Gathering the facts on a customer favorite - Gel Manicures

One of the most highly requested salon nail services today is a gel manicure. When done correctly, this type of manicure will leave you with flawless, shiny nails that will not chip, scratch or fade for two weeks or more.

It takes the same amount of time as a regular manicure, the nails are prepared the same way. A base coat is applied and cured under a special lamp for 10 seconds. A second and third coat of color is applied and also cured under the lamp. This special polish goes on like regular nail polish but has the strength of a gel, which also gives strength to the natural nail. When you're tired of the color, removal takes only minutes.

Many low budget nail salons are offering these services using cheap products, but buyer beware. Often times bonding agents are used that strip and dehydrate the natural nail plate, causing damage to the nail when it is removed. Another mistake made is over-curing the nail, or leaving the client’s hands in UV lamps unnecessarily.

Recently, gel manicures have been in the news with claims that this service can be harmful to your health because of the UV lamps used to set the nail color. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Here are some facts:

• According to Dr. Robert M. Sayre, Ph.D., of Rapid Precision Testing Laboratories one of the creators of the SPF rating system: “UV Nail Lamps are safer than natural sunlight or sunlamps.”
  
• Dr. David Valia, Director of Research and Development for CND, compares the exposure from a UV lamp to that of indoor fluorescent lighting. He explains, “The amount of energy from a UV lamp during a nail service would be roughly equivalent to the amount of UV exposure one wouldexperience during a typical day of exposure in indoor fluorescent lighting.”
  
• According to Dr. Sayre: “People who are indoors have little to no skin risk due to long term exposure to fluorescent lighting. People who sunbathe or work outdoors have real risks of excessive UV exposure, the cause of sunburn and skin cancer.”
  
• “The CND UV Nail Lamp bulb emits almost exclusively (more than 99%) UVA-1, the safest part of the ultraviolet spectrum,” says Dr. Sayre.
  
• The exposure from a bi-weekly UV manicure is equivalent to “an extra 1-2 minutes in daylight each day between salon visits,” says Doug Schoon, CND’s Chief Scientific Advisor and author of Nail Structure and Product Chemistry.
  
• Hands get more UV exposure holding the steering wheel of a car or talking on a cell phone outside than they do from the use of UV nail lamps.
  
• UV nail lamps have been on the market for over 30 years and there have been no proven reports linking them to premature aging or skin cancer.
  Source: http://www.cnd.com/press-releases/uv-nail-lamp-safety-information