I watching a commercial and it was for a in home uv gel product for nails. I’ve seen this service offered in salons. It seems really unhealthy. Does the idea of putting your fingers under a uv light sound safe or like a good idea to you?
I’ve had a couple of gel manicures at the salon where the polish was set under a light. I don’t see that it’s any more harmful than people who go to tanning salons except that you’re only putting your finger tips under the light instead of your whole body.
My biggest issue with it was that I didn’t feel it was worth the extra cost because it didn’t last that much long than when I do my nails myself.
If it’s like tanning then it must age your finger skin. The hands tend to age faster on their own.
In the course of a gel manicure, your fingers are under the lights for something like six minutes. I think that level of exposure is pretty trivial compared to daily activities.
Salons have been using UV lights to dry nail polish for years. But I thought I read somewhere that there’s been an increase in skin cancer because of it. Or maybe the author was saying they assumed there would be.
Either way, it’s nothing new.
If that’s the purple light, you usually have the option to turn it off.
I have to ask–did your gel manicure chip quickly, or do your nails last extraordinarily long when you do it yourself? Because I’ve had gel and shellac both, and they lasted a long time–three weeks, when they were grown out enough that I couldn’t stand it–and no chips. When I do it myself they’re chipped within a week. Do you have a secret???
You get more UV exposure from a few minutes in the sun.
I wouldn’t worry about it.
Polish on my fingernails chips in 3-4 days but my UV gel manicure lasted a solid two weeks. At that point my nails were so grown out it started to look silly, and there were a couple of small chips.
The UV exposure is trivial.
My biggest gripe with the process is that it destroyed my fingernails. They roughed them up to make it adhere, and I had to soak them in acetone and scrape-scrape-scrape to get it off, much more trouble than getting regular polish off. Now my nails are so brittle that they crumble as soon as they grow out. I’m waiting for the whole nails to grow out, all the way from the quick. It was expensive too. It wasn’t worth it.
If I do it myself, it stays nice for like a week, maybe. The gel manicure definitely lasted longer, maybe 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. It doesn’t chip, it peels off. I don’t know if it’s my nails or the salon (same salon both times) or what. Also, since I kind of enjoy doing my own nails, it wasn’t worth the cost. My best friend swears by them and her nails are always nice.
I bought the Red Carpet Manicure system for home use at Ulta. It is equivalent to the Gelish system that is used in salons and sold at Sally. I had the gel manicure done in a salon a couple of times and decided it would be cheaper for me to buy a system and just do it at home.
The gel polish makes my nails very strong and they rarely break. I do not rough up the surface of my nails as harshly as they do in the salon. I use a much finer grit and just lightly go over the nail. You need a clean, slightly rough surface. The gel polish won’t stick if there are any oils left on the nail, which is more important in my opinion than a rough surface and hence why I don’t go overboard on filing the surface.
My manicures last 10-14 days through pretty harsh conditions. I work in a lab and volunteer at an animal shelter, so my hands are in and out of water all day. The nail color will start to peel when it is ready to come off. When that happens I use a coarse grit file and file the shine off the nail and wrap the nails with a cotton ball soaked in acetone, aluminum foil and self-stick wrap until the color comes off. You shouldn’t have to damage the nail to take the color off, but you will need an orange stick to remove the softened polish from some areas.
When I do the manicure my nails are under the light for 4.5 min total for three coats of color, one coat of base and one topcoat. They sell fingerless gloves on amazon if you are concerned about UV exposure.
The system was at Ulta for $80 and the polishes are $10 each. Ulta has 20% off coupons all the time and I buy the polish on sale or with a coupon. I was spending $25 per manicure plus tip every two weeks.
I asked this once here, and the answer was not to worry about it. Something about short vs. shorter wave UV wavelengths, and the nail curing ones not being the same as the cancer causing ones. Let me see if I can find the thread.
ETA: Here it is: What amount of UV exposure am I getting at the nail salon? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board