NAIL TECH TALK: Samantha Cedergren of SLCNails
By Callie Iley | 28 August 2021 | Feature, Tech Talk
Scratch chats to Samantha Cedergren of SLCNails about her feelings on education in the nail industry and her hopes for the future…
I find most of my inspiration from other nail techs, mostly through Instagram. I find it so difficult to just simply create from nothing. I have a folder of nails that I will pull from when I can’t rely on my own brain. My clients also bring me inspo that I am able to use, whether it be pictures of nails, fabrics or life!
An average nail day for me starts at 9:30am and ends at 8:30pm. My first client is at 10am but I like to get there early to set my station up and mentally prepare for my day, answer any DMs and post on Instagram.
I usually see 6-7 clients a day, depending on the service. I have a pretty regular returning clientele. I’ll end my day by responding to DMs and posting again. A nail tech’s job never just ends after your last set of nails for the day!
So far the highlight of my career for me has been the people. I have made such an amazing community since becoming a nail tech. I have met some of my best friends, people who would show up for me no matter what, through nails. I couldn’t be more grateful for them and this career.
As my career continues, I hope to continue growing as a person, as well as a nail tech. I have learned so much about myself and people during this time, it’s been an enlightening experience thus far.
“I always strive to perfect my craft, to learn new things and bring the best version of myself to my clients – that is a constant goal of mine that never wavers.”
My best advice to any aspiring techs is to practice relentlessly. Don’t expect perfection right away, let yourself fail – that’s how you learn. Understand that in the beginning, you’ll sit around quite a bit, but that is the time for you to practice your craft. Foundation is key. Dope nail art doesn’t matter if your nails don’t last.
Find someone whose work you appreciate and learn from them. That’s what I did. I am so grateful for the mentor I have to learn from. And of course, don’t forget to have fun with it!
If I could change anything about the industry, it would be education. I would love to change what we’re taught in school in order to get our license. I always compare it to doing time because we’re not taught anything of real value in school, we just do our time.
They always tell us we’ll need to take continuing education courses after school, but they don’t tell you that those courses are what they should be teaching you. They teach the bare minimum and we need more than that to be successful after school.
This industry is always changing and advancing. It is necessary to improve one’s skills in order to be the very best version of yourself and to deliver that to your clients. At the end of the day, we’re here to bring joy to our clients through their nails and if we’re not advancing in our crafts, we are failing to do so. For me, failing is not an option.