My old instructor told me in 2009 to skip gel and it took me 12 years to figure out she was wrong | Cosmetologists

Amy Reed · 2026-10-07T05:00:06.732044+00:00

Back when I got my license in 2009, my instructor at the school in Modesto pulled me aside during a manicure practical and said gel polish was a fad that would wreck my table and my reputation. She was dead set on it, told me to stick with regular lacquer and let the salons downtown chase the trend. So I did that for years, turned down gel appointments, and watched three girls from my class build whole books around it while I was still doing $15 polish changes. Around 2021 a regular named Doreen begged me to try a gel set because her polish chipped every time she washed her dog, so I bought a cheap lamp and a starter kit and did it nervous as hell. It held up two weeks with zero chips and she brought in her sister and her neighbor the next month. Now gel is more than half my service menu and I had to eat crow about it, but honestly the bigger lesson is that trade advice from older stylists comes from whatever tools they had back then. I still use her cuticle technique every single day though, so it wasn't all bad. Did any of you get talked out of a service or tool that ended up being a moneymaker later?

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My old instructor told me in 2009 to skip gel and it took me 12 years to figure out she was wrong | Cosmetologists - The Design Community Hub