Gel polish spoils nails, seawater strengthens them, and a UV lamp causes cancer... Have you ever heard about that? We're debunking popular nail coating myths. Spoiler alert: some of them turned out to be true.
In 1932, Charles Revson, founder of the Revlon brand, came up with the idea of adding color pigments to clearcoats. And from about that time on, nail coatings began to grow into myths. The emergence of gels and gel polishes, which must be baked in lamps, spurred this process. Let's figure out which of this variety of horror stories is idle fiction, and which has the right to exist.
Myth. The nails will not deteriorate. It is wrong to say that without a base, nail polish will hold on worse. It is worth applying the base so that the bright pigment does not eat into the nail plate. If the task is simply to extend the life of the coating, you can do without it. It is enough to polish the nail with a file. Polishing removes the top soiled layer and seals the rest. The nails will not flake and the coating will last longer.
Myth. The nail (like the hair) is dead tissue. The living nail plate is the one that is still under the cuticle. But it is impossible to apply a medicinal polish there, and on the rest of the surface it makes no sense: no vitamins will work.
Most of the rumors and controversy surrounding Trind's strengthener coverage. Yes, this is the only tool that really holds the layers of the nail together and thickens it. True, this is due to formaldehyde, a generally toxic substance that causes allergies. Plus, Trind is often misused: the cuticle is touched during the application, which causes severe irritation or burning. However, if you act carefully and paint only the nail plate, your nails really do get stronger. Although, of course, this is not a treatment, but rather a mechanical gluing.
But cuticle oils do make sense - the nail receives useful ingredients during its growth precisely through the cuticle.
Myth. Many people remove the gel polish before going to the sea so that the nails are “saturated” with seawater. This water does not nourish, but dries and crystallizes the nail plate: salt penetrates under the scales, lifts them, and the plate becomes more porous. Moisture and fats evaporate from it, which gives elasticity to the nail plate. Result: the nails are dense and tough, but not flexible, so they often break and crumble.
Myth. The nails do not breathe. As already mentioned above, they are inanimate, so they do not need to "rest" from the gel polish. There is no point in taking a break from nail polishes.
This is partly true. If you have worn gel polish for more than six months, then, most likely, after removing it, you will find that your nails have become thin and sensitive. But it was not the gel that "spoiled" them, but your body: it got used to the fact that the nails are always protected and not injured, and stopped making them dense and hard. Adapted.
The body needs to rebuild. How long it will take depends on the initial state of the nails, and on how the master removed the gel polish. It is wrong to remove the coating together with the transparent base, "under the root". The nails will be completely defenseless. It is recommended to leave a little base and, as the nail grows, gradually cut it down. The process will take about a month, but you will have a painless transition.
It also happens that the master removes the previous gel polish with poor quality, saws the nail plate, and when the client is interested in what happened to the nails, he shifts the blame to the quality of the gel polish.
It is possible, but not any.
Firstly, only the base coat is in direct contact with the nail plate. All bases are made according to the same principle, they must include a monomer - it adheres to the surface of the nail and ensures the stability of the coating.
The myth arose because previously there were only acid bases that can cause allergies and contact dermatitis. In their composition, methacrylic acid (Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate, abbreviated as HEMA) plays the role of a monomer, which dries the nail plate, but due to this, the coating holds well and is worn for a long time. HEMA has a very small molecule that connects well with water and can penetrate the skin - hence the allergic reactions.
Different manufacturers put in different amounts of this acid. If there is a lot of it, a pungent unpleasant odor appears during a manicure.
After the gel has frozen in a UV lamp, it goes into an inert state, does not smell in any way, and does not enter into any reactions.
But now there are also acid-free, or HEMA-free bases. Despite the name, the acid is still there. But not methacrylic, but, for example, ethyl methacrylic. It is more gentle and odorless.
Acid-free bases: NeoNail Extra Strong, Pin.Code and Kinetics Shield Hema Free, and the brands TNL, Lianail, Kodi, Grattol, inGarden, Artex, Uno also have such bases. They can be used by pregnant women.
Secondly, the hormonal background changes in pregnant women: the nails can become more flexible or thin, or vice versa - harder. Therefore, the coating sometimes stops adhering abnormally quickly.
Thirdly, during the removal of the gel coating, a lot of dust flies by the nail drill. It can be frustrating for anyone, but pregnant women are sometimes especially sensitive. A face mask and a manicure vacuum cleaner on the master's table help out.
Myth. Although it did not arise from scratch. Apparatus for polymerizing coatings use ultraviolet radiation: UV lamps in the range from 350 to 400 nanometers, LED lamps in the range from 375 to 410 nanometers. These are UVA rays - they penetrate the ozone layer all year round and provoke the synthesis of free radicals, which, in turn, lead to photoaging and the risk of melanoma.
The FDA recommends limiting the time of using these devices - no more than 10 minutes per arm per session for healthy people and refusing if they are sensitive to the sun while taking certain antibiotics, OCs, estrogens, and nutritional supplements.
However, the latest study (May 2021) showed that the hand must be kept in the lamp for more than an hour for the radiation to become dangerous. Whereas during a manicure, the hand is in the lamp from 1 to 10 minutes - and this, again, is the time allowed by the FDA.
And you need to take into account two more factors: the nail completely blocks the rays of type B, and only 0.5-2.5% of rays of type A pass through. In addition, the hands are most often exposed to the sun, so the skin there contains the largest number of melanocytes - cells that protect the body from UV radiation.
By the way, an interesting fact: in dentistry, UV lamps are also used to polymerize fillings. Their radiation lengths are almost identical to those used for a manicure.
Not at all. Gel polishes have several different uses. If the master knows the general principles of work, then he can combine products from different brands. The main thing is that their technical characteristics match.
The master uses the materials that will give the result: for example, he knows which base is best for wet nails, and which top to cover the design with a sticker-slider so that it does not peel off.
