POOP in Your Dip Powder Jar?! Folsom’s Best Manicurist Exposes the Dirty Truth

[00:00:03] Hey Jason, I found something underneath your nails and I think it's shit. Do you clean out from underneath your nails? Uh, probably is. No, I never, I bite my nails off. Why clean up? Oh, so you are literally full of shit. Well, if it ain't coming out my mouth, it's definitely going back in. And I just threw up at my mouth. Probably more shit.

[00:00:36] Real hairdressers telling real stories about their experiences from behind the salon chair. And we are now saying the quiet parts out loud. This is Sh!t I Told My Hairdresser Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Shit I Told My Hairdresser. Paula, how you doing? How's Louisiana? I'm doing great. Yeah, Louisiana, it's great.

[00:01:04] I've got one thing to say now. One thing. What's that? Fucking mosquitoes, man. Fuck yeah, dude, I know, right? Oh, shit. No thanks. That's the South. That's the South and that mugginess and shit. It's gotta be hot as fuck out there in August. I don't do chub rubs. Sorry, you're not catching me in Louisiana. No way. Uh-uh. Yeah, fuck that. All right. So anyhow, guys, thank you guys so much. You guys have been going through and subscribing on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much. Remember, that little button is free.

[00:01:33] So get on there and click it and go through and tell all your friends about us. If you guys want to go through and get on the podcast, please let us know. We're all caught up. So we have a bunch of people coming on next to go through and tell us their stories. And I hope you guys go through and enjoy them. Get us up on our website at schedulemanagers.com. Leave us a voicemail there or send us an email. Check out our TikTok and subscribe there and also on Instagram.

[00:02:01] And let us know exactly how you're feeling because you guys are doing a great job at that. That's for sure. Good or bad, we want to hear your shit. That's for sure. So get on there and fucking tell us. All right. Speaking of fucking tell us, we have someone here who is a manicurist who we never, ever fucking hear from. We've never had a manicurist on our show before, which I think is important. They're all, we're all part of the same team guys. All right.

[00:02:31] So I thought it was really important to go through and bring someone on because Paula does this shit too. She digs under your nails and, you know, under your toes. I know your secrets, man. I know your secrets. Up your butt crack. She knows everything. She knows where all the pussules are. So exactly. Anyhow. Wash your hands before you see us, please. Yeah. They don't, do they? No. Yeah. When you go to see.

[00:03:00] Renee really quick. Let's let's introduce Renee. Yeah. Wow. Do we have to? She's already in. She's already in. Anyhow, we have Renee. We have Renee Abu-Geebin's Nails We have her on. Hello, Renee. How are you? Hi, Jason. Hi, Paula. Right. Yes. My name is Renee Abu-Geebin. Name. My company is Nane's Nails. I'm out of Folsom, California, which is in Northern California, right outside of Sacramento.

[00:03:26] And yeah, it is that same Johnny Cash Folsom prison. Yes. Folsom, California. The famous Folsom prison. Yeah. Yeah. How long have you been a manicurist for me? You know what? I'm actually new to the industry. I've only been here for about five years. Wow. And this is my third career. Your girl, she's an old girl. Cool. Been through it. So I'm actually a New Yorker. I moved out here right after 9-11.

[00:03:56] That's another story over cocktails. Yep. But I have a marketing and a sales background. Um, I did advertising for Mercedes, for Kimberly Clark. I worked in offices with cubes and I hated it. I absolutely hated it. Absolutely stagfling. And, uh, and my youngest was going to be going to a junior kindergarten full time. And I was going to be going back into the workforce and I was getting my real estate license

[00:04:25] because you know, California. Yep. Totally. And I was like, uh, I don't want to do this. I'm like, this, this is awful. I don't want to do it. And I told my husband, I was like, I'm going to do this instead. And he was like, uh, you're going to do what? And I was like, I'm going to do this. And I had always been, you know, passionate about it. It was a hobby, friends, myself, whatever. And I was like, I'm just going to do this. And he was like, I'll give you six months. And you know what?

[00:04:56] Nobody's laughing now. I have won Folsom's best nail salon three years in a row. I'm hoping to make it a fourth. Uh, and, uh, I'm an affiliate with a lot of wonderful brands. Um, I'm mentoring, uh, I have wonderful clients. I have a six month wait list. So eat that Bubba. Right. You want to know what though? I can't even tell you how many people have actually told us on Instagram. It's like, Hey, you want to let you can't go through and get into this industry after a

[00:05:26] certain age. There's just no way of making money. It's a young person's industry. And I'm like, I'm still fucking doing it. I was 40. I was 40. I was 40 years old. Yeah. And I just turned 48. It's all about what you want to get out of it, guys. You know what I mean? It's like, it's the mindset. And also like you have a lot of years experience behind you, you know? Also, if you go into it with the right, right expectation and education, you should be good. And what, you know, Paula can attest to this too.

[00:05:56] If you're passionate people, they recognize that. Yes. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, whether it's at the table or behind a chair, if they know that you don't really want to be there, they don't really want to be there either. So true. But what does that mean? So if you love it, we're at their welcome. I want to talk about those people. Say it one more time. Say it one more time. Those people that wear out, they're welcome. The clients that wear out, they're welcome. Yeah. Then they know that they're not welcome. Oh, firing people is so hard.

[00:06:25] Let's get into it. It's so hard. I mean, how do we unenvote a client? How do we tell them? How do we have our boundaries with the client and let them know what you're doing with your nails is not okay? You're breaking them. You're chewing them off constantly. You're not cleaning out from underneath them. Oh, by the way, I can see you had a sandwich with mayonnaise because your nail underneath your nail is stained with mayonnaise. It's yellow. And they're all, I think I have a mold or a fungus. No, you are stained with mayonnaise because not mayonnaise, mustard.

[00:06:53] You're stained with mustard because you have avocado. Or avocado. Oh my God. When they have an avocado underneath their nails and they come in and have lunch before they, before their nails and they get all sorts of stuff under there. The most common thing that I see, I see food. The most common thing that I, I've seen poop. Yeah. Okay. It's usually the older, the older clients. I've invited them. It's the older ones. Why is there poop? Are they picking in their asshole? Like what's happening there?

[00:07:23] It's just, yeah. I don't want to know. Like what's happening. I don't want to know. Did you know that 40% of people have fecal matter underneath their nails? Oh, you can Google. You can Google that. Look. Don't, don't eat, don't eat, don't eat the beer nuts. Right? Like when we were growing up and they had all that, the snacks out on the, don't put your hands in there because people have fecal matter underneath their nails. People are nasty as a general rule. Right? So do we have our boundaries and then invite them?

[00:07:53] Have you ever had to invite clients in your chair before? It wasn't for, it was, it wasn't for sanitation. It was actually, uh, I had a client who would just have a complete breakdown every time she came to, came in. It was an hour of just crying the entire time. And I have a psych degree. They prefer not to have to use it like this. You're getting free counsel already.

[00:08:20] So at one point I just walked her out and I was like, I care about you and you know, I want the best for you, but you need professional help. Like you can't just be coming here to me for that. Like I had the same thing. I had a personal assistant and this client would come in and I look at the personal assistant and I go, how long do you give it before she starts crying? She's all 10 minutes. Sure. Every 10 minutes. And at one time she's leaving and she was standing in my way and I'm trying to get ready for my next client. And she's crying. I mean, just tears like crazy.

[00:08:50] And I'm trying to move around her. And I said, you know, I need to prepare for my next client. Will you please get out of my way? And she just starts crying harder. She's all, I want to talk. And I said, I don't think I'm the person for you for that. I just don't think I am. Call your dad. Like call your mommy. Call your daddy. I'm not this shit. You've got to sage everything as she leaves. You're like, oh God, it was terrible. Yeah. Nail, nail, nail, nail techs and hairstylists are the same.

[00:09:18] I mean, we don't know who's coming, what the kind of personality or energy is coming through the door. This one could be celebrating a wedding and this one could be having a, you know, a death in the family or whatever. And you have to be able to switch back and forth. I mean, I come to work and I'm a happy person. When I leave, I try. I know. Yeah. But the thing is, I've been doing this for 34 years in September and I've had clients for almost that long.

[00:09:45] And even if you've had them for a very long time and they're, you know, their demeanor and their personality is very predictable, depending on what they're going through in life, they could completely change. Because I had a client recently going through something and for a year she'd come in and she'd have no nails. So you're talking about the policy of what, what point do you put the repair on them? And so she'd come in every two weeks and her nails would be gone. And I would say, what are you, what are you, what are you doing? She said, I don't know what I'm doing.

[00:10:15] I said, well, I'm not having these problems with anyone else. What's happening. Well, I go to bed and they're just fine. And I wake up and they're gone. And I said, and I said, are you finding your nails? And this took a year to figure out. I said, are you finding your nails around your bed or under your pillow? She said, no, no, no. And I said, okay, so what are you doing at night? Well, I sit my, you know, I start chewing and then, and then she's really nervous and she's like this.

[00:10:39] And then come to find out after a year, she's off her anxiety medication and she's eating her nails in her sleep, honey, eating her nails in her sleep. And then her daughter. And I know we already talked about what's underneath there, right? I know. And they're eating that. Yeah. The funny thing is her daughter went and got her some edibles to eat at night. Just fine. That's going to make it better. Sure. No. Yeah. She slept. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:09] And then she's sleeping, not chew off her nails. Oh my God. We have the little brushes in our bathrooms for like my son. Cause he's dirty. He's like six. You know what I mean? So he's, I mean, I've caught him looking at the back of a fucking bus bench. You know what I mean? Cause he's six. So they fucking do. You know what I mean? So we like, we make sure that as soon as you walk through the door, your hands are fucking clean. You go in the bathroom, you scrub it down. You know what I mean? It's like, we have hand sanitizer, but how much fucking poop is on?

[00:11:37] I mean, come on people take care of this stuff. Quit digging out the dingleberry out of your butthole. Knock it off. So, so I had this client and she used to, uh, she used to tell me all the time how she didn't wear underwear. Oh, listen, I, I don't, I don't kink shame. You don't want to wear underwear. I don't, I don't, whatever. It doesn't affect me. I don't care. Right. I don't want to know. Whatever. I mean, they tell you everything.

[00:12:03] Like Paula will tell you like, they're going to tell you everything. So she, whatever. And she always came in after work. So she had work attire on. Well, this was a June and she had a sundress on. It was a Sunday and I wasn't even thinking about it because she was my last one of the day and I was really busy and I was trying to get her in and out. And, uh, she came in late and I was like, just sit down. Let's out. Let's, let's get started. Didn't even think anything of it. Right. Yeah.

[00:12:33] She goes to leave. Okay. I'm cleaning up. It's Sunday. I'm, you know, I pull the chair out, lift up the pillow, a turd and a schmear. A turd and a schmear. I'm not even kidding. I was like, I was, it was unbelievable. So I smelt it. No, no, no, no, no. She took a shit in your chair. Maybe, maybe, maybe, Hey, maybe she dropped her, whatever I dropped.

[00:13:03] Right. You know, it was fine. And she knew it was there because she put the pillow on it and then she tucked the chair. Oh, motherfucker. Listen, she did it. Was she, wait, did she smuggle that Tootsie Roll in ahead of time? You know what I mean? Knowing she had like, I don't, a little turtle head coming out. What's going on? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe she had crazy anal the night before. I don't know. I don't judge. I don't care. You do you. But like, that's a public seat.

[00:13:31] But you know, even, you know something's come out. Paula, I would never. Paula, I would never. You would never. I had a woman that forgot her depends one time. Forgot her depends. And she kept on sneezing and coughing and while I've got cough drops and here's a tissue. And then she gets up and leaves. Pee all over the cushion. I'd take a woman off. Okay. Leave with the chair. Okay? Like, roll the chair out. Be like, Paula, I love you.

[00:14:01] Let me pay you. But like, the chair's leaving with me. You know? I would tip you $300 and walk out with the chair and go buy a new chair. And lie. Totally. I don't need to know what it is. No. Say, oh, I accidentally had my period or something. I don't, I don't know. No fucking lie. Take the chair and go. I don't need to see it. And then, of course, I have to like fumigate the chair down. Right? Yeah. You know? At least it was a Sunday. I wasn't working the next day. But like, seriously.

[00:14:30] But she likes to see a little turd. And she left you a turd. She knew. How do you not know that you got a little turd burglar hanging out between your cheeks? You know what I mean? It's not like you don't know. Was there a wipe? Did she like, you said a smear. So does that mean that like she kind of knew you used the pillow to wipe her butthole or what? It was. No. Well, it was on the chair. Right? So it was. You know, I have regrets because I should have taken a picture of it because it sounds like urban legend.

[00:15:00] Yes. And nobody will fucking believe it. But like, who thinks, oh, I'm going to take a picture of shit on my chair. But I should have taken a picture. Totally. I remember like, sorry. Yes. Uber drivers get paid extra when people throw up in their car and they have to clean it up. So we charge her for cleaning up their piss and shit. Has she been back? No. Oh. No. Yeah. She knew. She knew. She knew. No. Bitch knew. Yeah. And she was like booked out with me like for months and she canceled all of her appointments.

[00:15:30] Oh, man. I've had someone fart in my chair, but not like take a shit. You know what I mean? So they gave me the precursor. You know what I mean? So I was like, yeah, you can go to the bathroom. That's fine. I had a woman have a heart attack on my chair. Oh, God. What did you do? I took her to the emergency room. Oh, that's nice. My. Yeah. She's 86. 86 and I have a very strict cancellation policy. Apparently, I'm terrifying. Yes. Me too. Yeah. Right?

[00:15:59] Like, yeah, I don't mess around with that. Anyway, she came in and I was getting her situated and I wasn't really looking at her, but I was kind of like talking to her as I was setting up and I look at her and she's just white. And I'm like, and I go, honey, are you okay? And she's like, um, I don't feel good. I'm like, what do you mean? You don't feel good. And she's like, oh, I'm having heart, heart palpitations, blah, blah, blah. And I go, well, how long has that been happening? And we start going down the checklist, right?

[00:16:27] Both my mom and my aunt have had heart transplants in their fifties. So this is kind of like my wheelhouse. And I'm like, what are you doing here? And she's like, I didn't want to disappoint you. Oh, and I'm like, I just wanted my nails done. And I took, yeah. And I took my gloves off and I go, we're going to the ER. Yeah. And give me your keys. So I took her keys and the ER is like right down here. Dropped her off. Yeah. They had to use defibrillators on her. They kept her overnight.

[00:16:58] She's, she's fine. We did it. Oh, thank God. Oh, wow. But like crazy shit happens. Oh yeah. I had somebody. It's so fucking weird that they're like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to pay the cancellation fee. And it's like, just pay the tax. You know what I mean? It's like you have pneumonia and you walk in with pneumonia and you think that's okay. If you told me I had pneumonia. Strep throat. Come on. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I just started antibiotics yesterday.

[00:17:27] It's okay. If you take me, right? No. No. No, I don't want to do. I'm like, I'm not heartless. But I do have, I do have policies for a reason. Right. Exactly. But if you called me last minute and you said, Hey, I've got strep throat. I've got COVID. Honey, we'll really schedule, you know, like don't even sweat it. We'll, we'll, we'll work it out. If you no show me, if you no call, no show me your blacklisted. Yes. All right. Yes. Now here's the thing. Now let's reverse that.

[00:17:56] If you have to cancel on them, or if you decide, God forbid, you have a personal life, like me coming on this vacation to see my family and deliver a puppy. And I've been telling my, my nail clients and my hair clients, my hair clients are, well, they're one of the same, but I had three nail clients say, well, what am I going to do? Well, I'm only gone three working days. You're going to be fine. But, but what about me? What am I going to do? I'm all, you come in every other week. Why are we having this discussion? You're going to be fine. But what am I going to do without you?

[00:18:26] I'm all, I don't know. I'm sure you're going to be just fine. Do you ever get people like that? They're just so entitled where you, they felt, feel like you're beholden to them. I am in a good position right now where I can pick and choose and I can refuse service. I know my worth. And that's what I want for other nail techs in this industry. I want them to be able to say, listen, not all money is good money. Right.

[00:18:52] If it's, if it's taking your energy like that, it's got to be a pass and you're not the right fit for them. There's plenty of work out there. There are plenty of great nail techs. I'm not the best nail tech in the business. Absolutely not. There are men and women out there that are doing incredible designs. Their art is fantastic. Their structure is perfect. They're doing things that I could never even think about doing. There's somebody out there for everyone.

[00:19:19] And if they're not for you, I cuss a lot. Right. I'm a New Yorker. I'm in California, but I'm a New Yorker. I say it how it is. I'm like, I'm blunt. I'm very honest. What you see is what you get with me. Right. And it is not for everybody. And that is okay. And we need to start being okay with those sorts of things and protecting our energy and giving it to the people who really deserve it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Their mold. That's right.

[00:19:48] But you have to make sure before you get to the spot where Renee is at, make sure you're at that level before you start kind of taking that on. So there's a lot of people out there go, I know my worth. And it's like, yeah, but you're only worth five bucks. You're worth a happy meal right now. Wait till you become a steak. And that's because when we graduate from school, they're teaching us bare minimum. Right? Yeah. So I, and it's different for every state. Right?

[00:20:17] But for California, manicurist is only 400 hours. Oh. So basically what they're teaching. Do you feel like that's a little bit low? Yes and no. Yes and no. Because what they're teaching you is sanitation, structure, a little bit, anatomy, and diseases. They're not really teaching you what's going to make you excel in this business. The perfect Chrome application.

[00:20:48] You know, how to do isolated Chrome, how to do art, how to do encapsulation. The things that your clients are going to be coming in and asking you for, they're not teaching you that. So, they're basically teaching you how to get the license and how to not kill people. Yeah. Which, yes, that's important. You know, we need to be able to, back to the hygiene and making sure that we go above and beyond.

[00:21:13] In the state of California, all you need to do is clean and disinfect and sanitize. You don't need to sterilize in the state of California with an autoclave. It's not required. But do I do that? Fuck yes, I do that. Fuck yeah, yeah. Yes, I do. I want to see that shit. Yeah. When I go and get my pedicure, oh, hell yeah, I want to see that shit come out and get unwrapped. And I definitely want to see that. If I'm not getting that, I'm not staying. No way. I've gotten up. Right. Out of a chair. Yes.

[00:21:43] And I pissed the girl off. I pissed you off. I'm like, I'm sorry. You walked over with a tray and just dumped everything down and nothing. She's like, it sterilized. I'm like, said who? Right. I'm like, I don't think so. So, and the fact that she got mad when I left tells me something. Yeah, no. We had boards come in a couple of years ago. And I don't do pedicures. I don't have time. I don't have the space here at the salon. But I would love to do pedicures. I love that on TikTok.

[00:22:11] You know, when you watch them clean out the toes or the ears or whatever. I think that's so much. I'll get mine done. I won't. No, no, no. My husband's always like, what are you watching? And I'll turn around and he's like, you're disgusting. But I love it. It's so satisfying. Like, I would love to do. I've done three pedicures. I have a cosmetology license in three my entire life. I was banging the girl in the office. That's how long I got away with it. Oh, my God. So, I was like, yeah. Oh, my God. You know, people ask me. No, they ask me. They say, are you okay doing pedicures? Of course. Okay.

[00:22:41] Jesus was known. Jesus was known for washing people's feet. It's good enough for Jesus. It's good enough for me. And not only that, you don't wipe your butt with your feet. I don't know Jesus. I don't know Jesus. But for the most part, my clients, they have really good, clean feet. Thank goodness. Because we train them that way. But anyway, I digress. I digress. We had boards come in. And because I don't do pedicures, I had asked him. He's sitting here and he's going down notations.

[00:23:12] And of course, we came up clean on everything, which is, you know. But I asked him, I said, I have clients that come in and they ask, where can I get a pedicure? Can you recommend somewhere where I can tell my clients is a good place to go and get a pedicure? Oh, yeah. And he pulled out this sheet and it was like newspaper script, right? And he goes, oh, I have, you know, this area to this area. And he goes, zero. Oh, no. What? And I was like, what?

[00:23:42] I go, what about this place down the street? What about that place? And he goes, no, they're reusing arbor bands. They're not cleaning the basins properly. They're reusing files. He was like, zero. All the way to Lake Tahoe. Whoa. Absolutely not. So, listen. I'm old, right? I am 48. Okay? Like, I don't want to be stretching to see my feet. My eyes are bad. I got my glasses and everything. Like, I'm not doing my feet.

[00:24:10] So, I will bounce around and try to find good places. But you have to be very meticulous. You have to be aware. Stay off your phone. Look at what they're doing. And if it's not proper, if it's not something you're like, oh, my God, red flag, red flag, get up and walk out. That's me. I totally, yep. I have, because I take my son and we have a place that my wife, like, swears by and all my, everyone swears by it. And I don't want anything to happen to my son. He's six. You know what I mean?

[00:24:39] But I want him to also make sure he takes care of himself. So, he comes with me. He gets them done. You know what I mean? So, oh, God. Yeah. But even hair salons were fucking bad, though, too. Hair salons are bad. We're bad. You drop something. I'm like, it's dead to me. Yeah. It's dead to me. I won't. People are like, oh, it's okay to pick it back up. I'm like, fuck, no. I'll kick it in the corner. I'm like, no, I'm not thinking of the goddamn comb or a clip. Well, we don't have boards anymore. So, nobody knows the difference. There's no, or excuse me. We don't have the practical anymore when we're taking the test.

[00:25:09] Oh, right. So, you can take a written test, but there's no practical. Right. So, I can't speak. California. I don't know, money. Yep. California's gone. There's no more practical. There's no more practical in California. Yep. Yep. So, you have all of these new texts that are coming out and don't know how to do a proper removal. And don't know how to, you know, do proper applications. Okay. Angry. That's what we need to get through then is where are people learning how to go through

[00:25:39] and do nails properly now? I mean, if they're going through and just basically just saying like, hey, fuck it, pass your written and you're done. Where do you go? Is the nail industry like that type together that people will help you out or where do you work spending a lot more money on continued education? Okay. Whatever. I have probably spent the same amount on my license as I have on my continued education

[00:26:05] to get to a point where I'm in a good position to do proper application and proper removals and to do the art and everything that I need. It's cost me a lot of money to do that. But that's really when I first started, we had read magazines and I would read everything in trade magazines. And we'd get there. They'd send us subscriptions all the time. And that education was completely where it was free. They just send it to us. So I'd read about it all the time.

[00:26:33] And that's how I learned a proper way to remove acrylics, how often I remove acrylics and good manicures and sanitation and disinfection, proper disinfection. Because when I got certified, okay, so I went to school or, okay, so in the 1980s, manicuring and massage was deregulated. And so it was just kind of a free for all.

[00:26:59] So when I did a certification under a manicures, I'd been doing manicures and teaching for MRS backscratcher for 14 years. I only paid $500. I went to school, went to her work events, kind of school-ish every week for three hours. And then she wanted us to do nails on friends and family in between them and have them go and have her check them. She was very thorough, very effective in her education.

[00:27:28] And then years later, I had to grandfather in, which I'd already done my continuing education on my own. And then reading again, my cosmetology book, because then I did an apprenticeship for hair, just reading all about it. And so for me to get grandfathered in and going, taking the nail test was super easy. But the thing is, is that these young ones, they don't have all of that available to them. Or do they even know where to get that education? You know, you get done with school. Well, where do you go for that education?

[00:27:56] That's a confusing thing because I kind of eased into it. I mean, it was hard, but I kind of eased into it because I've got a lot of tenacity when it comes to my personal education, especially with sanitation, disaffection. But when somebody gets done with school and they want more, where do they go? Well, and that leads me back to we have to support each other. You know, the gatekeeping and, oh, you're going to have to subscribe or you're going to

[00:28:25] have to pay me X, Y, and Z. When we start, when we get out and then we are back to one of your, your last guest was saying how we're in a Sola Suites or a Phoenix Suites and we're isolating ourselves. We don't have that environment that you had. We don't, we don't have that community to help fill in the gaps for what was missing from that education. And it's taking longer and it's taking more money and more time and frustration and people are falling out. But I'm just not good at this.

[00:28:54] Listen, Chrome and I, well, we have a very complicated relationship and I end up having to go to a, go to a class that would cost me $400 to learn how to do that. Right. You know, am I going to give away that information for free? Yeah. I'm good. Yeah, I am. Because I, I believe that we need to help each other and we need to put ourselves out

[00:29:24] there and get that community back because isolating ourselves in a Sola Suites and praying for the best, it's not, it's not going to work. Yeah, no, that's very, very true. It's very isolating. That's for sure. You know what I mean? And that's the thing. It's like, where do you go? You know what I mean? How much are you paying for this shit? You know what I mean? So. Well, I can tell you the nail expos is a good place to start. I do two a year. I do one in Portland, the Oregon Nail Expo.

[00:29:54] That one's in May. And then I do one in September that is in Provo in Utah and the Utah Nail Expo. And it is just nails. So, you know, when you go to these beauty expos, when you go to these beauty expos, it's, you know, nails are kind of like shoved in a corner somewhere. This is just nails. Oh, thank you. I can stand that. Yeah. When I was only doing nails, I go to hair shows and you just kind of see this little section of nail booths. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Because you guys are the redheaded stepchild.

[00:30:23] That's the thing. You know what I mean? It's like nail tech, makeup artists. I mean, I'm going to say, I mean, we only try to go through and sleep with the makeup artists when it came to like hair shows. We never. Always an afterthought. Always an afterthought. You know what I mean? So, you know. Yeah. Every creative photo shoot that I would show up at, not only was I the makeup artist, I would bring along nail polishes and nail polish remover pads.

[00:30:52] And I would tell the hairdressers, the photographers, you have to give me a minute to make these nails look good because if you're shooting something and the hands are up in the face and the nails look all, you know, ratchet, it looks bad on you. So let me just have a few minutes to do this. And I, they, towards the end, they're all, we can't believe we didn't think about this. I'm all, of course you didn't. And I did. We don't. I've been, I've been a little rub with that. I have a, I have a policy. It's called baby nails.

[00:31:22] And if you come to me and you're pregnant, uh, when we get close to your due date, I chop everything off. You get a builder gel and a pink. And it's for that exact reason, because when you are holding your baby and they are zooming in on how beautiful and your nails are all fucked up and you've got black chrome or whatever, you're looking at the nails, you're not looking at that beautiful baby. So that is my policy when it comes to that.

[00:31:52] Because of that, it's, it's back to like my marketing and my advertising. What, when you are, uh, what I did a little bit of modeling too, like back in the day, but I could never have nails. I always had to have a manicured, polished baby pink, maybe a French tip. Um, because what we're selling is not my hands. Yep. That's right. You're selling the, you're selling the, the purse, the handbag, the clothing, whatever. And, um, we just can't have it. Yeah.

[00:32:22] So getting back to the expos and stuff like that. Um, what do you think that's out there now that you think is complete bullshit when it comes to nails so that you're seeing promote or people saying like, this is expensive and that is poor. Cause I see that a lot. I'm seeing that a lot on our social media. So it's like, look, these are my, I have money if I have these nails. And if you have those nails, you're poor, you're broke as shit.

[00:32:53] We're talking about the whitewashing. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. The, okay. First of all, what's white? What is whitewashing? So the new trend. Okay. Did you know that Pantone, it came out with it's like color of the year and it was like white. Oh, I could not say it. It was white. Yeah. Okay. Oh, do you know what white toenails mean? What? Do you don't know? No. Okay. So, all right.

[00:33:22] So I have, I have girls here that are, okay. So white toenails, it means, let's see if I get this right. If the toes ain't white, the pussy ain't right. Oh, no. What? Oh. Really? You like oral? Well, it's white. Right? Yeah. Oh, shit. Oh.

[00:33:52] Oh, my God. You're going to tell me some kind of upside down pineapple shit, but man, that's even better. So I have a story. So my daughter is 17 and it was my birthday and my husband was like, oh, you two can go get a pedicure. You know, go do girl things. So we go and I said to him, I'm like, oh, what should I get on my toes? Like, I don't know what to get. And he goes, oh, you should do white. And I go, babe, do you know what that means? And he goes, no.

[00:34:22] I explained it. And he goes, oh, you definitely got to do it now. Like, do you got to get, you got to do it now. Oh, I. Okay. So fast forward. I'm at this salon getting my toes in with my daughter and the girl comes over. She says, oh, what do you guys want to do? And Maddie says, oh, French, you know, French tip. Boring. And I go, oh, I'm going to do white. And she goes, no, you're not. And I'm like, yeah, I am. And she goes, do you know what that means? I go, sure do. I'm a nail tech.

[00:34:51] And she goes, what would dad say? And I go, dad requested it. Here's $10,000 for therapy. Right. Just giving you something to talk to your future therapist about. Exactly. Yeah. Just, you know, it's a PSA. Oh, I love it. Oh, you fucked her up. I love it. Yeah. Oh, always. Always. Like gives me so much joy. Yeah. But yeah.

[00:35:21] No. Okay. So back, back to whitewashing. Right. The nails that they're showing online that are, they're saying, oh, these are natural old money. Yes. That is a manicured nail. Yep. Okay. That is not, you just did that at home. That is detailed cuticle work. That is a builder gel in a light color. That is not a bare nail.

[00:35:52] Period. The end. So trying to market that, it's just one more thing that they're trying to remarket and take it away from, let's just, I'm just going to say it. The African-American community, the Hispanic community has made a big contribution to nail art in the past 50 years or so.

[00:36:14] And to try to erase that by marketing whatever that bullshit is. Okay. It's just saying a lot about where we are as a society politically. Totally. Yes. And I, I will not support it. Yeah. We just saw it. We saw it at Superbowl. Didn't we? We saw it at Superbowl. The bad bunny. He even had the nail texts, the hair. They're all on there.

[00:36:44] You know what I mean? So it's like, we're not going away and we're right here. You know what I mean? And it was saying everything, you know what I mean? It was amazing to even hear my mother's country mentioned at the Superbowl, which you never hear. You never hear Honduras or anything like about that at all. You know, not in a positive way, not a positive way. Yeah. I had a client that I've been for months. She'd say, I just want something fulsome. Just do something fulsome on my nails. I don't want what those people do. I just want something fulsome.

[00:37:12] I'm like, Oh, I just put my nails right now. Those people. Yeah. Okay. I can. It's amazing how the marketing is kind of following what's happening politically. And I know it's not a political show, but the marketing with the nails and I see it on social media. We hear what you're saying loud and clear, not fucking cool. So knock it off. Knock it off. No.

[00:37:40] I have found that in the past couple of years too, like 4th of July usually was like a really big art season for me. And it hasn't been in the past couple of years. It's kind of fallen off. If they want to do something, it's like cheeky or like making fun, but like the traditional red, white, and blue artwork for 4th of July just isn't happening.

[00:38:06] And that tells me a lot, especially about my clientele. Yep. Um, and, uh, I live, I live in a predominantly, uh, purple area, but it's very affluent. And, um, you know, there are a lot of, um, conservatives in this area. So it's shocking to me to see that fall off, especially from the clients that I thought would, would lean that way. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:36] So I think it's like, it's a good sign. I think it's a good sign too. You know what I mean? Because that kind of was a bit of a red herring, wasn't it? You know what I mean? It was like, that was their, that was their tip, you know? So you're starting to see that kind of go away. So there you go. Which. Yeah. Thank God for that. Thank God. Exactly. Um, now. Yeah. I really want to go over this topic. Can I, can I change topics? Yeah. Yeah. All right.

[00:39:06] One of them is funguses versus greenies. And I'm really happy their client now rather than mold and trying to get clients to understand the difference between a fungus and a mold is huge. And the thing is, I will tell them that, and I will educate them. The thing is, is that a mold happens underneath a product and on top of the nail plate. And when moisture gets under there and it can't dry out, it turns into a mold. Just have bacteria, bacteria, bacteria. And bacteria.

[00:39:35] What the fuck? Yeah. Bacteria. Pseudomonas. It's a bacteria. So what happens when, let's say you have a lift or, uh, you have a pocket lift or something and moisture either from like washing dishes or, you know, showering or whatever it is. And it gets in be stuck in between the product and the nail plate that causes bacteria, which turns actually the color of this nail. Yeah. It starts. If they don't take care of it, it goes darker, but it starts. It can go darker.

[00:40:04] And then taking them that a mold is not a fungus. It's their cousins, but a fungus goes underneath the nail. Right. Right. Right. So in a fungus or a fungus is going to be white. So it's going to be like cottage cheesy kind of consistency. Yeah. So on the nail plate, you can see where the body's trying to fight off the infection because

[00:40:31] it will be very, very bright pink, even almost like a fluorescent pink, um, where the quick turns into, it's just trying to fight it off. And the mold or the fungus will start eating away at the quick. And then the pink is the, is, um, your body's immune system trying to fight it off. So a greenie is something completely different. Different than a fungus. Yeah. Than a fungus. Yeah. So when somebody comes in, they're like, oh, I have, I got mold. Okay. First of all, it's not always your nail tech's fault.

[00:41:00] This could be partially your fault as well. No. If, uh, you are not protecting your investment because this shit's expensive, right? If you're not protecting your investment, you're not wearing, uh, gloves when you're doing dishes, you're not using oil. You're using the, yes. Gardening. I mean, Martha was pulling up. Seriously. Like toad stools at her yard with her fingernails and couldn't understand why of after a year

[00:41:28] underneath her fingernails was turning green. And then, uh, her nail beds were popping up, scooping up. I'm all, what are you doing? And finally, after a year, I'm all, what are you doing? Because none of my other clients are having this problem. She said, well, I have these toad stools in my yard, which toad stool. It's a mushroom, which is a fungus. Yeah. And I said, are you using gloves? So, oh, I never use gloves. I said, are you using a tool to pull them up? So no, I just use my fingers. Well, thank you.

[00:41:58] After a year, you are doing this. Cool. You understand? Yeah. Cool. And then, but it's always your fault. I don't know. What are you doing? What are you doing wrong? No matter how many times you're doing and tell them about it. Yeah. So when I, when I get new clients, I always give them aftercare instructions and it's the things that we should be doing, the things that we should not be doing. And I always tell them, if you do half of what I tell you to do, you're going to be okay. Yeah.

[00:42:25] Like we're not opening up Amazon boxes with our fingernails. We're not picking our nose or picking our butt or, you know, doing dishes with. Or screwing in a screw with their fingernail. What? Don't do that. I only use, I use my coke nail. I use my coke nail. I use, well, it's gone now, but that's why I use open up boxes. I have a client who is clearing rock from one of her properties. She was probably using it. Oh yeah.

[00:42:55] No, I have video. I posted it. Yeah. She said I deserve a raise. How are people not wearing gloves? You guys wear, I mean, we, my son, even when he's outside with me, he's wearing eye protection and gloves no matter what you guys, what are you doing? This is the climate with my gloves. Not with my hands, but my gloves. Yeah. Well, we, we clean our, we clean our tools with Dawn. So think about it. And especially if you've got like a soakable product on like acrylic or a soak off builder

[00:43:24] gel, it's soak off for a reason. It absorbs that acetone, right? To be able to remove it. So you have this porous product and you're out there digging in the garden. What do you think is going to happen? It's just going to lead to, to break down sooner, probably rather than later. But they don't want to blame themselves. You know what I mean? It's like the kind of gets a character in treatment because they're going to go to the ocean. And I'm like, what are you fucking insane? The salt water is going to fucking kill it. Yeah.

[00:43:53] You know, it's like, oh, but, oh, but I got to come. You did. It didn't last after my vacation didn't last. And I'm like, yeah, you went to Hawaii. You didn't tell me you were in Hawaii. You should inform me. Hot tubs and swimming pools. Hot tubs and swimming pools. Chlorine, chlorine, chlorine, chlorine. Okay. It's so bad for acrylics and gels and dips. There is chemicals in that water. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you're soaking and submerging your hair, your fingers in there. What do you think is going to happen?

[00:44:23] You know, you've got to, you've got to princess it. Keep the hands out of the water. Keep the hair tied up because it will lead to breakdown. It will fuck up your color. Color. So that's why everyone's sitting with their toes only in the water. Okay. All right. I see you girls. Maybe they will get a color put on. Here's the, here's the messed up thing, Jason. They all get a nail color put on whether it's a gel or a dip or anything.

[00:44:51] And they will go out in the sun or get into these chemicals and then their color oxidizes and changes colors. And they'll come back in and say, it's not the same color. Yeah. And I'll explain to them how the color oxidizes and how that's because of the habit. That happens. That happens with nails too. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like if somebody comes in and they have like a certain color and then they've, they've been wearing it for three weeks, but they just need one replacement.

[00:45:18] If they come in, the color might look different because it's been oxidized over the past few weeks. Yep. And they don't think about that. Yeah. No. Yeah. But then they blame you for not matching the color correctly. Right. And so you should go through and do the whole thing all over again for free, right? Ugh. So with, okay. So listen, I don't, I don't spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising because I feel like my clients are my marketing and my advertising. Sure.

[00:45:46] So, and they do a really good job at that actually. Uh, so if somebody has a repair that they need, I don't, I don't put this out, but you know, it is something that I do. Yep. If you have one or two missing, come in and see me. I will squeeze you in. It'll take me 20 minutes. I'll make the fix real quick. And then I'll see you at your next appointment because I don't want, my girls don't walk around with broken nails because you're going to be out somewhere, right? You're going to be out somewhere and they're going to go, oh my God, your nails are amazing. Who did them? Nay Nay. And you're missing four.

[00:46:16] Don't put my name on that. Yeah. Right. Come in and see me and we will, we will do the fix real quick. So my girls don't walk around with broken nails. Ma'am, your name on, okay. I'm going to go into this story. I had a client in the mid nineties, a couple of them, and they came from California and that's when the California nail was really popular. Remember that when they would do the hook thing and go down? Oh. And I too wanted to, wanted to have those kinds of nails done and I would have to glue a tip

[00:46:44] on and then glue a tip on the tip because they wanted that long ass. Oh, I remember that. Yeah. It was such a long time ago. I just aged myself, dated myself. That is. So anyways, I had this one client come in and after six months of doing our nails, she says, I've got this fantastic idea. I said, what is it? She says, you do my nails for free. And I'm going to tell everybody that you do my nails and send a ton of people to you.

[00:47:12] I looked at her and I said, you know what? I think you're an amazing person. If you tell anybody that I do your nails, I will divorce you as a client. I said, this is not my proudest stuff. You want it. You pay for it. I'll do it. But I don't want those kinds of clients. Thank you. No, thank you. And that's the thing is you get to choose who you do work on. Like you said, you get to be picky after a few years.

[00:47:40] And that sounds snobby, but at the same time, I'm not apologizing. Well, and post on your Instagram and your marketing what you want to be known for and the type of clientele that you want. So if you want that kind of clientele, then post that. If you want, like, did I think I'd be doing Pinterest nails all day? No. It just happens to be where I landed and that's what I post.

[00:48:06] Do I have my pink and whites and my nurse nails? I sure do, but I don't post them. Right. Right? Right. My portfolio is what I enjoy doing and where I make my money. So, yeah, you can have a couple of those in there. Those are fun, but, you know, don't advertise that if that's not what you want to do. Exactly. You know, if you don't want to specialize in something like that, work up to that point where you can specialize.

[00:48:34] You know, because I mean, I got a lot of people that tell me all I do is cut hair. They're like, but, you know, there's money in color. I go, yeah, there is. I'm like, how many houses have you purchased? Because I'm down in number like five right now. You know, so guess what? You can do that if you do it right. But make sure you get to that level, do it right. And then focus your marketing or your place of things that you want to go through and basically do all the time. Put that on there. That's what I do as well. Right.

[00:49:03] I used to I used to offer acrylic services and I don't anymore. I just offer gel services. I feel like it's a better fit for the majority of my clients. And I was just carrying that overhead for no reason. Yeah. So I got rid of it. And now I have built in loyalty because you can get an acrylic fill anywhere. You can't get a hard gel refill. Oh, I couldn't get in for C. Renee.

[00:49:29] So I'm just going to go down the street and have somebody do my fill. You can't. So find out what you're good at and what you enjoy and lean in. Yep. And then how do you feel about dip? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's get into it. Okay. I get a little soap. I get a little soap boxy about dip. Okay.

[00:49:54] So as you know, the marketing out there for dip is, oh, it's got natural ingredients in it and it's got vitamins and it's better for your nails. No, it's not. Okay. It's acrylic. Hot take. It's finely milled acrylic that they applied with a resin, which is a super glue. That is not good for you in any imagination. It doesn't have anything in it. We're a monomer. Yes. Yes. It's acrylic. It's acrylic. It's just another form of acrylic. And you know what?

[00:50:22] When you go to nail school, it's the first thing they teach you. Before they teach you acrylic, before they teach you gel, they teach you dip. And it's a specialty. You're only supposed to have it for two weeks at a time. And then it's supposed to be removed. It's not a fillable product. It's not something that you're supposed to be on continuously. And they're not applying it properly. So, you know, you get the jar of dip. Thank you. I see you. Yes. You get this jar of dip.

[00:50:50] And they're applying the resin. And then they're dipping you into the jar. And hence, how sensitive there is that. Remember, we talked about this. 40% of people have fecal marrow underneath their fingernails. Right? And they're dipping your finger into that jar. Cool, cool. Right? Yeah. So what you're supposed to do is take the product, pour it into a separate container, and you can dip your finger into that and then discard whatever's not used. Or you lay something down on the table and then pour it over the nail.

[00:51:19] And then whatever's on the table is discarded. But that's not cost effective. It's going to say. They're going to continually shove your finger into that jar, which not only is unsanitary, but it's also pushing that product into your cuticle. Okay? Absolutely. You don't love that. It's the perfect storm of bullshit to be happening. Listen, if you have a client, a tech out there that is doing the proper application and cares about

[00:51:49] your nail health, then like this doesn't apply to you. But if you see, if you go out to a salon and they are applying dip, by dipping your hand into that finger, you need to get up and leave. Yeah. You don't want it to be the next poop scoop. You know what I mean? So. No. No. Because it's back to that. We've got greenies. We've got fungus. We've got whatever bacteria is in there. And you are sharing it with what we have 10 fingers each. Yeah. So each client that comes in, you've got, you know,

[00:52:17] You know, when you get food poisoning, you know, that's poop, right? Does everyone know that? It's not just they didn't go through and refrigerate the chicken right. Nine times out of 10, 10 times out of 10, it's poo. So think about that, guys. Think about that. Shit I told my hairdresser. I know, right? Spreading the shit. The nail techs are spreading the shit. Oh, not here. Not here. Yeah. Right. Not in Nene's nails. Right. Oh, my God. No, I don't even offer dip. We'll do it.

[00:52:47] Well, I don't offer dip either. And I like that you don't do acrylics because for the last eight years, I've been moving out of doing acrylics. I don't take any brand new acrylic nail clients. I do take my standing ones that I've had for 30 years because it's a wild type of thing. They're wonderful. But a lot of my clients have been able to move over to gels, which I really do favor. It's less damage if they take care of them properly. So I put it on them as well. Well, all of this is garbage, right?

[00:53:17] Seriously. No matter. Quality does matter. Like, don't get me wrong. You're not going to spend $400 on your hair and then use Pantene. Right? You'd be surprised. You would rogue not. Yeah. Quality definitely matters. But the big thing that's going to make it different is going to be the person who's yielding these tools. And do they have the proper education? Do they honestly care about you? Or are they just trying to get you in and out?

[00:53:47] Do they want to find the best product that works for you? And do they care about your return service? So I think gel for me has, because it is so flexible and it is non-porous, it does have a longevity to it that I feel acrylic does not. Acrylic is like cement on top of the nail.

[00:54:12] So if you have any sort of flex to the nail plate at all, if it's a weak or fragile splitting whatever fingernail and you try to put concrete and cast it, of course you're going to have lifting. Of course you're going to have issues around retention. So if you put something like hard gel, which is a lighter product, it has more flex. It is more malleable. It feels very light. I tell my clients, I know it sounds like bullshit and I know it sounds like lip service, but it is absolutely true.

[00:54:41] It is a lighter feeling product. You're going to forget that they're not. Yes. You're going to forget that they're not your nails. They're not. They're mine until yours grow out. So you have to be careful with them. But right. I mean, what's it they say? Jewels, not tools. Protect your investment. If you're going to be spending $150 on a set of nails, do your aftercare and do your follow-ups. Don't wait too long in between surfaces. You know, four to six weeks. I mean, I have some five-weekers. I do.

[00:55:11] I do. I have some five-weekers, but we're pushing the envelope. But do I have two-weekers? I do. They're rare. But around that three, four week is when you're going to want to come in for return services. You wait any longer than that. Your structure is going to be completely off and you're going to hurt yourself. So just make sure, as you know, I've said before with a private nail tech, look out. Yep. Set it and forget it. Well, Renee, it was a pleasure. What an education for me.

[00:55:41] I mean, I just cut hair. That's it. But I learned a lot. All right. Thank you for having me, Jason. Thank you. We really appreciate it. Oh, we're doing a lot of my heart. Yeah. Real tech. I love it. Well, I hope that you have me back. I would love to come back and talk to you guys some more. Oh, definitely. I appreciate you having me. We need to go through and do a follow-up for sure, guys. All right, guys. So I'm going to go through and put everything in the show notes about Renee. If you guys want to go through and give her a follow, see what she's doing, share some education, please do.

[00:56:11] Renee. Thank you. Nail some shit down with shitology. Hey, boss. I was hoping we could get some clients beverages, maybe some water, give us some lighting in the back so we can see what we're doing, and free Wi-Fi, and hopefully we can get some toilet paper for the bathroom. What?

[00:56:40] Aren't you the manicurist? Yeah. Why are you talking? Why is the manicurist talking to me? Can someone fucking tell me what's going on here? This woman thinks she has a voice. And with that, stay shitty. And see you next time. Hey, listener persons. If you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or Amazon Prime Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shit.

[00:57:08] It definitely helps out our algorithm. Also, check out our shitty posts on Instagram at Shit I Told My Hairdresser, where you can give us a follow and like some of our content. If you'd like to get your story on our podcast, go to our website at ShitIToldMyHairdresser.com. You can leave us a voicemail using the green mic icon or send us an email. And if you like us, tell 10 of your friends. And if you hate us, tell 20. And remember, stay shitty, listener persons. I'm sure you can leave us a book on Instagram. I'm sure you'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.