Description
Clean and shape customers' fingernails and toenails. May polish or decorate nails.
- • Clean and sanitize tools and work environment.
- • Schedule client appointments and accept payments.
- • Remove previously applied nail polish, using liquid remover and swabs.
- • Shape and smooth ends of nails, using scissors, files, or emery boards.
- • Apply undercoat and clear or colored polish onto nails with brush.
- • Advise clients on nail care and use of products and colors.
- • Maintain supply inventories and records of client services.
- • Roughen surfaces of fingernails, using abrasive wheel.
- • Promote and sell nail care products.
- • Polish nails, using powdered polish and buffer.
- • Whiten underside of nails with white paste or pencils.
- • Decorate clients' nails by piercing or attaching ornaments or designs.
- • Prepare nail cuticles with water and oil, using cuticle knives to push back cuticles and scissors or nippers to trim cuticles.
- • Prepare customers' nails in soapy water, using swabs, files, and orange sticks.
- • Use rotary abrasive wheels to shape and smooth nails or artificial extensions.
- • Assess the condition of clients' hands, remove dead skin, and massage hands.
- • Treat nails to repair or improve strength and resilience by wrapping.
- • Extend nails using powder, solvent, and paper forms attached to tips of customers' fingers to support and shape artificial nails.
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Healthcare & Human Services
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
