really can achieve that glass finish. This can be achieved with L&P but gel has the upper hand imo. Cons to this system is that it has to be filed off and cannot be soaked off like acrylic. Unless you are using the Soak off gel system. Which to a point isn't as hard wearing as Hard UV/LED gel. But on the plus side there system is odourless, where if you were to enter a salon that does L&P you will smell the monomer (liquid) out right, it can be very over powering. Saying that I do love the smell of monomer. There is also the dreaded heat spike. What we have to remember is that the gel is under going a chemical reaction to the UV/LED light. Those photoinitiators are doing their job so this will cause heat thus the heat spike. This will usually go after about 20 secs under the lamp, still dependent on clients natural nail health and also your pain threshold. Some of the best gels out there give clients heat spikes but they are the strongest uv gels out. Sometimes trying to mix your gel to a LED cured product it can lose some of its strength. so leaving it as a UV gel is the best course of action as a manufacturer.
The versatility of gel is just the same as acrylic you can mix it with glitters, dusts and pigments you will get the same great clarity of colour as you do with acrylic, you are only limited by your imagination to explore the product.
All in all the system that your nail recommends to you to wear hopefully will fit your needs, remember we give you the best advice possible with all the facts that the client gives us.
I recommend trying out gel as an enhancement system you just might be surprised.
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