Help & Advice
Troubleshooting – Flooding
This is something that we have all come across at some point in our careers, it is something that will happen for multiple reasons and can be quite frustrating. In this blog I am going to take you through some of these reasons and how you can rectify the situation and prevent it from happening in the future.
What is flooding? In simple terms, it is when the product floods off the nail into the side walls and cuticle area. It can cause issues with the longevity of the product you are applying because when the natural nail grows, the enhancement will grow along with the flooded section, so this will be a prime opportunity for lifting to occur. In turn, moisture can get under the nail and cause it to lift, or even worse, it can cause bacteria to grow and multiply under the enhancement itself.
Flooding can happen for a few different reasons, one of them being poor prep work. If you haven’t prepared your nail thoroughly enough you will be leaving your nail open to flooding. Do make sure that you have pushed back your cuticles, removed all dead skin, and filed it into the desired shape before beginning product application. Having too much product on your brush can cause flooding to occur when you are applying it to the nail, one second you will be applying your veneer and the next you will have it all over the side walls and cuticle area – getting yourself and your client into a right mess! To stop this from happening, always give your brush a check prior to colour application. Make sure that there is no excess product at the neck of the brush, which is where it often runs down from. If you get colour flooding then get yourself a dry brush, Cuccio’s “Flat Nylon Gel Brush” is my go-to product for cleaning up a colour flood. Simply brush it around the cuticle area and side walls to remove any flooded colour – if you need to repeat the process then do so. If you can see that it is getting messier, which usually happens with red and darker shades then I would wipe the veneer off, clean around the nail to ensure there is no colour staining on the cuticles or in the side walls, then go in and apply your veneer again. Sometimes the more we try to rectify the problem the worse we make it, so if you can see it is going to take lots of work I would just go in and start again!
If you have flooding with your builder gel you can apply the same technique that you would use to clean up a colour flood. When cleaning up builder gel floods, you need to ensure that you aren’t taking away too much builder that the nail then looses its strength and apex. If you are going to clean up a builder flood, then I would always turn the nail upside down to pull as much out of the flood zone as possible, this will save you time when cleaning up. If the flooding has gone that is great, you just need to check it over and give the area a wipe around with the dry brush, however if the flooding is still there then you will need to wipe it away with the dry brush and focus on rebuilding the nail.
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Rhi x
