There are two types of "lines" that you can see after filling an anhancement. One is a line where there was lifted product that was not completely filed away and another is a red ring from overfiling (called "rings of fire" in the US). This post will address the first type.
Preventing Lines
Karen from Key West once said on the Beautytech forum: "to get control of fill lines, you have to get control of your product and eliminate the lifting. Fill lines generally happen when there is a teeny bit of product along the regrowth area that is lifted off the nailplate. If you can get your product under strict control so it is sealed down all the way around your cuticle and sidewalls, you'll see the problem will solve itself. " And frankly, that is the absolute best piece of advice there is when dealing with fill lines. No lifting = no lines.
To get control of your product we go back to prep, product application (not touching skin - ever) and, for acrylic, mix ratio and not mixing systems. Any one - or all - of these things could be causing your lifting problems and you need to practice to get them under control.
I must reiterate - if product touches the skin at any point in your application (even if you remove it right away), you will have lifting. Its a given. (not to mention the possibility of client overexposure. But I digress)
Make sure you've reviewed the instructions for your product line...and that you really are doing what they suggest. Another thing that Karen form Key West points out is that too much filing at the cuticle will cause lifting. "If you have a lump or bump and press the file down on it to file it away, you will actually force the nailplate down and away from the product, or cause a lift, in other words. So again, it comes down to control and really thinking about each bit of product as you work and make sure you have to do as little filing near the cuticle as possible."
Getting Rid of Lines
OK, so you haven't mastered produt application yet, so how do you remove fill lines?
First, lets address what NOT to do: DO NOT nip away lifted acrylic, use extra monomer or primer to "soften" or hide the lift, glue down the lift or ignore the lifted area. These all will cause more problems in the long run, causing yellowing, overexposure, damaging natural nails, exacerbating lifting, etc, etc.
The only real way to deal with lifting, other than complete removal of the enhancement, is by filing
it away.
Karen from Key West has some more advice on how to deal with lifted areas: "One is to file a little bit "behind" the lifted area. Take your file and move it a bit beyond the end of the lifted area, and file a groove....BE CAREFUL and do not file into the nail plate! But if you watch closely, you will be able to see the line where you are filing lighten, and at that point, take the corner of your nipper and flake away the lifted/filed away area. What you will have left is acrylic that is sealed down to the nail and should not show fill lines.
"Another technique is to blend what you can, then use one of the adhesive promoter products available to reattach the lifted area. I personally don't use this technique, because I found I was relying on the product to do my blending for me...and I ended up with nails that had lost their integrity after a couple of fills. But that's me. Another thing you can do is to blend the entire product area so that it is very thin...and then work on just the lifted spots as above. "
Georgette (also from the Beautytech boards) offers this advice: "Fill ins do not start with the fill in. they start with the original product application. Filing flush at cuticle. take the tip of YOUR fingernail and see you feel anything by flicking your fingernail where the cuticle and product meet. If you can feel or hear anything keep filing till there is no dust but do not go onto the natural nail. Then when the nail grows out it will be sealed and flush. Clients will not be hooking product into the hair etc. "
But I use Cover Powder, so who cares if there are lines?
I am a bit wary with how popular cover powders have become in the last few years. Yes, its cool to have permenantly colored nails, but you cannot see what is going on under the enhancement. Greenies? No idea. Onycholysis? Can't tell. Damage? *shrug* I have seen nail techs on Instagram show their prepped nails and it is obvious there is still a small amount of lifting on the nail but becasue they are using cover powder they don't seem to care.
Remember, a fill line is a tiny lifted area and if you are covering it up without fixing it you are leaving an opening for bacteria and water to enter and are also leaving the strength and integrity of the nail compromised so that it is more likely to break or lift in the future.
I will leave you with a Tip of the Week Vicki wrote on this subject many years ago - but, as usual, her advice still stands today
TIP OF THE WEEK #26 FILL LINES by Vicki Peters
Preventing Lines
Karen from Key West once said on the Beautytech forum: "to get control of fill lines, you have to get control of your product and eliminate the lifting. Fill lines generally happen when there is a teeny bit of product along the regrowth area that is lifted off the nailplate. If you can get your product under strict control so it is sealed down all the way around your cuticle and sidewalls, you'll see the problem will solve itself. " And frankly, that is the absolute best piece of advice there is when dealing with fill lines. No lifting = no lines.
To get control of your product we go back to prep, product application (not touching skin - ever) and, for acrylic, mix ratio and not mixing systems. Any one - or all - of these things could be causing your lifting problems and you need to practice to get them under control.
I must reiterate - if product touches the skin at any point in your application (even if you remove it right away), you will have lifting. Its a given. (not to mention the possibility of client overexposure. But I digress)
Make sure you've reviewed the instructions for your product line...and that you really are doing what they suggest. Another thing that Karen form Key West points out is that too much filing at the cuticle will cause lifting. "If you have a lump or bump and press the file down on it to file it away, you will actually force the nailplate down and away from the product, or cause a lift, in other words. So again, it comes down to control and really thinking about each bit of product as you work and make sure you have to do as little filing near the cuticle as possible."
Getting Rid of Lines
OK, so you haven't mastered produt application yet, so how do you remove fill lines?
First, lets address what NOT to do: DO NOT nip away lifted acrylic, use extra monomer or primer to "soften" or hide the lift, glue down the lift or ignore the lifted area. These all will cause more problems in the long run, causing yellowing, overexposure, damaging natural nails, exacerbating lifting, etc, etc.
The only real way to deal with lifting, other than complete removal of the enhancement, is by filing
Karen from Key West has some more advice on how to deal with lifted areas: "One is to file a little bit "behind" the lifted area. Take your file and move it a bit beyond the end of the lifted area, and file a groove....BE CAREFUL and do not file into the nail plate! But if you watch closely, you will be able to see the line where you are filing lighten, and at that point, take the corner of your nipper and flake away the lifted/filed away area. What you will have left is acrylic that is sealed down to the nail and should not show fill lines.
"Another technique is to blend what you can, then use one of the adhesive promoter products available to reattach the lifted area. I personally don't use this technique, because I found I was relying on the product to do my blending for me...and I ended up with nails that had lost their integrity after a couple of fills. But that's me. Another thing you can do is to blend the entire product area so that it is very thin...and then work on just the lifted spots as above. "
Georgette (also from the Beautytech boards) offers this advice: "Fill ins do not start with the fill in. they start with the original product application. Filing flush at cuticle. take the tip of YOUR fingernail and see you feel anything by flicking your fingernail where the cuticle and product meet. If you can feel or hear anything keep filing till there is no dust but do not go onto the natural nail. Then when the nail grows out it will be sealed and flush. Clients will not be hooking product into the hair etc. "
But I use Cover Powder, so who cares if there are lines?
I am a bit wary with how popular cover powders have become in the last few years. Yes, its cool to have permenantly colored nails, but you cannot see what is going on under the enhancement. Greenies? No idea. Onycholysis? Can't tell. Damage? *shrug* I have seen nail techs on Instagram show their prepped nails and it is obvious there is still a small amount of lifting on the nail but becasue they are using cover powder they don't seem to care.
Remember, a fill line is a tiny lifted area and if you are covering it up without fixing it you are leaving an opening for bacteria and water to enter and are also leaving the strength and integrity of the nail compromised so that it is more likely to break or lift in the future.
I will leave you with a Tip of the Week Vicki wrote on this subject many years ago - but, as usual, her advice still stands today
TIP OF THE WEEK #26 FILL LINES by Vicki Peters
One of our biggest challenges is getting those fill lines out when doing pink and white nails. We file and file, get frustrated and finally end up quitting after we see we have filed right into the natural nail and make a big hot spot, making it worse. Can you relate? I can because I did it myself for years.
The only simple
solution I have to offer here is if you're having trouble getting those lines
out - plain and simple have not done enough filing. Now I am talking the
average nail with the average amount of lifting. I am not talking about a set
of nails that have yellowed, have major lifting or should have been filled
three weeks ago. That is a new set in the making. I am talking about your
average client with the average fill challenges.
I know I file better
on one side of the nail than the other and you probably do too. So looking
at the nail as you file it I can get the left side of the nail down flush and
have to work harder on the right side. So what I do is instead of filing
the fill in area at the cuticle to a point (Like a upside down V) I file
across the nail at the cuticle area from side to side instead. I hold the nail
sideways so I am viewing it from the "profile" and I can see that I am not
digging into the natural nail and I file from left sidewall to right sidewall,
taking all the product off at the cuticle area down about 1/3 of the nail. I can
see that I am graduating the acrylic down to the natural nail for no lines.
This may seem silly
that I am taking off more product than needed but it does two things here: 1.
Get the lines out quickly and 2. Refreshes more of the product keeping the
nail more stabilized in the long run. I find that I do less new sets because I kept the nails more
refreshed in color and retention by doing more
filing.
You also want to
file the entire nail and take off 25% of the top surface. This also refreshes
the nail and removes any discoloration. When I filled I usually pulled a bit
of the pink at the cuticle area over the entire nail replacing that 25%
with clean new pink acrylic, which also helps to keep the nails in a more
stabilized shape. You can us clear for this as well not worring about pulling
the pink over the white.
Now if one of the
lines eludes you - you have a few options here:
- Most cushioned files are too fat to see what you're doing, use a Flowery Silver Streak thin wood 180/180 board to get into tight spots. Or one similar. CND has some nice wood boards.
- Use a file that does not bend as you file with it - you will have more control over what you're doing. EZ Flow has a great 150/150 cushioned that is sleek and can get into tight spots and will not bend. If you're bending your files maybe try a higher grit - you may be pressing too hard trying to do something your file cannot do - so go up one grit and maybe you won't have to press so hard.
- Use your electric file instead of your file. Now many of you may be afraid of this and the key is to use a cone bit and keep the bit on the acrylic and off the natural nail. Use a cone that has a tapered rounded edge or the "V" bit from Kupa - yes it was named after me. It is a carbide cone with a flat cut off tip. Diamond cones are good too. I use the "V" bit on my cuticle areas after I have done my shaping. Aseptico and Medicool have some beautiful soft tipped cone bits you may want to try as well.
- Use your dehydrator - like CND Nail Fresh, OPI's Bond Aid or a comparable product. If you think you have not filed enough, a way to check is to dust the nail, apply the dehydrator to the nail, quickly, as it is still wet it will give you a window to what the nail will look like when the acrylic is applied. You may have filed enough and don't know it and this is a sneak peek into the future to see if you got the line out or not. Don't be afraid to do this two or three times, just to make sure.
- Don't let the dust fake you out. Sometimes we are trying to file the dust thinking it is a line - so clean it out with your dehydrator and see if it was only the dust.
- Use NSI's Line Out. This is an incredible product and one of a kind. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and after cleansing the nails apply Line Out to the fill line. Now I can't express this loudly enough, this is not the answer to your lifting problems and it should not be used as a crutch. If you have lifting problems then you need to address your application procedures. NSI's Line out is for those hard to get places and should be used wisely. I have used it over a bad-lifting area and later down the line that same lifted area lifted again but now I had encased it with two fills and had to replace the whole nail eventually. I have used it when I had a difficult line to get out and it worked perfectly. So be wise when using this wonderful product.
So the bottom line
is file more, use your files and bits properly and go the extra mile and you
will be pleased with your results. If you want the numbers to any of
the manufacturers mentioned in the tip of the week - you can look them up in
your Nailpro Gold Book. And when you look them up - go through the Gold
Book again and see what a wonderful source guide it really is. Lots of hard
work goes in there and I reference it at least once a day.
DISCLAIMER
Any products
mentioned in the "Tip Of The Week by Vicki Peters" is not an endorsement of any
kind.
Vicki
The Peters
Perspective
"When you stop
learning your career ends and your job begins"
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