What does ‘for the love of the nail game’ actually mean?
By Scratch Staff | 21 March 2019 | Feature, Tech Talk
Phoenix VanDyke, US tech & Winner Of Winners champion at Nailympia USA 2017, discusses what ‘the love of the nail game’ actually means…
How many times have you heard someone say, ‘I love doing nails’ or ‘this is my passion’, or, ‘if you love what you do, you never work a single day in your life’? These words may even have escaped your own mouth. If you’re like me, when asked how I’ve managed to stay in the industry for 24 years, I often reply with, ‘Oh it’s for the love of the nail game’. But have you ever wondered what that really means?
The phrase ‘for the love of the game’ is an idiom or an expression. When I asked many nail techs around the globe what they felt when they heard that phrase, many responded in the ways listed above. But what was also interesting is how there was a resounding response to the negative aspects of our industry.
Many of these techs indicated that they’d been knocked down, quit, worked for free and felt the sting of their work being openly criticised on social media and/or experienced the loss of clients for the cheaper salon nearby. You name it, they’d experienced it. However, one thing stood out as a common denominator for all of them; they were still active nail techs and despite all the opposition, they’d bounced back. They truly were sincere examples of having LOVE for the nail game.
Love of the nail game is displayed differently by each professional. It can mean staying at the salon after hours when the last client has gone to do your own nails. It can mean hanging out with your girlfriends at your salon when they just need to wear the new glitter you just got in stock. Perhaps you spent well over 300 hours on a competition piece and you didn’t place – yet you decided to do it all over again for the following competition.
Maybe, you’ve enrolled in extra education and never been able to implement your learning into your salon, but you loved every minute of it. After all, who in the working world wears three-inch Russian almond nails? If you’re like me, I fall asleep watching tutorials, reading Scratch magazine, and making my husband mad because the light from my iPad keeps him awake.
Truth is, the love of the nail game means we do it for self-satisfaction. We don’t do it for payment as the rewards we receive are from within. We do it because we want to. We find great delight in this industry. For better or for worse, we truly and simply ‘love nails’.
If you’ve found yourself feeling burned out, tired, unenthusiastic or bored. I’d encourage you to reach out to your fellow nail friends. Talk to them about why they do nails. Ask if they have love for the nail game. Perhaps you too will find the love that you had when you first started or develop it for the first time. Then, you too can stand proud and tall and say you have a great Love for the Nail Game.
