Nail Basics for Beginners

Ten nails, one shape, no lifting. Start where every good tech starts.

The first six weeks of the job, taught properly: how to prep a nail so nothing lifts, how to hold a brush, how to file one shape ten times, and how to work clean.

15 lessons
On-demand · Beginner

Coming soonFree

Free with a NailFair account · lessons are going up now

What you'll learn

Prep a natural nail so product bonds — and know which step you skipped when it does not
Hold and load a brush, and read a bead before it touches the nail
File one shape consistently across ten fingers and both hands
Build an apex in the right place, so a set stops snapping at the same spot
Apply gel polish that does not flood the sidewalls or shrink off the free edge
Remove product without thinning the plate underneath
Set up, disinfect and turn over a station the way an inspector expects
Price your time honestly once you know how long the work really takes

Course description

Most people learn this job standing next to somebody who is busy.

You copy what you see, nobody explains why, and the habits you pick up in the first month are the ones you spend two years unlearning — the file angle that thins the plate, the bead that is always too wet, the cuticle work that leaves a set lifting by Friday.

This course goes back to the beginning and does it in order. It is for somebody who has just qualified, somebody about to, and anybody who learned on the job and has gaps they have never said out loud.

Every lesson is one thing, filmed from the angle you would actually see it from — over the shoulder, not across the table.

Learn from basic to advanced

You do not need any experience.

You do not need to own a kit before you start — the first lessons tell you what to buy and, more usefully, what not to.

We start with the nail itself and end with you taking a paying client through a full set at a pace you can repeat.

Watch it. Try it. Fix it.

Each lesson is one skill, with:

Short over-the-shoulder videos
A prep checklist for the table
A shape guide you can print
Product and tool lists, with what to avoid
Common mistakes, and what causes each one
Practice drills for a finger trainer
Quick quizzes
Q&A with working techs

Who is this course for?

For new techs

You have the licence or you are close, and you want the first month to be learning rather than copying.

For techs who learned on the job

You are fast and your clients are happy, but nobody ever explained prep, apex or removal — and you suspect that is why some sets lift.

Why this matters

Almost every problem that walks back into a salon — lifting, breaks in the same place, thin plates, greenies — was decided in the first ten minutes of the appointment, before any colour went on.

Those ten minutes are the part nobody films, because they are not the part that looks good on Instagram.

This course is those ten minutes, slowly, until they are yours.

Get the first six weeks right and the next six years get easier.

Course content

15 lessons

1The nail, in the five parts you will talk about every day
2Reading a hand before you touch it: what you can and cannot work on
3Cuticle work: what comes off, what never gets cut
4Prep, step by step — and why most lifting starts here
5Dehydrator, primer, base: what each one is actually for
6Holding the brush, loading the bead, placing it
7Building an apex, and finding it on a finished nail
8Filing: grit, angle, and one shape ten times
9Square, squoval, round, oval, almond — what changes between them
10Gel polish: thin coats, clean edges, cure times that match your lamp
11French tips and the smile line, slowly
12Fills: what to file back and what to leave
13Removal without damage
14Station setup, disinfection and what the state inspector looks at
15Your first week with real clients: timing, pricing and saying no

Instructor

Lisa Le

Licensed nail technician, 12 years behind the table

Join tens of thousands of nail businesses on NailFair

Be one of them — and reach thousands of partnership opportunities across the US.