Something I hear often is, "I need to learn to sculpt; I'm not a real tech if I don't sculpt."
What I see a lot is, "You're not a nail tech if you don't sculpt," or "Sculpting is the only way to be a good nail tech."
Forums can be great places for learning, but they can also sometimes make a tech feel worthless and unprofessional in their choices.
While there are arguments on both sides, I'm going to explore why tipping is no longer seen as the easy way out!
Let’s take a trip back 10-15 years, when tips were soooo thick, welled, curved, and cream or white! Creating the sleek and beautiful shapes we see today was tough back then. Filing the side walls and achieving a pleasing upper arch and shape was a task in itself! And let’s not even mention buffing out the well!
As with everything, there were techs who honed their craft and became highly skilled, and there were those who didn't, resulting in bulky, thick, and misshapen nails. Tips were avoided due to the sheer amount of time it took to get them looking perfect and accurate. This wasn’t as common with sculpting; it was quicker and created thinner, more aesthetically pleasing enhancements. Tip techs were often looked down upon, which is where, dare I say it, "sculpting snobbery" began. PLease search google to see this from years back ! But for now, Please hear me out...
Because sculpting was seen as the pinnacle of enhancing nails, which it clearly was then due to troublesome tips, and the start of a more European apex, forms went from awful, square, thin, and flimsy to butterfly, sturdy, and gorgeous. Forms were designed in long lengths to create amazing nail shapes such as dragon and butterfly and all the fantastic shapes we see today! I've attended many courses that have taught me to sculpt some amazing nails, and it really got me to understand structure. I would still advise you all to try these courses out!
Tips kind of just lingered there waiting for their big break, then... boom!
We started to see the introduction of thin, clear, wellness tips, available in different shapes and longer lengths to enable you to achieve any shape you desired. While we are still unable to create really long extreme shapes, we could now start to use tips easily and with precision. And let's be honest, while creating stunning extreme nails is great for product control and understanding, our clients don't leave our salons with huge butterfly-shaped nails. We are salon techs, and in our daily work, that is not required. But precision is still required. New tips can:
- Be longer in length
- Be shaped to provide an apex for all shapes like almond/square, etc.
- Be thin enough to add product without becoming bulky
- Repair a low sidewall due to the eradication of the troublesome well. The tip can be moved up and down freely on the natural nail.
- Seeing the introduction of matte tips for gel users
I was very fortunate to place in two photographic competitions in my career, and one of those was a tipped set! In the "edge" shape. I also created a mermaid-esque set with Hazel Dixon from Cuccio Vamp tips!
Tip fitting, while now easier, still requires good skill and understanding. It is much quicker to achieve now without fitting forms, in a busy salon environment, if not confident. While forms will always be a major part of nail technology, and there are shapes you cannot create without forms and they are required for nail correction, my point is not to be scared and proud of using tips ! The skill to fit is the same, and the ability to create natural-looking nails from them is insanely skilled and talented! Things have moved on! Materials have moved on! So let's embrace and move on with it!
For a free tip fitting guide send the word "tipfit" to my dms on insta or facebook for your free guide !
I also have online refresher courses that cover easy tip fitting and form fitting techniques for all tech levels.
Happy tipping !
Mel xx