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• About Maggie
  

So, here in California we're supposed to throw our files away after each client. Believe me, I can go on more than one rant from here! But what I'm thinking about today is why don't the supply companies capitalize on this?

Here in Visalia we have a grand total of two beauty supply houses. We have a Sally's and a Cosmoprof — oh wait, three! We also have a Maly's. And every time I walk into any one of them I am reminded of how little the professional beauty industry seems to think of what I have to contribute to it as a nail tech.

Never mind the fact that out of five or six aisles and the perimeter of the store, only a scant one side of an aisle is dedicated to nail supplies, but upon closer inspection you will find yourself absolutely frustrated if you are actually trying to stock your supply needs from any of these sources.

For one thing, if I were to buy my supplies entirely locally, I'd have to double my prices just to cover my overhead. Cosmoprof finally started carrying files in bulk packs, but they are priced at three times what I pay online. Just a little note: That's crazy.

Thing is, I've talked to suppliers before about this and I get told that there isn't enough money in nail supplies.

Well how does that math work? No, we don't go through polish as fast as a hair stylist goes through color. But we go through polish remover at a good clip. We go through monomer and gel pretty fast. Gel top coat goes really fast for me.

But what really goes fast are the files and buffers. Because California won't let us disinfect them. Why aren't our suppliers selling this point? It's in their best interest to not only be aware of this, but to market the heck out of it! They should not only have the files and buffers available to supply the market, but they should be sending out mailings to let nail techs throughout the land know that they have files and buffers galore to meet our needs. And the reps that come into the salons should be making a point to stop by the nail tables and be sure that we are well stocked every week. Heck, the reps from the local supply houses have never even bothered to stop and say "hi" to me when they come into the salon.

I don't understand why these businesses insist on overlooking us as part of their revenue? It's bad business in any economy, but these days, with so many businesses crying about how bad things are, you'd think they'd be stepping it up a bit.

So, I have less than two weeks left before the next competition being held in Sacramento. This one is the big season finale. I think it's pretty cool that we now have competition seasons that end with a big prize at the end. People understand that when I try to explain it — like the World Series sort of, or the Superbowl.

But, as I've mentioned in the past, I have a long way to go before I take home any giant, season-end trophies. Nevertheless, I'm not going to get there if I don't compete. Because nail competitions are a lot like the lottery; you can't win if you don't play. (That’s the California state lottery slogan, btw.)

So here I am, with less than two weeks left in the countdown, and I need to order some more product. I need a new brush, I need to make hotel reservations, and I still don't know if the BF is going to get the Monday after the show off, so I don't even know which days to reserve the hotel room! AND I STILL NEED MODELS! (insert panicked screaming here)

I have two models picked out, both clients with really good personalities whom I am pretty sure will still love me after living through the competition process with me. But they have lives and families and stuff to rearrange before they can commit to going, and I haven't heard a definite yes or no from either of them.

But I'm not panicking. No no. I'm cool as a cucumber. Total Zen master here. It's just a total coincidence that my breathing sounds like I'm doing Lamaze.

I could — and possibly will — tell this story every time I enter a competition, so be warned. Meanwhile, it's also time for the annual Strut Your Stuff Online Competitions over at BeautyTech. Which, for yet another year, I have failed to enter. Mostly because I procrastinate really well, so, despite the fact that I could do the nails for the SYS at any time during the year, I have no chance of getting an entry in this year — even though Deb has extended the deadline.

But just the other day someone was mentioning the rule that if you won last year, you don't get to compete this year. Deb says she does this to make it more "fair." Well, it's Deb's contest and it's her website — she can do whatever she dang well wants and I'm not about to argue that. But it reminds me of when competitions wouldn't allow you to compete if you worked for a manufacturer. It basically guaranteed that once you'd become a seasoned competitor, you got disqualified from competing if you managed to parlay your new skillz into a respectable job with a manufacturer.

I always thought that was dumb.

I don't understand the trend in our culture toward avoiding actual competition. We argue about it as it is applied in children’s sports and so forth — whether it's good or bad for the kids and the future of our society — but here it is, sneaking into the nail biz as well.

I don't want the big names in competition to essentially "age-out." I want them to keep competing! For as long as they want to keep competing. I'll never know if I've reached the level of skill that could kick Tom Holcomb's butt if Tom can't compete. I mean, I don't see Tom much around the shows these days, but I think we all still know his name and his legend.

I'm glad the major competition circuit finally changed that rule. It's good to see Trang in the pits again.

But I don't really see how the SYS "sit out a turn" rule helps. Yeah, it does give someone else "a chance to win the goodies" as Deb said, but it feels a lot like you get punished for winning.

I, for one, compete to test my skillz against other competitors. Once you're playing in the top division, it's about finding out if you have what it takes to go up against those who have already proven themselves in the game. I can't do that if they aren't there.

Just sayin'.

Don't ask why (who knows how my brain works?), but the other day I was thinking about doing homework. Like I did (well, not did, exactly, so much as was supposed to do) back in school — particularly in elementary school.

I remember my best friend back then lived in a house that had a really cool breakfast bar in the kitchen. It had Formica countertops too — all even and smooth surfaces — not like the tile counters in my house. Not to mention, our house did not have a breakfast bar. I remember, the first time I saw my friend's house, I immediately thought that breakfast bar was the perfect place to do homework. I never did understand why she didn't realize what a great space she had for doing homework.

To this day, I maintain that my primary reason for not doing my homework in all the years I went to school was because I didn't have just the right space.

Turns out, I've had a touch of OCD for a very long time.

I always needed just the right space for doing homework. I needed a good desktop surface that wasn't cluttered or crowded, a chair that was just the right height, just the right lighting, and no distractions from TV, cats, or parents. I needed to be in the zone or I couldn't concentrate at all.

Unfortunately — probably more for my mom than for me — I never had such a space. Even in high school, once I really understood what it was that I needed and found a decent desk, I never had the right chair. My chairs were always a little too low. I never had the right lighting. The light was always a little too dim or too harsh. And I certainly never had a distraction-free environment! Which seems odd when you consider that I am an only child of a single-parent household ... but Mom is, shall we say, not good at leaving me alone. Much like my dog right now, who is squeaking because we aren't paying attention to him.

Eventually, of course, I grew up and discovered that — for most real-life applications anyway — homework is a totally unnecessary life experience and not doing it didn't really have any long-term negative consequences.

What did occur to me while I was thinking of how I never had just the right space for doing my homework when I was growing up, is how I grew up to end up with a career where I spend my days sitting in just the right space.

I mean, we've discussed that I really wish I could keep my desktop clearer (more clear? See? I'd probably know which is correct if I'd done more homework, huh?). But mostly, I have a nice desktop with just the right lighting and just the right chair; with all my little doo-dads and thing-a-ma-jigs that I need to do my job set up in just the right place within easy reach of me.

Of course, my mom still hangs out with me and wants to know all about what I'm doing, but I'm used to that now and my clients love her so I guess I'll keep her.

I don't know if I found just the right space, or if just the right space found me but it's a good thing we got together. I can't imagine where I would be if my space wasn't right!

Thing is, we all love nail polish. For most of us, our introduction to the very concept of nails as part of our overall fashion image goes back to the first time our moms — or a really cool aunt or maybe even an older sister — polished our tiny, squirming nails when we were all of 2-years-old.

That early introduction to the world of nail fashion got stuck in our heads and paved the road for a natural evolution from mere polish to enhancements. And let's face it, enhancements are really just a vehicle for nail art. Most people keep their enhancements because they extend the life of their nail polish. People want to wear color on their nails.

Even the die-hard French wearers want color — they look at it, they pick up the bottles and fondle them longingly, and they always look closely at the seasonal collections. It's not for lack of desire that they stick with that tried-and-true pink-and-white.

My P+W-ers stuck with French for years because it could be built in to the enhancement. It was dry instantly and it wouldn't chip, peel, or wear off the tips. It was fool-proof “polish” and it went with everything.

But then something happened. Someone came up with the idea of pigmented products. We started mixing glitter with our products. Our clients were introduced to the concept of built-in nail art and permanent color. The world opened up for them and once again their nails represented a canvas with the potential to express their inner artist.

This season I'm seeing new lines from many polish manufacturers that lead me to think maybe they're feeling the shift too. It's been joked about for years now that "polish is for toes" but now that the trend for enhancements on toes has swept the land, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders why I keep buying new polishes? I mean, I use them on all of two of my clients so all they really do now is make it harder to stay on top of my dusting duties.

So about all these "new" polish ideas being introduced this season: The matte look. It's been done. It didn't get much interest back in the 1990s the first time it was rolled out, and I assure you if I can't use a top coat and you can't get any oil or lotion on it, believe me when I say any interest at the consumer level is going to wane so fast that the manufacturer who brought it to market might go down in history for discovering the secret to time travel.

People want the convenience of instant-dry, long-wear, fuss-free color. They don't want a polish that's so finicky that they have to worry about what lotion they use! This is not the way to bring back the public's love for polish.

Yeah, my clients DO love these metallics with the diamond dust in them — once. But it still requires that they sit still and wait for their polish to dry. They are so over that! Not to mention I am so not about paying $10+ for a freakin’ bottle of polish that only a few people will try!

I admit, I am loving CND's new "colour effects" concept. But first off all, where am I supposed to get it? Our local CND distributor does not carry their polish. Also, I'm going to be pretty miffed if I run out and invest in an entire new line of polish that nobody uses.

If polish manufacturers really want to stay competitive and meet the demands of today's nail client they should invent a polish that actually dries in five minutes and STAYS ON THE NAILS! Like these "gel polishes" only you'd be able to take it off with polish remover.

Give us a polish that lasts 14 days, can be retailed for at-home and on-the-go touch-ups, and can quickly and easily be removed and changed out. That's what my clients want. That's why clients are opting for gel polishes and "rock star" nails and toes; they still love their color and art, but they don't want to wait for polish to dry, and they don't want the hassle of babying their polish on their own time. And they don't want to pay $9 for a bottle of polish just to touch up the edges.

So about two weeks ago I got a jury duty summons. This is only the second jury duty notice I have ever received. The first one I got was right after I'd moved out of the county and I had to call up and explain that I didn't actually live there anymore.

But that was over 10 years ago. Some people get called every year and some people don't. So far, I've been in that "don't" category.

See, the thing is, I WANT to do jury duty. Yeah, that's right, I would LOVE to sit on a jury.

I read 12 Angry Men when I was 16. It remains one of my favorite plays. I really prefer to listen to it as a radio play, but it's also a pretty kickass movie. You should definitely check it out.

So I have spent the last 23 years thinking that sitting on a jury would be pretty cool.

The only problem is, I do nails. I'm self-employed. There's no one to cover for me while I'm out. And sure, jury duty is inconvenient for lots of people, and most businesses don't pay their employees while they serve — but I don't even have the option of drawing on vacation pay. If I get picked, I don't get paid. I mean, other than their generous $15 a day, which isn't going to go far.

Sure, the BF would kick in and make sure the electricity stayed on at the house and that I didn't go hungry while I was out of work, but who's going to pay my booth rent? Who's going to cover my health insurance? My business insurance? My car payment?

Scheduling time off in the salon biz takes a virtual act of God. In the 18 years that I have been doing nails, I have scheduled two weeks off in a row ONCE. It was back in 2005 and I had nine month's notice to make it happen!

I've long since figured out how to clear the schedule for a few days at a time without panicking, and I like to think my clients would be sympathetic if I were called to serve on a jury, but I still live in fear of ending up on the next O.J. Simpson jury.

Really, a couple of days? I'll make that happen. A couple of weeks? Sorry, Your Honor, I can't do it.

I hear all kinds of stories from people about going to jury duty. The law is set up to allow me to NOT face financial ruin at the hands of my "civic duty" but there are a few judges out there who don't give a crap. Which, btw, is really crummy for the defendant. You don't want a juror who's so distracted by the fact that being tasked with deciding your fate is costing her two-weeks’ pay and possibly her entire business that she's not paying attention to the evidence being presented at your trial.

Seriously, all I can imagine is how sick to my stomach I would be if I found myself serving on a jury in a trial that lasted more than a week. I guess that's what alternates are for though, cuz I'd end up in the hospital with an anxiety-induced heart attack for sure!

So anyway, I showed up as instructed and made my way to the courtroom with the rest of my group, where the judge explained the case to us and started asking people why they thought they needed to be excused.

He let some go, he made some stay. Then he simply picked 19 people and told the rest of us thanks for our time and have a nice day.

That's it. I handed in my badge and found myself at a loss for what I was going to do with the rest of my day. I went to the bank and then got some lunch and came home to my dogs. Who were happy to see me until they decided I wasn't sharing my lunch with them and then they just went back to sleep.

I'm bummed. I was totally willing to clear my schedule for the two to three days the trial was estimated to last.

Speaking of stuff that's blue ... Sounds like a survey question from “Family Feud,” doesn't it? "Name something around the salon that is blue."

OK, so, speaking of things that are blue in the salon, what is up with these nail plate cleansers?

Don't get me wrong! I actually LOVE them. Nail plate cleansers have made my life much easier. I've found that even product systems that don't have their own still benefit from the use of one.

But why do they have to be blue? They blue dye used in these products is pointless! It doesn't do anything. Being blue doesn't contribute to the efficacy of these products at all.

I'll tell ya what that blue dye is good for: gunking up my Menda pump! Or anything else it gets on.

The problem is that the stuff that the product is actually made up evaporates very fast, but the blue dye doesn't evaporate at all. So what I get at the end of the day is an interesting way to demonstrate why the Dead Sea is so salty — using nail plate cleanser and blue dye. Which quickly turns to blue gunk. Which makes me terribly self-conscious because I'm sure that anyone who sees the little pump on the jar I keep it in is thinking, "hmmm, she says she cleans everything, but that's looks pretty nasty."

So I don't understand what the love affair with the pointless blue dye is? I suppose some guy in R&D is thinking, "We'll make it blue. Nail techs love blue. It'll be pretty, like that old lady's necklace from Titanic. It'll fly off the shelves and be the most popular thing ever!"

But it's NOT pretty. Not when I'm actually using it. It's gunky and sticky and hard to wash out of the nooks and crannies of the pump. And frankly, I put it into a jar that doesn't show off the lovely shade of blue that just about matches my properly mixed disinfectant anyway, so I hardly see why it's important that they match.

Just a little pet peeve: why do so many people insist on mixing their concentrated disinfectant wrong? Just flat-out, blatantly wrong? As if they'd never bothered to so much as glance at the directions for mixing it?

I think every manufacturer of a disinfectant concentrate should include a little color chip on the label that says, "This is what color your disinfectant should be when properly diluted for use." Seems logical enough — that's how those little tester kits for swimming pools work.

Now, not all concentrated disinfectant products are blue, but a lot of them are and it seems that the blue ones are the most prevalent. Every one that I've used, when properly mixed for disinfection of implements, is about the color of Windex. Some are a little darker, some are a tad lighter, but Windex is just about the right color.

Unlike the intense, dark indigo color I see in salons everywhere I go. Well, that is, in the salons that bother to have disinfectant at all — at least in a visible place. In fact, at some of the cleanest, most conscientious salons I've worked in I've had to cringe and bite my tongue as coworkers proudly place their disinfectant jars on the corners of their stations — displaying such a dark and vivid shade of blue you'd think they painstakingly emptied the contents of a thousand blue Bic ink pens into that jar.

I don't get it. Do people really think that these concentrates work better if they remain concentrated? You know they don't. They're meant to be diluted. When diluted with water in the proportions clearly stated in the directions for use, the resulted mixture will work according to the manufacturer's claims — which is what the EPA tested and approved and gave a little number to. Failing to follow those directions means you're disinfectant isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing the way it's supposed to be doing it. A solution that doesn't rust implements when properly diluted could make you mighty unhappy if you aren't mixing it properly. The state board could cite you for failing to properly disinfect your implements and for failing to follow manufacturers' instructions for use. Not to mention you're just throwing money down the drain — literally. Plus, that blue dye stains everything and makes your brushes look like they haven't been cleaned at all, let alone disinfected.

And then there's my personal beef: explaining to clients why some of the disinfectant is one shade of blue and another is another. That no, I am not being cheap and cutting corners trying to stretch my disinfectant. That I actually mix mine according to the directions and that, yes, that light blue is the color it's meant to be. I even went out and bought myself a little measuring cup and an empty gallon jug specifically dedicated to mixing my disinfectant.

I'm just going to stop using a blue one. I'm about to go on a blue boycott anyway.

Here in the central valley of California we like to brag about being the largest agricultural producing region on the planet. That means that we have a lot of guys who drive tractors — along with various other ag equipment that makes most city-folk wonder what sort of strange science fiction world we live in.

In addition to all these guys with tractors, we also have a lot of guys who have jobs that require doing stuff. Doing stuff with their hands. Not stuff like making important phones calls on their Bluetooth ear pieces while checking the stock market on their Blackberries during two-martini lunches with the mayor. More like stuff that involves dirt, water, oil, mud, cows, alfalfa, manure ... you get the picture. Stuff that I don't really want to dig out from under their nails.

Which works out well for me, seeing as how I also live in an area where most men do not really think of manicures as a manly thing to do. My own boyfriend uses the pocket knife blade on his Leatherman tool to dig the gear oil and other various Mercedes Benz and BMW fluids related to his job out from under his nails.

You'd think he'd have really nice nails, being hooked up with a nail tech and all, huh? But no. I refuse to touch those things. They are beyond my talents. I'm a manicurist, not a magician.

Household conversations on this subject do tend to get interesting. On one hand, I'm in the biz. I don't think there's anything wrong with men getting manicures. In fact, a lot of men desperately need them. On the other hand, I'm not all that interested in doing men’s manis. No offense, guys, but it's boring. I don't get to create something new. I don't even get to paint. The best I can do is clean, and most of the men-folk in my parts require more cleaning of their nails than is realistic to expect in just one sitting. But that's what they want — they want to get ONE manicure just before a major event (usually because their wife, or wife-to-be, insisted) and have it be 180% better just like that!

HAHAHA! I could scrub the BF's hands with a wire brush on a drill until the flesh was ripped from his bones and it wouldn't clean the grease out of his skin!

You know what does work? White cheese.

If I gave him a block of Monterey Jack cheese and let him knead it for 10 minutes, it would pull all the grease and grime out of his hands and leave them looking good enough that I could pass him off as a manicurist's boyfriend!

But I'm not going to sacrifice my cheese. And I don't know how the State Board would feel about my using cheese as a manicuring tool. So I guess it's fine with me if the boys want to keep their grimy hands. I'd rather do enhancements anyway.

Remember when the dog broke my toe playing Frisbee? Well, we're officially even! After another wild game of Frisbee at the BF’s parents’ this weekend, we brought our pups home only to discover a little blood on the back of Tyler’s leg. Of course, despite his protests, we insisted on inspecting him for cuts. Turns out, he seems to have ripped off a toenail! OUCH! I think it hurts us more than it hurts him though — he seems oblivious. But I thought everyone would like to know that Karma caught up to the dog that broke my toe!

So I happen to be quite a fan of Chinese food. Well, probably not authentic Chinese food (I'm not sure seeing as how I've never been to China), but what most Americans are familiar with as Chinese food. However, the BF is not. I mean, it could be worse. At least he will eat it, but he pretty much loads his plate up with chow mein and egg rolls and calls it a meal. I can't stand that everything on his plate is all the same color.

So, my point — as if to suggest that I even have one — is that since the BF insists that once a month is all he can stand to eat Chinese food, which includes all other variations of Asian cuisine and (get this) ramen noodles, I have to get most of my fixes during lunch while we are busy working at our separate jobs. Which means I sneak off to Panda Express a lot.

Which is exactly where I enjoyed lunch with my mom just a few days ago.

Are you aware of this thing we call "Panda Express”? It's basically a chain restaurant with Chinese-ish food served cafeteria style. Famous for its orange chicken. They have created these panda characters named, ummmm, Tom Tom and Eddie (had to look it up) for their ad campaign. OK, so if you don't have Panda Express or haven't seen any of these Eddie and Tom Tom ads, you're going to have to check it out. You have the Internet. I know you do — you're on it right now. Open a new window and use the search engine of your choice to check it out. I'll wait …

OK. Now. Am I crazy? Or do those pandas remind you of a certain couple of brothers who happen to own a major nail product company?

Seriously. So I'm walking up to the Panda Express the other day and they have Eddie and Tom Tom on the front doors. One of the bears has painted all his black parts orange and the other bear has apparently managed to only paint himself half orange before the can of spray paint runs out and he's saying to bear one, "Dude! I told you we needed more paint!"

And now I can't look at those pandas without seeing Greg and Habib. In fact, now I can't go to Panda Express without thinking of nails. And I can't look at the Young Nails ads in the mags without thinking of pandas.

I wonder if there's some sort of therapy for this? And when do Greg and Habib have time to moonlight as pandas?