Nail Technician

Just by looking at the flat of your hand — evaluating its shape, size, and lines — Palm Readers can assess your personality and foretell your future. Interestingly enough, though, you can tell almost as much about a person by reading the other side of their hand.

As a Nail Technician, you know that better than anyone else. After all, palms are plain. The flipside of the hand, however, is where the nails are, and people’s nails speak volumes about them — especially when they’re painted. Indeed, a painted nail is a story. And it’s your job as a Nail Technician to help your customers tell it. To do so, you treat them to manicures and pedicures, usually at a spa or salon.

A Cosmetologist who works exclusively with nails, you spend your days cutting, styling, polishing, and shaping fingernails and toenails. If you’re a Manicurist or a Pedicurist, you might also perform other duties like hand and foot massage. If you call yourself a Nail Technician, however, chances are your primary focus is grooming and styling nails, which typically involves the following tasks: removing customers’ old nail polish; cleansing their nails in soap and water; exfoliating and moisturizing their skin; trimming, shaping, and smoothing their nails with scissors, nail files, and emery boards; trimming their cuticles; applying new nail polish; and sometimes applying decorative decals or acrylic nails.

Of course, you’ll also spend time conversing with customers, cleaning and sanitizing your tools, making appointments, and collecting payments. Ultimately, however, your job is to help customers relax — and sometimes rebel — one fingertip at a time.