Once and For All, UV Lamps are SAFE

In November, 2008, a study was published that claimed that UV Nail Lamps caused cancer. In this study two healthy women with no family history of skin cancer developed melanoma after repeated use of nail salon UV lamps. Of course, the internet grabbed on to this story and ran with it. The problem is, the study was faulty. First of all, the sample size was 2 people. Two. Both who live in Texas - which, if you don’t know, is a very sunny southern state in the US. The study also made faulty conclusions based on the UV output of tanning beds, which are significantly stronger than the UV output of nail lamps and they assumed the UV-A energy exposure from nail lamps would fall within the estimated range determined to be potentially carcinogenic.

Since then, at least three additional studies have been completed, all coming to the conclusion that UV Nail lamps are indeed safe.

Three Scientific Studies Agree – UV Nail Lamps Are Safe!

The Lighting Sciences study in 2010 concluded that “UV-B output is less than what occurs in natural sunlight and is equal to what a person could expect from spending an extra 17 to 26 seconds in sunlight each day during the two weeks between nail salon appointments” and “UV-A exposure is equivalent to spending an extra 1.5 to 2.7 minutes in sunlight each day between salon visits, depending on the type of UV nail lamp used.”

https://probeauty.org/docs/nmc/U...

In December, 2012, The Massachusetts General Hospital /Alpert Medical School at Brown University study concluded that "Nail lamps are safe for over 250 years of weekly manicures, and even then there would be a low risk of skin cancer”. They also concluded that “Although some sources of UVA and UVB contribute to the development of KCs [keratinocyte carcinoma], UV nail lamps do not appear to significantly increase the lifetime risk of KC. Dermatologists and primary-care physicians may reassure patients regarding the safety of these devices.”

UV Nail Lamps Safe, Study Suggests

Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Risk of Skin Cancer Associated with the Use of UV Nail Lamp

Testing by Sayre and Dowdy in July 2013 found that found that UV nail lights were even safer than expected. “All of the various UV nail lamps submitted for evaluation were found to be significantly less hazardous than might have been anticipated based on the initial concerns raised…” They also confirmed that UV nail lamps are NOT equivalent to tanning beds or indoor tanning lamps, largely because nail lamps use vastly different types of UV bulbs which produce different ranges of wavelengths with significantly lower intensities.

In addition, “The study demonstrates that UV exposure is so low that a worker could put their hand under a UV nail lamp from this study for 25 minutes each day without exceeding established internationally accepted safe limits or ‘permissible daily exposures’.”

In numerous interviews and research, Dr. Sayre has stated that the use of UV nail lamps does not contribute to the risk of getting skin cancer and that the emissions from UV nail lamps are safer than that of natural sunlight.

Nail curing UV lamps: Trivial exposure not cause for public alarm

Photobiological safety evaluation of UV nail lamps.

In 2013, The Skin Cancer Foundation put out an official statement that “even the most intense of these devices presents only a moderate UV risk – a far lower risk than that presented by UV tanning devices”. Of course, to play it safe, they still recommend sunscreen, as they do with any UV exposure.

The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Official Position on UV Light and Manicure Safety

---

So, in conclusion, UV lamps are completely safe. There is no evidence that these lamps cause cancer and there has never been a cancer case proven to have come from these lamps in the 30+ years they have been in use. You may wish to mitigate risk by wearing sunscreen if desired.

The Myth of Solar Nails

In the 1970's the Nail Industry was an unregulated industry and most nail technicians used MMA from dental supply houses to form acrylic nails. One day in the late 1970's, a patient of Dr. Stuart Nordstrom, a dentist from California, remarked that the product that he was using to prepare temporary caps for her teeth smelled like the product that was used on her nails (called "porcelain nails" instead of "acrylic nails" back then). This sparked Dr. Nordstrom to develop SolarNail, the first acrylic nail product formulated to be thin, non-yellowing and strong. Which lead to his company - CND (Creative Nail Design) being formed in 1979.

Over the years CND has innovated and produced better and stronger products and the original SolarNail Liquid was discontinued. However, Radical SolarNail - a much improved version of the original SolarNail liquid - still exists. "SolarNail" remains a trademark of CND.  In the early 1980's SolarNail became synonymous with Pink and White French acrylic nails due to a marketing campaign done by Creative Nail Design. The marketing said that SolarNails were better than regular Acrylic/Porcelain nails because they were formulated specifically for nails (or something like that).

Notice Solar Nails on the menu :(

Fast forward to today. There are salons that still advertise "Solar Nails" as being "better" than acrylic nails. This is referring to the very old marketing campaign I mentioned above which said that said that SolarNail was superior to the MMA acrylic commonly used at the time. It was superior at the time. The thing is, they didn't really highlight that SolarNail was a brand of acrylic. They were trying to differentiate themselves from the thick, yellow, horrible acrylic or "porcelain" nails of the time. And it worked.  CND has a habit of marketing themselves as something different - take Shellac, which is a brand of gel polish made by CND. It is gel polish, but their marketing campaign is such that it calls itself a hybrid and claims to be something completely different than other gel polish. Chemically, there is a bit of difference between Shellac and most soak off gels, but that doesn't change the fact that as a product category, its just gel polish.

Unfortunately, CND's marketing works so well that to this day, there are people who believe that SolarNail is a completely different product from acrylic nails.


OK, so what have we learned?

• SolarNail is acrylic nails (remember, Liquid + powder = acrylic)
• SolarNail is an old, discontinued brand name of acrylic from CND
• Solar Nails almost always mean Pink & White nails, though almost never mean they are using SolarNail products (being discontinued and all).
• Clients are very trusting and believe salons that tell them Solar Nails are a thing.
• Salons that use the term "Solar Nails" are stuck in the 1980's and/or are knowingly misleading clients. Is this the type of salon you want to patronize?

References 
http://www.nailsmag.com/encyclopedia/64286/cnd-creative-nail-design
https://cnd.com/about/heritage

Nails Don't Breathe!

One of the most prevalent myths about nails - and one that is sadly perpetuated to this day by nail technicians - is the myth that nails breathe.

"Breathe" is defined as: to take air, oxygen, etc., into the lungs and expel it; inhale and exhale;respire.

"Respire" is defined as: to inhale and exhale air for the purpose of maintaining life; breathe.

This myth makes no sense on many levels! Nails aren't alive and don't have lungs nor do they have any ability to absorb air into the nail plate. The nail plate is created from nutrients that are delivered by the blood stream to the nail matrix. Cosmetic scientist Doug Schoon explains that "100% of the oxygen needed by the nail matrix to create a new nail plate comes from the blood stream and 0% comes from the outside world".  Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to the hand, fingers, and nails through millions of tiny blood vessels which also carry waste and carbon dioxide way. This intricate process is what feeds the matrix, so that it can produce healthy nail cells.  In short, nails do NOT require an external air supply and do not breathe or exhale.

Taking a break from nail polish or enhancements (acrylic, gel, etc) for a few weeks is not at all necessary.  Doug explains that while wearing enhancements, "moisture and natural nail oils leave the nail bed and pass through the nail plate at a slower than normal rate but they aren't trapped by the product." "The nail plate's moisture content is increased by increased 10-15%, and the oil content increases only slightly; both serve to increase the flexibility of the natural nail plate". Since the nails do not need to "breathe", no benefit is gained by waiting to reapply any type of nail coating. Nor does it make sense to assume the nails only need to breathe "every once-in-a-while". This faulty reasoning is not supported by the facts.

• Neither "air" nor "nutrients" can be absorbed or "fed" to the nail plate from any external source. 
• Moisture and natural nail oils leave the nail bed and pass through the nail plate at slower than normal rates, but they aren't "trapped".  
• Waste products are removed from the matrix area and surrounding tissues by the blood as well, and are not released into the nail plate. 
• Normal, healthy nail plates would continue to grow and thrive in a completely air-free environment, as long as a healthy flow of blood to the nail is maintained.

TL;DR

The natural nail plate is not living - and it does not breathe. Because it is made up of non-living keratin, it does not hurt to have your nails clipped – the same reason that it doesn’t hurt to have your hair cut. The nail plate is healthy when the health of the nail bed, matrix and surrounding tissue are properly cared for - it does not need to “breathe” to be healthy.



Resources:
http://schoonscientific.com/downloads/Myths-from-FB_2013-03-14.pdf
http://www.nsinails.com/nail-lab/science-of-beauty/dispel-the-myth-nails-donrt-need-to-breathe.html#.Vg2M93LltaQ
http://www.nailsmag.com/blogpost/108013/save-the-nails-with-the-nail-snorkel
http://www.nailcarehq.com/huffington-post-false-nail-info/

Acetone and Other Solvents

The below post was taken from a response that Doug Schoon posted on a forum in 2001
----

Here are the chemical facts. Water is the safest solvent in the nail industry. Yes water is a solvent! In fact, water is called the "universal solvent" because it dissolves more
things than any other known substance.

The second safest solvent used in salons is acetone. That's why its sold for this purpose. Oh, there are much faster acting solvents, but they aren't safe enough for salons. Why is acetone so safe? Acetone evaporates quickly, but the vapors don't exceed safe levels in salons. The air levels are at LEAST five times below OSHA maximum safe limits for long term, workplace exposure. How do you know if there is too much acetone in your breathing air? I bet you wouldn't stay in a room with unsafe levels of vapor. Your eyes would burn and flood with tears long before you reached unsafe breathing levels. Because of this fact, scientists say that acetone has "good warning properties" that limit exposure. If there is ever too much in the air, you'll know it and probably do something about it. Therefore, it is very unlikely that nail technicians could become overexposed to acetone vapors in the nail salon. Even better, it is even less likely for the clients to be overexposed, so tell them not to worry about it. Acetone is NOT suspected to cause cancer by any credible government or scientific agency, including the FDA, Center of Disease (CDC) and the World Heath Organization (WHO). If this were true, it would not be allowed or used in the professional nail industry.

What about skin absorption? Facts: Removing nail polish is very safe. Only extremely small amounts of acetone will even penetrate the top layers of the skin. Most of it evaporates and dissipates quickly from your warm skin or nails. None of the acetone will pass into the dermis or basement level of the skin. None will pass through the nail plates. So, clearly it can't absorb into the blood stream. A client soaking in acetone while removing artificial nails can have tiny amounts of acetone absorb into the blood, but the exposure is very safe... far, far below the maximum safe exposure limits.

What's the extreme exposure possibility? A client removing artificial nails, soaking all ten fingers in acetone for one hour, acetone in a dish and up to the knuckle, repeated once every three months. Gulp! Most would agree this represents the maximum exposure or worst-case scenario (of course, don't try this in your salon! Product shouldn't be removed unless necessary. Some clients successfully wear them for years without ever removing them). Even at this worse possible exposure, client's are far, far below the maximum safe limits of exposure. This is why I say that normal salon use of acetone is very safe! My fifteen years of studying chemicals and their use in salons has absolutely convinced me this is true. Fact: The major hazard with acetone is fire. Be careful how you store and use acetone. Keep it away from excessive heat and away from any flames or microwaves or cigarettes, etc. Learn how to use acetone from your supplier. It is their responsibility to provide you with this information. Also, keep all of you professional salon products away from children at all times, including acetone!

Everything I said above also applies to non-acetone products. These products use a different, but similar solvent called ethyl acetate. Of course, this solvent can also be used safely in the salon. But, it is a myth that non-acetone products are safer than acetone. Acetone is slightly safer than ethyl acetate, according to OSHA data and other scientific information. If you are interested, you can also find a whole lot more information in my book on the subjects of solvents, inhalation, keeping the salon air healthy, overexposure, etc. Lastly, both acetone and ethyl acetate can be drying to the skin. They are such a good solvents- they can rob the skin of its natural oils- voila- dry skin. So, use a good lotion or moisturizer oil after you use either of these solvents. This will help combat dryness problems with nails and skin. You'll be amazed at how much a good lotion, cream or moisturizing oil will help to restore and protect your skin and nails. To prevent over dryness, work professionally and limit your skin and nail exposure whenever possible. For example, discuss and learn about "speedy" product removal techniques from co-workers or net buddies. Use plastic back cotton pads, to prevent drying of your finger tips and avoid cleaning your skin with a solvent stronger than good ol' water. Hope this information helps.

Bye for now,

Doug Schoon

“Powder Gel”

I will be honest, I have a hard time talking about this subject without going on a rant. Since this blog is about facts, this is going to be short and sweet. But feel free to add your own opinions and comments below!

In recent years the term “Gel Powder” or "Powder Gel" or even "gelcrylic" has cropped up into the nail industry. Professional nail technicians know that a “gel” nail is called that because the form of the product is a gel, like hair gel.

There are two main products that are touted as “powder gel”. One product is truly a UV Gel that an inert powder is sprinkled into before curing. The second product termed “Gel Powder” is, pure and simple, clear acrylic powder. It is called “Gel Powder” because it is clear like gel, not because it bears any resemblance to gel or is UV cured. 

Salons who use these terms do so because:  

1. The manufacturer is selling the product as such and  
2. Their “usual” acrylic color is a milky color and not clear at all

As a professional, I encourage you to not denigrate a salon who uses the term because they may be buying the product labelled as such, however clients need to be educated that Gel does not come in powder form - it is scientifically impossible.

UV Gel with Powder Brands
http://lechatnails.com/product-category/pro-exclusive/gelee/
https://www.shebanails.com/contents/en-us/d276.html
http://starnail.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3
https://www.nailsuperstore.com/…/artisan-flexgeland-p…/52338

“Powder” Gel Brands
http://www.deenterprises.com/gel-powder-clear---advanced-po…