Nail Tech-ness

The other day I posted that I was going for a meeting at the local cosmetology school to get information about becoming a nail tech and Alexisaurus from Je T'aime Lacquer asked me if I'd post an update as to what happened. (Also, go check her out, she is amazing and she's doing 31 days of Halloween nails, which are totally incredible!)  So here goes:

I know that getting a nail tech license is something that will be in my future. Sadly, there are a lot of aspects of manicuring that I have zero interest in. If I could only paint nail art and not do any shaping or cuticle care or whatever the hell else you get done at a manicure (I've only had 2 manicures in my life), I would. But if you want to make money doing something, there will always be aspects you do not like about it. So I figure, I love doing nail art so much that I should probably turn this hobby into somewhat of a career.

I went in to the school and sat in a lobby for a few minutes, and one of my main anxieties about cosmetology school was realized: There were tons of vapid yet beautiful men and women who were WAY more materialistic and... dare I say... unintelligent than I'll ever be (NOTE: this is a huge over simplification. I, by no means, think that everyone in cosmetology school is stupid). There was a bookshelf labeled "Beauty School Library" that had about 35 books... I'll be going to cosmetology school immediately after attending a university with multiple libraries, one of which has over 3 million books. But I digress, after a few moments of waiting a wonderful woman came to give me a tour of the school and some information.

Luckily the nail area was much more calm than the lobby area. I got to see a "class" that didn't really seem to be doing anything, but everyone seemed really nice. I found out that if I go full time (essentially Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) it will only take me 8 weeks (that's only 2 months, people!) to get fully licensed in the state of New York. It's a 250 hour program. But here's the bad news, Ron and I plan to move sometime soon, and if we move to another state I might have to go BACK to school if the state we move to requires more than 250 hours. So I did some research and like almost every state requires more than 250 hours... Lots of states require 600! (Here's a list of requirements by state if you're interested)

I was also surprised at how inexpensive it is to become a nail tech: less than $2500 in NY, which includes all the supplies (AND a "practice hand").

So, here is my conclusion:
Nail art = awesome
Licensure = stupid
Manicures = ?
Nail Tech School = yes, please. I'll be starting January 9th

If you have more specific questions about what the process is, please feel free to ask!