Backfills (French rebalance)

We have discussed the procedure for re-balancing nails (fills) and that all well and good, but what if we have someone who has a Pink & White (Permanent French) look?  The concept of re-balancing is the same, but we have that added step of the grown out white tip to deal with.  There are seemingly as many ways to re balance a French nail as there are companies that make products!  I will present a few of the most common ways here (these methods are the same for both Acrylic Liquid & Powder or Gel nails).

Generally you would begin just like any other re-balance procedure, but with step 2 where you are thinning out and cleaning up the grown out product, you would add in the french re-balancing Prep and then when you apply product you also fill in the white.  Let me show you...

First of all, you do not need an electric file to do a backfill (French Re-balance).  The first method I am presenting is the method the NSI, CND and OPI teaches, which basically entails thinning out the entire enhancement by about 50% (you can use a hand file or electric file; they show a hand file) and then you just reapply a thin layer of product over the entire nail - basically re-building the enhancement just like a full set. One advantage to this method is that it looks like a brand new set every time (which is what you want!)
(This video has a lot of references to the NSI product line, the first video shows the prep and the second shows application - they are the same video I just skipped past all the wordiness :) )

 

Basic Electric File Method - I think that this is the most common method (at least among techs I know). I personally use a barrel bit, but she is using a tapered backfill bit.  There are a lot of ways to carve the smile line with this method.

Tammy Taylor Method - Tammy Taylor uses a thin bit to literally just gouge out the new white growth area at the smile line and fill that in with white.  Many people opt to not do this method because there may be a color difference between the new and old product

Fill Before Cut - Young Nails teaches to basically to a regular fill and then use an e-file to cut the smile line after you apply the pink product. Its basically their counterpart to the Reverse Application.

I hope this helps!