Looking for a nail salon

[redbird]

This feels like a long-shot question, but it can't hurt to ask. I have a torn nail that I think needs professional attention. Basically, the advice online other than "go to a professional and ask for a silk wrap" is notes on how to do the job yourself at home. I think it's worth paying for their expertise, especially given that this is the index finger of my dominant hand.

So, I'm looking for either recommendations of a nail salon I can get to reasonably (that covers most of Manhattan, and bits of Brooklyn, the West Bronx, and maybe Queens) or advice on how to select/judge a place. What I want, in addition to competence with nails, is decent ventilation, fluency in English, and a low-key approach, not trying to sell me fancy designs or anything.

Comments

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Without any local familiarity, what I might suggest is looking into something like a full-service beauty salon affiliated with one of the "natural" salon lines, like Aveda. I sometimes went to an Aveda salon in Denver, and had a mani/pedi once, and the style was notably different from the storefront nail salon style of interacting with the customer. You could also ask about cost for a silk wrap on the damaged nail, and then a low-key manicure (French, or just a clear polish "men's" manicure) on the other fingers, which might make it worth the salon's/tech's time in a way that "do a full station setup to wrap one nail" might not?

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I don't know about your health insurance, but it was a nurse who specialized in nail wounds who taught me how to fix mine.

The last time I had ridged nails, the middle ridge on my right thumb was rolled under and if I tapped it at all, it broke down to the base, so I got used to fixing it. This time (same med as last time), there isn't even a middle ridge, just others on the sides.

[redbird]

I don't have ridged nails, so I don't know how relevant that is, but what you do for it?

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I think it's the same as any nail that splits to the base -- put it together with nail glue and then the silk over it and use a nail polish over that. I had to redo it whenever things wore down.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that, in my experience, (I've worn acrilic nails for about 10 years now, both in Chicago and on LI) nail techs do not ever speak fluent english. Eluis's suggestion above re: fancy beauty salons may give you different results, but anyplace that says "Nails" on the marquee is going to be staffed entirely by recent East Asian immigrants. (There's probably a demography paper in why this is.)

-Nameseeker