To mark Dementia Action Week, an annual awareness week run by the Alzheimer’s Society, Jade Barber has created a nail design to honour her grandparents and raise awareness of dementia. Here, she shares the powerful meaning behind the style.
Jade is founder of Nail & Beauty Excellence, winner of L&P Tech of the Year at the Scratch Stars Awards 2022 & finalist for the category for 2023.
Describe the nail design…
I dedicate this design to two very important people in my life: my nan and grandad. My grandparents’ world got turned upside down when my grandad was diagnosed with dementia in 2017. It has completely changed their lives in every way, and my nan now does everything for him. I admire her strength for what she does each day for my grandad, and the true love she has for him is amazing to see. For my family, it’s hard to watch someone you love experience the disease. I wanted to raise awareness and show my love for my grandparents through the only way I know how: nails.
I wished to include their pictures in the nail design to make it personalised, so I asked nail tech, Rachel Hanks, to create decals of my grandparents. I used Nail & Beauty Excellence products for the rest of the design, including Gel Excellence gel polishes and art gels. The forget-me-not flower was created using L&P acrylic, representing that although my grandad’s memory has gone, the true him will not be forgotten.
Tell us about your grandparents…
My grandparents were business people who had their own building company. My grandad basically reshaped Portsmouth and then moved further afield to locations like Waterlooville and Havant. His investments were worth £2.4 million at one point. He played as hard as he worked and was a big kid at heart.
My grandparents have always been so generous and there to help the family in any way they could. They have also always taken pride in their appearance and looked glamorous. My grandad loved his cowboy boots! They enjoyed dancing and my grandad taught my nan rock and roll.
What is your relationship like with your grandparents?
My grandparents mean the absolute world to me; they have always been there for me. Even though I live far away in Kent, we are so close. I call my grandad ‘Bambi’ and nan ‘Bunny’, as these have been their nicknames all of my life. They inspired the names of two of Nail & Beauty Excellence’s L&P acrylic colours.
What do you hope showcasing the nail design will achieve?
It’s important to raise awareness about how much dementia can change a person. People don’t realise how much the disease affects a family until it happens to them. I want people to know it’s ok to talk about dementia and that my grandad is the hard-working business man that inspired me to be who I am today. He is a male role model in my life and I look up to him.