Where have I been?

I realize that I haven't been active on this blog in quite some time - I am actually working on a Master's degree in an unrelated field and time has slipped away from me. I still have a desire to be active in the nail education sphere, however, and have been relatively active on Quora answering (mostly) nail related questions. 

I do hope to get back to this blog in the near future, but in the meantime feel free to visit me on Quora in my "Busting Nailcare Myths" space or just answering random questions!

You can also follow me at Real World Nails on YouTube, where I have been digitizing a lot of my old nail training videos ("mine" as in I owned the DVDs, not that I made the videos :) )

Russian Manicures Part 2 - the Consequences and Experts Weigh In

I mean, seriously, that skin looks raw!

In my first post on Russian Manicures, I discussed a couple different Russian Manicure training videos and broke them down step by step.

In this part 2 of my Russian Manicure post, I will present to you what the experts are saying regarding this technique.

Once again, lets remember throughout this that the Eponychium (actually, we now know this should be called the proximal nail fold (PNF)) is living tissue and should never be cut. From the book "Nanotechnology in Dermatology":

"The skin bordering the proximal nail plate is called the eponychium. It does not end at the nail plate, but instead folds back underneath to create a tight seal which prevents pathogens or contaminants form gaining access to the matrix area... [It] serves to help protect and cushion the matrix. This tissue is often mistakenly confused with the cuticle... The cuticle is a vital part of the seal that protects the matrix from pathogenic invasion, which explains why this area should be treated with care when manicuring."

So, what happens when the "Russian manicure" technique is done on a client? Just like with calluses on feet, the more you cut the PNF , the harder than thicker it will grow back trying to protect itself.

Vitaly Solomonoff, founder and president of the Academy of Nail Art and former editor of Nail Spa magazine in Russia, and his colleagues have studied more than 300 cases of people who have had Russian Manicures. They found that 91% of clients who constantly get the Russian manicure have symptoms of the damaged nail matrix or nail bed. "Only 9% of the cases have been determined as safe and “successful” in a long-term period of study (38 months). All 9% of clients have got the manicure from NTs with basic medical education. So, we come to conclusion that deep understanding of the processes in lively skin helps to train the correct technique of this manicure.... Symptoms may not appear right after manicure is performed, the first symptoms occur months after due the constant repetitive traumatization of the cuticle/matrix area. Symptoms include all signs of matrix/nail dystrophy from splitting, horizontal ridges, slow nail grow to the painful neuropathy and high sensitivity. We have also discovered that infectious inflammations are a common issue in those clients who has compromised immune system – diabetics etc....Imperceptible vibration always takes place even with high end e-files and impacts the highly sensitive matrix area and leads to dramatic postponed issues. The technique that may look safe and easy can bring troubles in the future...We strongly believe that micro cracks of the skin are inseminated with bacteria during few hours after the procedure. "

In addition, Solomonoff has said that "The background of the so called 'Russian manicure' is an attempt of e-files distributors to sell their units in Russia. That is why it has been widely advertised as a safe and 'healthy' alternative to clipping the nail cuticles. We, at my company have always stood against this practice unless NT has at least basic medical education and full understanding of Anatomy and Physiology of the nail unit."


Doug Schoon says "Hopefully, this problem may be self-correcting. When those who use these methods start seeing the reported problems associated with these types of manicures, hopefully they'll wake up and smell the coffee. Excessive damage to the skin around the nail plate, excessive regrowth of hardened callus-like tissue, redness, pain, puffiness, weeping/ water-blisters, itching... these are symptoms I'd expect many will see. Not only can this method cause the expected hardening and rapid/excessive regrowth of tissue, the damaged skin is more likely to develop infections. And, product-related skin irritations or allergies are more likely as well. Invaders beware- watch closely for these issues- and don't blame the products- blame your techniques. I'm already hearing of and seeing these problems."

Whatever, My Clients have had No Problems and LOVE the results

The reason your skin feels "softened" after a Russian Manicure is because the electric file wears away layers of  the epidermis - the very layers that work to keep your skin hydrated - and reveal the new, vulnerable skin underneath - often this can even be the dermis layer of the skin, which is not mean to be exposed to the elements.

Remember, you don't have to bleed in order to suffer damage and damage cannot always be seen by the naked eye. An electric file spins at thousands of revolutions a minute. You can be as light handed as you like but you will still cause damage to the natural nail.

Plus it goes against every principle of good nail health and proper technique.

But, other people are doing it!

And if they were all jumping off a cliff, would you do that too?  

Seriously though, here's the thing - if you are in the United States (and many other countries with regulations on the nail industry), the Russian manicure is a technique that is NOT approved by regulatory agencies nor is it covered under insurance company polices (which means a serious financial risk if you perform the service!). Unregulated countries may be 'allowed' to perform this technique ONLY because there are no licensing requirements or regulations. But even if you can so it doesn't mean you should do it.

Educating your clients about the dangers of the technique and encouraging them to share the knowledge with their friends will help reduce the popularity. Yes, there will still be people who "don't care" and will still seek out the service, but for every person we can educate about the dangers, that is one less person seeking out the service and one less person with damaged nails and skin. We do what we can.

What should we be doing instead?

Regular (preferably weekly) manicures using hydroxy acid based exfoliation products and hydrating masks coupled with a good quality cuticle oil twice a day will take a few weeks but you will see a massive improvement without any mechanical intervention.

References:

https://schoonscientific.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/May-17-Doug-Schoon-column.pdf
http://www.newnailcreations.com/links
http://www.salongeek.com/threads/russian-manicure-technique.297841/
https://www.nailcarehq.com/russian-manicure-dangerous/
https://www.nailcarehq.com/the-dangers-of-the-russian-manicure/
https://www.facebook.com/athena.elliott1/posts/10210980427719423

It's Been Awhile...

I honestly don't know how many people read this blog regularly, so maybe I haven't been missed, but I wanted to put this out there just in case anyone was wondering.

I started this blog because I have had a lifelong love of nails - so much so that it became a career for me. And I spend a lot of time cringing at the things I see passing for nail "education" on the internet. Since I also love to share knowledge, I thought I would put everything I've learned about nails over the past 20 years up for others to read and maybe help further the nail industry in a better way than what is happening out there now. Plus, it helps me keep my hand in an industry I have always loved.

Of course, life happens and I decided to go back to school and get my masters degree in my current career. Which leaves a lot less time for my beloved nail blog. I still have a lot of unfinished posts that I want to share and I hope to start making time to do so now, even though I am still working full time and am still in school. I truly do want to make even a little bit of difference in the nail industry and this blog is my way of giving back and educating people.

Also, I do still occasionally answer questions on Quora - so feel free to follow me over there for more nail content!

Russian Manicure Part 1 - Video reviews

If a nail trend has ever given me the willies, its the Russian Manicure (a.k.a combined manicure, Korean manicure, machine manicure). The effect is clean and stunning....and almost always not something that is within scope of a nail tech's license. Having said that, I will say that there are certain parts of the technique that are useful and can be done by a well trained nail tech without damage to the client. But there are other parts of the procedure that literally amount to minor surgery. Lets break this down.

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First, a side note. Lets remember throughout this that the eponychium is living tissue and should never be cut. From the book "Nanotechnology in Dermatology":

"The skin bordering the proximal nail plate is called the eponychium. It does not end at the nail plate, but instead folds back underneath to create a tight seal which prevents pathogens or contaminants form gaining access to the matrix area... [It] serves to help protect and cushion the matrix. This tissue is often mistakenly confused with the cuticle... The cuticle is a vital part of the seal that protects the matrix from pathogenic invasion, which explains why this area should be treated with care when manicuring."

Back to our regularly scheduled post:

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In the first video, they are using a variety of bits to "clean" the cuticle and eponychium.

• First, a fine small diamond cylinder bit is used to remove visible cuticle stuck the nail plate. This could be okay, as long as the bit is very fine and care is taken to not over file. There is quite a bit of "dust" on the nail when they do this which is nail plate dust. I don't think that bit is very fine.
• Second, a needle bit with a blunt edge is used and they instruct you to go "as deep as possible" into the nail grooves. My problem here is that they start pushing under the eponychium to "clean" the cuticle - and in the process are breaking the seal that the eponychium gives to the nail matrix.
• The third bit is a corundum (stone) bit - which is porous and not disinfectable. You would need to use a new bit for every client. They are using it to smooth the nail plate. This is the third time they have gone over the same area around the sidewalls and eponychium of the nail with a rapidly spinning bit. I don't care how soft the bit is, at this point you are starting to take layers of the nail off.
• Fourth they use a tiny diamond football (or bullet) to go over again to go even more deeply into the nail folds.
• A round diamond bit is used to clean raised skin (they keep calling it cuticle but its really living tissue). They also use it to file down the hard, dry skin at the corner of the nails. That makes sense to me, its the same as filing calluses on the feet .

Even worse is the video where they do the same manicure but add scissors. They say that there are 2 instances that you need to use scissors - the first is when your client has "damp cuticle" and is too elastic to get with the machine and the second is for new techs who are not comfortable using the round bit.

• In this video they show a client with healthy eponychium that is a bit overgrown. They first dry out the moist eponychium with baby powder and then push back the stuck eponychium, (again they keep calling it cuticle, which is wrong)
• They then use the diamond bit to remove cuticle on the nail plate (which they keep calling pterygium, which is also wrong) and to push up under the eponychum that they pushed back in the first step. Their goal is to raise that eponychium off the nail plate in order to be able to grab it with scissors later. They use the same bit along the sidewalls
• They powder the skin again to dry it and then use a scissors to cut off the raised eponychium., This is the part where I can't help but cringe.
• Next they are using a corundum (stone) bit to remove the cuticle that is leftover on the nail plate and smooth the nail plate. Again these bits are porous and not disinfectable.
• They next use the round diamond bit along the edge where they just cut off the eponychium to further raise the skin "for later cleaning" and then file any raised skin off using the same bit as well as filing down any hard skin on the sides of the nail.
• They use another corundum (stone) bit to smooth the skin around the nail. 
• Then they push back the eponychium with a pusher again. How much trauma can this finger withstand??

What are your thoughts on these procedures??

Part 2 of Russian Manicures -  the Consequences and Experts Weigh In coming soon!

My answer to Quora post: What are the drawbacks of wearing acrylic nails?

I frequent Quora.com as a means to try to do my part in busting myths about nails. (Sigh, it really does feel like an uphill battle sometimes.) I thought that it would be good to share my response to this question here as well 🙂

All images are not mine and were taken from Google images.

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First, a disclaimer: as a licensed nail tech, I truly believe that any type of artificial nail can be worn without damage or infection if done correctly. I’ve worn nails for over 20 years and neither I nor any of my clients EVER had the issues I am going to describe below. TLDR at the very bottom
OK. The first drawback is the lack of education in the nail industry. You are more likely to find a poorly trained (or even untrained and unlicensed) nail tech than you are going to find one that is well-trained and knowledgeable about the science of nails. Even nail techs who are licensed are only trained in the basics, so you need to look for one who is not only licensed (in the US, other countries may not have licensure) BUT also has a lot of continuing education under their belt Just having a license is not enough.

Untrained/under-trained nail techs often do not understand the chemistry of nails. They don’t understand (or care) that mixing product brands and being sloppy with application (liquid all over the skin) can lead to overexposure and can cause allergic reactions or dermatitis in their clients. Once a client becomes allergic to products, they can never again wear artificial nails because almost all of the various products we use are chemically related. (Some are chemically different, but who wants to go through this every time they try a new product just to see if it doesn't happen again?)

Damaged natural nails. Nail damage is not inevitable when wearing artificial nails. Acrylic itself does not damage the natural nail. Improper application and removal damages natural nails. And untrained/under-trained nail techs are almost always just following procedures that were taught to them by other untrained/under-trained nail techs. When applying acrylic nails, the tech only needs to use a very fine file to gently break up the blocks of oil n the nail There is zero need to shred or etch the natural nail with today’s advanced acrylic products. But an untrained tech doesn't know that so they use a coarse file or an electric file with a coarse sanding band to remove layers of the natural nail (makes me cringe to think about).

Then when they file the top of the acrylic nail or do a fill, they are improperly using an electric file again at the wrong angle and they cut into the the natural nail causing “rings of fire”which you can see through the acrylic in this pic:

And then when nails are removed, they are either picked or pried off, which brings layers of the natural nail with it:

Bad removal vs good removal: (not my image, got it off the internet :))

MMA. This is a post unto itself, so I will try to be brief. MMA is an illegal (the FDA says it is hazardous and deleterious when used on nails) acrylic nail liquid that is still used in cheap nail salons because it is so cheap. It doesn't stick well and REQUIRES rough etching of the natural nail (thinning and damaging it) to get the product to adhere. But once adhered, it is overly hard and attaches too rigidly to the natural nail - meaning if you break a nail, instead of the acrylic breaking, it tears your natural nail off the nail bed. It is also extremely hard to remove and so most salons who use it will pry the acrylic off the natural nail, further damaging it MMA is the reason the myth that acrylic nails damage the natural nails still exists. (Gross pics follow)

Unsanitary salons: Fungus is not something that is destined to happen with acrylic nails, but it can happen if the salon you frequent is unsanitary. So can other infections such as mycobacteria , pseudomonas, and even Hepatitis.

So yes, there are risks with wearing artificial nails if you go to a nail tech who is poorly trained (and sadly, its something like 80% of nail techs that fall into this category)

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

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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.

Dip Systems - take 2

If you read my previous post, you would see that a major con of “Tip & dip” systems is that they just do not last as long as acrylics or hard gels. I don’t mean they don’t last as long between appointments – that, of course, depends on nail prep and the growth rate of the client’s nails – rather, they tend to break down after a few fills as nail resin is not cross-linked and therefore is very porous and susceptible to moisture and the environment. They crack and yellow and need to be removed periodically and reapplied.

Young Nails SlickPour System

Since my last post on the subject, the trend seems to have shifted in the use of these systems to be not so much an alternative for acrylic or hard gel nails, rather they are now being touted as an alternative for Gel Polish, something I am finding very interesting indeed.

Basically, techs are now soaking off and re-applying a whole new set at every appointment. They are not using tips and they are using colored powders instead of the traditional clear or pink and white powders.  Personally I think dip systems are much better suited to this type of application then the “tip and dip” acrylic alternative method that has been pushed since the 1980’s. 

Only time will tell if this usage of the dip system will finally make it a staple in the nail industry or if it will once again fade away only to be resurrected a few years later as the “latest and greatest new thing”.

Tell me - how do you use dip systems?