The Skinny on Gel Nail Polish

The first time I heard about gel nail polish, I was intrigued! After all, when you are told that you can get a manicure that lasts for a good 2-3 weeks and will stay chip-free, you sit up and you take notice! However, it occurred to me that some serious voodoo would have to be used in order for polish to stay that long and chip-free so I decided to hunker down and get the buzz on gel nail polish so I could share the info with you.

A Health Risk?

While I was doing some research, I ran into some research that suggested this might be a health risk since gel polish is essentially baked into the nails with the use of UV devices. The baking process is a really important step in the gel polish process since it is what causes the polish to really stick.

However, some experts are saying that UV rays increased photo-aging and while the machines used emit very low levels if UV, they say that that it is important to protect the skin with some sunscreen since it is better to be safe than sorry.

Now, for those who work in salons and are exposed to UV lights from equipment day in and day out, it becomes more important to protect the skin. I know none of us want lizard skin, so I say, use sunscreen whether or not you will go out and get gel nail polish.

The Removal

Now, another thing I want to discuss is that gel nail polish cannot be removed easily. So for instance, if I get sick of my nail polish in just one week, I would not be able to remove it on my own. I would have to go to the salon where I will get it professionally removed. Now I don’t really mind that but I think some of you might not like that you would have to make that extra trip to the salon. All in all though, this is a great thing and I think I’ll go get me a gel manicure now!