French Nails Are Back
In the mid to late 80’s and 90’s the french nail prevailed.
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I would say then, that about 80% of my clients chose to have the french nail done. And boy, did I get good at it! I would have about eight to twelve clients in a given day and most of them wanted french. I did years of it. Fifteen years solidly with another ten years of about half as many wanting french. It wasn’t till about the early 2000s that it started to change. It was a slow change though. And some of the clients I did french on back then still get them done to this day. Tried and true for them I guess- I mean, french is classically beautifully...
But gel polish changed the industry with its longevity and strong wear. And then there were baby boomer nails. With all of these new looks coming out on the scene, french nails took their bow. And for the tech’s point of view, let’s face it, french nails are a lot of work to do. With full coverage gel polish available, the time and skill needed to attain french became less prevalent and worth it.
Styles also change, and that played a part in the french design’s demise.
But, here we are in 2019, and as commonly seen in the fashion industry alike, trends return. French nails are making their comeback, but they are better than ever before. They have evolved to be much more sophisticated than their original design from decades past.
The nail world itself has evolved. It has grown to be a vastly larger industry than it was forty years ago. From this, nail technicians have become better as the competition has grown and the market demand has increased, allowing financial strides to be made creating new technology. The tools we have now allow techs everywhere to create things we could have only dreamed of then.
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Take the mandrel for instance. The mandrel is the metal bit we friction fit sanding paper around to file nails. Back when french was popular, we only had a mandrel of one size and type available to do everything: to prep, sculpt and finish nails- and it was huge! It was about three times larger than most mandrels today. Now, with the variety we have, we are able to be particular about which bit we use for different filing tasks. This makes our accuracy and precision so much better. Cuticles can be filed smoother than they ever could have been before, and- you guessed it- executing a french nail has also improved because of this.
Now, cutting the line on a french nail is no longer the tedious task it once was! Looking back, I can’t help but laugh at how we used such a massive mandrel for cutting the french line. I’m surprised we were able to do it actually- to cut a decent smile line with such a clunky thing!
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The invention of the inverted mandrel bit changed the french smile line game significantly.
The inverted bit is a shaped mandrel made to file a well into the nail, which makes creating a perfectly crisp smile line a dream! Back when we didn’t have this bit, I took pride in the quality of my smile lines because they were so difficult to achieve with what we had. Now, although they’re not automated (although, who knows one day!), they are much easier to create. Definitely a win for the nail world and a big win for the french comeback.
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Another game changer for the nail world has been when nail technicians have decided to take techniques into their own hands when creating and think differently.
One particularly smart cookie- and I would love to personally thank this person- thought to completely reverse the normal order of assembling a french nail. Traditionally, the french nail is made by applying white acrylic or gel first (on the free edge) and then creating a sharp smile line with your brush and a lot of precision and skill. After, you’d apply your pink acrylic/gel onto the nail plate and do your best to snuggle it right up to the white you had laid down. The “reverse french,” is simply when you change up the order of these two steps. First, you apply your pink on the nail plate- even allowing it to cure and then crisping it up with a hand file- and then you apply your white at the top of the nail. Applying the white after your pink, makes it so much easier! The main reason being is that white acrylic/gel is much harder to work with than the pink. When you apply and shape the pink first, you are able to simply lay down the white anywhere on the free edge- even overtop of the pink- and when you file to sculpt and shape, you reveal the crisp line. I wish I had thought of this! It’s so simple, but so smart. I teach the reverse french method in all of my classes as the results are always unbelievable!
With the new tools and techniques that we have today, many nail designs are much more feasible than they ever have been before. The french nail is no exception to this! And we don’t have to be afraid of it with how far its method has come. We also have so many more options for the french design. We are incorporating glitters, multi-colours and a combination of mediums to create unique french styles. I’m so excited to see what the new generation of nail techs will create.
