Japanese at a Nail Salon: Booking, Gel Designs, Off and Aftercare

Booking an appointment

Most nail salons in Japan take reservations, yoyaku, through their website, beauty booking apps or social media, and many also accept phone calls. Walk-ins are possible at some salons but not guaranteed. When you book, you usually choose a menu, which sets the time and approximate price, so it helps to know the menu words before you start.

Two things are worth mentioning when you book: whether you already have gel or acrylic on your nails, because removal takes time, and whether it is your first visit, hajimete, since some salons offer a first-visit price. Cancellation policies, kyanseru ryō, vary, so read them before booking.

Reading the menu

Salon menus are organised by hand, hando, and foot, futto, then by style. The basic choice is between a single colour and some kind of design. Many salons offer teigaku dezain, fixed-price designs grouped by price level, which you pick from a sample book or the salon's social media. Fully custom art is usually priced separately.

You will also see items for care and extras: amakawa kea, cuticle care; nagasa-dashi, lengthening with extensions; and pātsu, decorations such as stones and studs. The exact names vary, so ask if a menu item is not clear.

Consultation: choosing colour, length and shape

Before starting, the nail artist, neirisuto, usually asks what you would like and looks at your nails. This short talk is often called kaunseringu, consultation. Expect questions about the design, the colour, the length, nagasa, and the shape of the nail tip, katachi.

Common shapes are sukuea, square, sukuea ofu, square with rounded corners, raundo, round, and ōbaru, oval. For colours, useful words are koime, a bit darker, usume, a bit lighter, and the finish: tsuya, glossy, or matto, matte.

Removal: ofu

If you have existing gel, it has to come off first. This is called ofu, from the English off. Menus often separate jiten ofu, removal of gel done at the same salon, from taten ofu, removal of another salon's gel, which may cost more or take longer. Some salons include removal when you book a new design.

Removal usually involves filing the surface and soaking the nails, and it can take some time. If anything stings or feels too hot, say so straight away; the artist can adjust.

During the treatment

After removal and shaping comes care: the artist pushes back or trims the cuticle, amakawa, and may buff the surface. Then comes the base gel, bēsu, the colour, karā, and the top coat, toppu, each cured under a lamp, raito. You will be asked to put your hand under the lamp many times, so learn the phrase for it.

Staff may ask you to relax your hand, change position or check a colour sample on one nail before doing the rest. This is a good moment to say if something looks different from what you expected, because changing a colour before the top coat is much easier.

Asking for changes politely

Nail artists expect small requests, and a clear one is kinder than staying quiet and being unhappy with the result. The polite pattern is sumimasen, then what you would like, softened with moshi dekireba, if possible, or mō sukoshi, a little more. Describe the change rather than criticising the work.

If you are unsure how something will look, ask the artist for advice with dotchi ga ii to omoimasu ka, which do you think is better. Artists often have a strong eye for what suits a hand.

Paying and aftercare

At the end the artist may apply cuticle oil, kyūtikuru oiru, and show you the finished nails. At the counter you pay and may be offered a point card or the next booking, jikai no yoyaku. Many people book their next visit a few weeks ahead, when the nails have grown out.

Staff often mention aftercare: avoid very hot water or pressing hard on the nails for a while, use oil on the cuticles, and do not peel off lifting gel yourself. Many salons have a repair guarantee, onaoshi hoshō, for chips or lifting within a set number of days. The period and what it covers depend on the salon.

When a nail chips or lifts

If a nail chips, kakeru, lifts at the edge, uku, or comes off, toreru, contact the salon rather than picking at it. Explain which finger and when it happened, and ask whether it falls within the repair period. Knowing the finger names in Japanese helps, although pointing to a photo works too.

Fingers are oyayubi, thumb, hitosashiyubi, index finger, nakayubi, middle finger, kusuriyubi, ring finger, and koyubi, little finger. Migi is right and hidari is left.

A complete message could be: senjitsu ukagatta Smith desu. Migi no kusuriyubi ga uite kimashita. Onaoshi wa dekimasu ka? I'm Smith, who visited the other day. The ring finger on my right hand has started lifting. Could you repair it?