Nails and the City — Local services in Birmingham

Edit: I reached a satisfactory resolution w/ the owner who was brilliant! Tech will be trained :)

I went in this morning for an acrylic removal. I usually go to a private certified nail tech and have been getting my nails done for over six years so I know what good/safe service feels like. Unfortunately I did not feel as though the service I received today was up to standard.

I will start off with the positives. The nail tech was polite, asked about my day and finally offered and made me a hot drink. My appointment started slightly later (which is common in salons I don’t see this as a problem) and she apologised and thanked me for waiting.

Now the not to great parts. I booked in for an acrylic removal. She began trying to cut my nails with my palm facing down - I had to correct her and put my palm up. If she had have continued that way she wouldn’t have seen my hyponychium (which on some fingers is prominent because I often get my nails done).

She then began filing with the hardest grit at a high speed which makes sense as she needed to debulk the acrylic however, she did not adjust the speed as she got closer to my nail which of course causes pain! I mentioned to her that it was hurting to prompt her to slow down / move onto the next nail. She replied that some pain is normal in removals because of the powder. This is insane. Pain should not be ignored and is a sign of overfilling. I’ve been getting my nails done for over 10 years and the only time I feel pain is when I visit so called “chop shops” that want to get you in and out as soon as possible. When I go to my usual tech I never have experience pain whilst drilling because she uses appropriate bits at appropriate speeds.

As we continue into the service she is constantly filing my skin around my nails. I will be fair to say the acrylic set was barely grown out (I was only removing as I need short nails for the gym) however, as a nail tech she should have took that as a sign to be more careful when approaching the edge of my nails. To add insult to injury she didn’t apologise once each time she drilled my literal skin (despite being generally polite). She also continued to drill at my nails at high speeds even as I was wincing. At one point she tried to go in at speed 8 with the hardest bit even though at this point 80% of the acrylic was removed and I had already told her I was in pain. At this point I firmly told her that the speed was too high and she’d need to turn it down. To be fair to her, she did that with no complaint. Turning it down to 4 (which still worked so why she needed 8 is beyond me)

She then began removing the acrylic with the metal tool - her manner was very fast and aggressive. Although not as painful as the drill it just was not a relaxing experience for me. Had she have let me soak longer with the acetone she would not have needed to use that much force which I believe has caused trauma to my nails. She also tried some removal with a hand file but of course in doing this she loses accuracy and was filing down parts of my nails that had no acrylic on them (thus overfilling my natural nail) whilst also filing the acrylic. If I’m honest her manner just seemed rushed and sloppy.

She then tried to trim my cuticle but the second I felt her nip me I told her that I did not want my cuticles trimmed. At this point I had lost faith that it would be done safely. I also had had my cuticles trimmed (PAIN FREE) the week before.

She ‘finished’ my left hand and asked me if I was satisfied and I almost thought she was having a laugh. At least three of my nails still had noticeable amounts of acrylics on there. I told her no there’s acrylic on here and she said it’s because there were too many layers of acrylic on my nails before. Whether or not that is true, she had the opportunity to inspect my nails before she started and if she anticipated that would be a problem she could have said at the beginning of the service.

Anyways, I put my hands back into the acetone to soften the acrylic and she then finished...

Booked a last minute appointment online. Awful experience. As soon as I arrived it was a weird vibe. I thought I booked removal, as part of the service. The lady who was doing my nails was nice, I was discussing this confusion with the lady, when her colleague Nian decided to involve herself and escalated the situation and create an issue over an £8 service. Nian who was in the middle of working with her own heavily pregnant client, took it upon herself to go outside the premise and call the owner. The came back in to shout over the owner will be calling me. What for? There was no issue… the removal cost £8 and I did not dispute paying this at all. Totally over the top, aggressive attitude and Absolutely rude behaviour, and no customer service skills whatsoever. Completely ruined my experience. Overall nails were awful.

I put this review on Google as a honest review of experience. The reply from the owner is shocking, and absolute lies. You banned me from writing an honest review of my experience about your shoddy salon on fresha - before I left the salon because I told your staff I wasn’t happy.. your staff member Nian is a jobs worth and you clearly have the others under kind of order. Wouldn’t surprise me if they are illegal and she’s paying them pennies - as I said the vibe was weird and they looked like they vulnerable and scared to speak, other than they vulgar heffer Nian. Calling you while you’re on holiday is pathetic. It was the complete lies, and subtle threats in the reply that made me have to update again… the owner saying I’m lucky they never kicked me out the back street, deadbeat salon. You could never 😂 The whole place needs shutting down. The staff are aggressive and rude. The owner is disgusting, no business etiquette or woman, absolute idiot - shocking and disgusting customer service. I wrote an honest review on Google about my experience. You didn’t need to lie, take the review for what it is and enjoy your day. These low level businesses have to rely on booking apps with mediocre reviews.. as they could never have a solid client basis with the levels of bad service. Trying to be sarcastic will cost you hun. Not sure what part of me recognised your services were good. You had not one nail varnish of any high quality on display. Yet you got all this mouth. Embarrassing behaviour as a business owner. This...

Absolutely Unacceptable Experience

I had an extremely disappointing and painful experience at this nail salon. I was charged £20 just for a removal—already overpriced—but the service was beyond unacceptable.

The technician clearly had no idea what she was doing. She used the electric nail file improperly, cut me multiple times, and left my nails painfully thin and sore. As a nail tech myself, I could immediately tell she was not qualified to handle this tool.

When I asked if she was certified to use the electric file, she first said no, then changed her answer to yes after I challenged her. I asked to see her qualification—it wasn’t displayed anywhere, and she refused to show me. I then requested to speak to the manager, and she told me to go find them myself. After repeated requests, she finally called the owner, who turned out to be rude, dismissive, and even swore at me—with her husband joining in.

I was forced to leave the salon with one hand completely unfinished, the other in pain, and no apology whatsoever. The equipment was old, dirty, and clearly not maintained. The technician called my one hand “finished” even though it looked terrible—you can see the picture attached.

This wasn’t just poor service—it was dangerous. Allowing unqualified staff to use electric drills on clients is a serious health and safety risk. I’ll be reporting this salon to the local authorities.

This was honestly the worst nail salon experience I’ve ever had. Avoid this place...