Zularis Naturals - Natural Nail Care Blog
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The NY Times had an interesting article on chipped nail polish being the new "in" fashion trend. Chipped nail polish is NOW a fashion trend? It use to be that nails sporting polish with chips and dings on their tips was a sign that you were actually doing something important....like work. Whether it's taking care of your family, working outside the home, etc you were still actually doing some type of physical work. By the time you got a few spare moments it was better off spent attempting to sleep instead of fixing your manicure. Now it seems that it's taken on an entirely new meaning
Ji Baek, the owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge was quoted as saying her clients are “wearing perfectly-tailored clothes, they have $5,000 bags and equally fabulous shoes, but their nails are chipped and they’re saying, ‘I don’t care.’ They don’t want to be too perfect.” It seems they are too busy Blackberrying, shopping, and doing who knows what else to care about how their nails look. They are too busy being perfect to care remember? What they don't realize is that those of us who don't have time to be perfect are in on their secret....they really do care. If they didn't, they wouldn't walk around telling everyone how much they don't care while they pick at their polish.
Deborah Lippman was quoted as saying “I don’t think you can get away with if you’re a woman of a certain age,” she said. That certain age being 35 or older. Wow....this is one of those times I'm glad that I'm sooooo ancient (at the ripe old age of 39) that sporting chipped polish ON PURPOSE isn't cool. Sorry to be so not cool but I'm a bit to busy right now working, running a business, taking care of kids, attending school events and such to worry about artfully picking off my polish these days.
Thankfully it seems that everyone is in agreement over toe nail polish. Chipped polish on your toes is still a big fashion Don't....for now at least.
How about you? Is purposely chipped polish a fashion trend your following?
This is another popular myth. I see lots of products being sold that say they provide vitamins, minerals, nutrition, etc that your nail needs to grow faster, stronger, better then before....sort of like the Bionic Woman :) The truth is that most of them are lying or stretching the truth. Once again let me remind you that the part of the nail you see is non-living protein called keratin. No amount of vitamin, minerals or gelatin will affect this part of the nail.
The only part of your nail that is affected by what you eat is the nail matrix. This is where the nail grows from and is located just behind your cuticle area at the back of your nail. It is under the skin of your finger and is not visible. Certain illness can affect how the nail grows. Vitamin as well as protein deficiency can also affect nail growth but the number of people who actually have these problems are extremely small.
Applying various paint on nail products that claim to help nails grow because they provide vitamins/minerals aren't telling the whole truth. How do you feed protein material that is dead? You don't....that's the truth. However, these products may help to make the nails less prone to braking. This would allow the nail to grow longer then usual does which would make it seem like it works.
Drinking gelatin based products don't work either. Various gelatin manufacturers have been touting the benefits of drinking and even soaking your nails in gelatin liquid for years. It won't work....sorry Knox :( If anyone says it does ask them for a study showing it does. There are however numerous studies showing that there are no benefits from using gelatin as well as calcium and other supplements. So eat Jell-o because you like the taste and not because it will make your nails stronger.
The one supplement that actually does have scientific proof backing it up is Biotin. I found this information about Biotin on the web at one time and saved it but not the website URL I found it at: "Biotin is absorbed into the core of the nail, where it may encourage a better, thicker nail to grow," says Richard K. Scher, M.D., professor of dermatology and head of the Nail Section at Columbia University-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. Cauliflower is a rich source of biotin, as are legumes such as peanuts and lentils. One study showed that people consuming 2,500 micrograms (2.5 milligrams) of biotin daily had marked increases in nail thickness after six months. To get this much biotin, you'll need to take it in supplement form.
Got any other possible nail care myths you'd like to see covered? Just let me know.
This does not mean that your nails completely lack moisture. They do and it makes up about 18% or so of your nail. Lack of moisture is one of the main reasons why people have brittle, splitting or peeling nails. Moisture is also a reason why some people end up with fungal infections under their nail enhancements. Usually when your nail tech apply the initial enhancement they apply a liquid to help pull out some of the moisture on the surface of your nail. They also use a sanitizing spray before applying the enhancement to kill any trapped bacteria on the nature nail. A vast majority of the problems that occur have to do with moisture getting in from outside the nail.
If your enhancement is lifing around the cuticle or nail tip water can get it. The same thing occurs when you have a crack in the nail. Moisture trapped under the nail can breed bacterial or fungus causing serious problems. If you wear enhancements and have either of these issues this is the best way to deal with them:
DO NOT GLUE DOWN THE NAIL YOURSELF!!!! Until the damaged material is removed, moisture (and bacteria) will be trapped under the nail. No matter how clean or dry the nail looks it's there. When you try to solve the problem yourself you risk infection. If you notice a crack or lifting it is better to see your nail tech and have them repair the nail. It may cost you a couple of bucks to have it done but it's far cheaper then dealing with an infection.
I was talking with someone the other day about nail enhancements....AKA artificial nails. Seems they were having their enhancements removed to allow their nails some time to "breathe". Oh my....I could almost feel my head about to spin as I encountered what must be the number 1 nail myth around. It's bad enough when the regular person on the street thinks their nails are breathing. It's even worse when a nail tech thinks the same thing and passes along incorrect information to their customers.
The truth is your nails DO NOT BREATHE! EVER!!!! The only breathing taking place in your body happens in the lungs. Your nails are made up of keratin...a fibrous protein. This is the same stuff that your hair is made of....and your hair doesn't breathe either. Once the nail grows from the matrix (the part of your finger that the nail grows out of) it is basically dead. It does not feel, has no blood supply, etc. Which is why you can trim your nails as well as hair without feeling pain.
Because your nails do NOT breathe there is no logical reason for removing all your nail enhancements to give your nails a rest. The enhancement covers the dead portion of the nail so your nail will continue to grow out. At times, whatever material your enhancement is made of, may begin to age or breakdown after being exposed to various chemicals, etc. When this occurs the material covering the nail can become brittle, begin to discolor or even crack/flake off. Some people keep their nails too long and the constant banging on the nail can also cause problems with the enhancement. This is why it is important to regularly maintain your nails once enhancements have been applied. If a problem is caught early then your tech can re-balance the material rather then soak off the entire enhancement.
As a side note: people sometimes also refer to their skin breathing as well. Actually what they are talking about is the fact that the body controls it's internal temperature through perspiration. If you didn't sweat then your internal temp would rise and damage your organs. Nails do not sweat either....but that's another popular nail myth to be tackled in another post.
With the name and the logo finally done the label and website design can begin. I'm hoping to officially launch the business some time in June. If your interested in seeing what's happening with the new business and product line you can check out the new blog: Zularis Naturals Blog. There you will ultimately find information about natural nail care as well as product info for that particular line.
I will continue to maintain the SugarLicious blog and, time permitting, will even list manicure/pedicure related products to Etsy. These will be limited edition or seasonal scents that will only be available in limited numbers. All the products listed will be ready to ship instead of custom made when ordered. The SugarLicious website will be taken down once the new site is ready. Now back to our regular programming :)
I thought I had finally tackled the hardest part of the new business....finding a name. The first round of logo designs were done and I had even chosen one (shown above). Just to make sure one last trademark search was done. I understand that looking through the current trademarks that have been granted doesn't guarantee anything. But, if you do find something that is fairly similar or in the same class of products that your filing under (cosmetics for example) then one of several things will happen. They will deny your application. You can always fight it by explaining how your name/product line is different but that could take a while before you have a final answer. Do you really want to wait several years to find out whether or not your application has been approved? During that time you've spent a whole lot of time, money and energy promoting your product under one name only to find out that you've been denied in the end. I know I wouldn't want to do that.
That's the position I was in when another search turned up a company that had already been granted a trademark for hair care and soap products. Sure I don't sell hair care or soap. But I would be selling products that fit into the same category...cosmetics. Rather then continue on and hope that in the end nail care products with a very similar name as another cosmetic company would be approved I decided to change the name now before the website was made and labels designed.
After spending the week talking to many of the local spas/salons as well as hours spent searching online I made the final decision to focus on natural nail care for men. Thankfully many of the products I was already making could still be used for the new product line. The current business name, SugarLicious, and the scents I already had would have to be changed. I can't imagine too many men being interested in using dessert or food scented products from a company called SugarLicious....can you? Again, this is where a business coach's experience helps. Donna Maria was able to help me make a plan of action, keep me focused and provide me with some of the contacts I would need for certain things such as logo design.
The most important thing to be done in the coming week was to work on a new name. Sounds like it would be an easy task. Unfortunately all the really cool names I could come up with were either already trademarked or had very similar names currently trademarked. Applying and obtaining a trademark is an important part of my business plan. After all, I don't want to do all of this work to find out a couple of years down the road that someone else has been using the same or a similar name before me. This opens a whole can of legal worms that I would rather avoid. Plus, getting to this point has been a lot of work. I'd rather avoid having to change my business name in the future by making sure it's unique now. As my business coach explained, it's better to go with a name that's not your favorite if you can own the .com URL and trademark it.
I thought I had finally found a name that could be considered masculine or at least neutral in gender. My thinking was this would leave me a bit of room in the future to also introduce nail care products for the whole family. The logo designer got to work and sent a few mock ups for potential designs....you can see them above. Then, at the last moment, I hit a huge bump in the road!
The neat thing about working with a business coach is that they can look at your business ideas in a different way then you do. Up to this point I had been trying various methods over the years to sell my bath and body products to women. After all, aren't they the ones who purchase the majority of similar products that are currently on the market? My plans to narrow my focus to natural nail care related products seemed to make sense. After all I have been a licensed manicurist since 1994. But, due to various reactions I've had to different nail enhancement products (headaches and skin irritations) I had stopped doing acrylic or artificial nails years ago. Since then I've learned or have taught myself a lot about taking care of nails naturally....there's really been no other choice. Armed with this experience it seemed like the smart thing to do...stick to what you know the best. This is what I had in mind when discussing things with Donna Maria, my business coach.
She asked various questions about who made up my target market. Women of course was my answer. She asked if men would also be interested. I suppose they could though I had never even thought about it before. She asked if I had any idea of how many other similar products were currently on the market for women? Sure, after all I do get various trade magazines for nail techs so I know about many of the product lines aimed at spas and nail salons.....there are lots. Then the magic question came....how many products are available for men? After all, they do get manicures and pedicures too. That's when the lightening bolt hit me. None....I could honestly not think of a single product line for hand or foot care for men. There were generic scented products such as peppermint or fruity scents available. But not one single one that I could find that was scented specifically for men. That's when my business time out began. Before I continued on I took some time to do the things she suggested.
Over the next week I called various salons, day spas and any other place that might offer nail services. My mission - to find out if they offered services for men and, if they did, what types of products did they use? After that I was to search the web for any available products that would be similar. Want to know what I discovered? Try calling any of the local spas or salons in your area and asking them similar questions. I think you would be surprised at what they tell you....I know I was! So surprised in fact that my previous business plan quickly changed.
I wish that I had only stopped, focused on who my market was and made a plan before wasting my time and money over the years trying to sell to everyone. If you currently have a small business or have been thinking about starting one I highly suggest you begin with making a plan. Ask yourself who your target market is and how many others are already doing something similar. If your answer is everyone and there are lots of products currently available then I can tell you that your probably wasting your time and money. Planning and focus are the key. Don't wait to learn the lesson the hard way like I did.
Here's some links that might interest you:
Stop by and read about identifying your target market to help maximize your business profits - Hitting the Sweet Spot and The Focus Factor
As for me, the count down to launching my new business has begun. Details to come in the next blog post.
This is the point I was at when I had my little health issues pop up at the beginning of April. At that point I made my mind up that I was done playing games. I could either keep doing what I was currently doing while hoping that I would figure out the key to small business success or I could find someone to tell me what I was doing wrong. So I decided to take a chance and hire a business coach. I'm glad I did.
The first thing we did was discuss the current business and what I had planned. I realized that you can't be everything to everyone and already had made plans to reduce my product line. My focus was going to be on natural nail care. By the end of the first hour of coaching not only was I going to focus on natural nail care but perhaps even tap into a fairly new market....nail care for men! I was given some homework to do before the next coaching session. First, call around to all the local spas and salons to see if they offered nail care services for men. Then find out what products where currently available. So I spent the next week working on those two tasks. I was pretty amazed at what I learned.
