SAY NO TO ALLERGIES!

Demand safe products from your supplier

The market is booming with unsafe nail products - not only from China, but even from bigger nail brands used on the market. These products are both dangerous for you as a nail tech and for your customers.

Did you know that you can get lifelong allergy from just one treatment of unsafe products? Demand safe products from your supplier and stay away from ingredients such as DBT, Toluene, Camphor, Formic Aldehyde, DBP and HEMA.

An allergy will never go away as the immune system will never forget that specific allergen 

We become allergic to one particular ingredient. Some reports an allergy to HEMA, which is a popular ingredient in nail products used for adhesion, but it is not the only allergen. Always check the percentage of allergens in the nail products you use.

Nail allergies has never been a bigger problem 

Learn all about HEMA here:

What is HEMA?

HEMA, also known as 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate or hydroxyethyl methacrylate, belongs to the monomer family and is used as an adhesive in nail products. Having an adhesive property in the product is important to prevent service breakdown. When alternative ingredients are used, using a coarser grit file can be necessary to ensure adhesion, in turn having its own issues and causing potential damage to the nail plate. The nail industry is not the only field that uses this ingredient. It is also widely used by dentists and orthopaedic surgeons. It is also used in 3D printing and many other application methods.

What causes an allergy and how can this be prevented?

An allergy builds up over time from overexposure of repetitive skin contact with an allergen (in this case usually an ingredient in nail products), starting off as irritation and redness. This can occur with any chemical ingredient for other purposes not designed and recommended against skin contact. We are all human and mistakes can happen and on a rare occasion skin contact can occur – you slip, your client moves, you drop your brush or any other accidental application error. This kind of skin contact can be unknown such as dropping a brush on yourself, and the product leaking through your uniform or clothes to contact your skin. How you deal with any contact is important, and ensuring this doesn’t become a habit or regular occurrence is critical, in order to prevent an issue arising. If product comes in contact with the skin, it is essential this product is removed completely and thoroughly and the client washes their hands or contact area, before reapplication, rather than just tidying this up and leaving unseen, but uncured product on the skin to continue causing a potential reaction. It is also good practice to replace your gloves in case of product transference. As well as thoroughly removing any product itself with cleanser or IPA, it is important to remove and replace any contaminated or suspected gloves or clothes too. For this reason, always keep a change of clothes or wear aprons at work.

Will changing to HEMA-free products prevent an allergy?

Once an allergy develops, the immune system goes onto heightened alert, so it becomes much easier and faster to develop allergies to other allergens. Just like if we don’t wear gloves when doing household cleaning, using some products will develop contact dermatitis which is an irritation but can turn into an allergy with repetitive contact. It is not the fault of the product. It is the working ways that caused it and need to change. HEMA is not the only allergen identified on nail technician and nail customer dermatologist tests. Many that present an allergy to HEMA, also have an allergy to many other acrylates and HEMA-free alternative ingredients too. Allergens to different ingredients may present differently, so it is important to look for different signs and symptoms.