Decorative coatings for nails today are presented in a huge assortment, one of the most popular options is shellac. This article will tell you more about whether this product is harmful to nails.
Features of use
Shellac is a material that many manicure specialists use to create designer decor. Every woman wants to show off a beautiful manicure. Beautiful and well-groomed nails are a reason for pride. Unfortunately, decorative varnishes, which are sold in supermarkets and ordinary cosmetic stores, quickly erase. Shellac can be attributed to materials that remain on the nail plates for a long time.
Shellac also has many other benefits.
- It is suitable for people who have fairly thin nail plates. This method of manicure design is used by women, whose nails often flake and break. With increased fragility of the nail plates, achieving the desired length can be extremely difficult.
- The resistance of shellac depends on many factors. Of course, frequent washing of dishes or cleaning an apartment without protective gloves can reduce the period of "wearing" of such a decorative coating. If you carefully monitor your hands and apply gloves during cleaning, you can significantly extend the preservation of such a decorative coating on your hands. In some cases, it can be "carried" up to 2.5-3 weeks.
Shellac is an excellent coating that is suitable for people with dull nail plates. This material gives them a beautiful and bright enough shine. Even the usual jacket made using such material looks very impressive and catchy. At the same time, the nail plate shines, and the hands look very well-groomed.
- A large selection of colors is another advantage of shellac. The manufacturers of this decorative coating offer a huge variety of different shades. Manicure masters combine them, which allows you to achieve interesting results. If you wish, you can choose neutral tones or please yourself with something bright and unusual.
- Many beauties choose this material for nails, since it practically does not spoil the nail plates. Of course, it does not bring benefits to the body, but does not destroy the nails. This material does not contain formaldehyde - a component that can harm the nail plates. It is no coincidence that shellac manicures are being chosen more and more today.
Health hazard
- Shellac is not such harmless material as it might seem at first glance. Covering them with nails can do some harm to the body. In order to understand how this material harms nails, you need to understand how manicure is performed with its use. With this option of manicure, the processing of the nail plate is carried out quite intensively. It can lead to trauma to the nail, which in the future can adversely affect its growth.
It should be noted that such damage, as a rule, is applied to the nails with poor-quality manicure.
If this procedure is performed by an inexperienced or unskilled specialist, then this can lead to a violation of the growth of the nail. During the processing of the nail plate, it is extremely important to use clean tools that have been previously sanitized. Sometimes, after applying shellac, yellow or dark spots appear on the nails. The appearance of infection in the nail leads to their appearance during poor-quality processing of the plate.
- Shellac should only be healthy nails. Some women use this material to mask the various changes that appear on the nail plates. For example, through such a decorative coating, they try to “mask” the yellowing of the nail plates or the appearance of white stripes on them. However, if such changes have appeared, then in this case you need to see a doctor, and only then resort to shellac coating the nails.
During the "socks" of such a manicure, various infectious diseases of the nails are not excluded.
Shellac quite tightly "adheres" to the nail, leading to the fact that oxygen is reduced to the nail plate. Such changes create a greenhouse effect. Also, this material is exposed to temperature. For example, frequent hand washing in hot water can cause small cracks to appear on the nails. Pathogenic microbes can get into them, which in the future will provoke a disease of the nails.
Shellac is a fairly resistant material. In order to remove it from the nail plates, special tools are used. Removing this material with orange sticks at home will not work, as this can lead to severe trauma to the nail plate.
Preparations that are used to remove this decorative material for nails have a rather aggressive chemical composition. They also often contain acetone. This substance is able to dry the nail plate, leading to a loss of natural shine and even severe brittleness.
- Frequent shellac treatments also require cuticle repair procedures. So, in order to be able to “wear” such a manicure for longer, the shellac applied to the nails must be thoroughly dried. For this, special lamps are used that act through ultraviolet radiation. Rays of this spectrum, as a rule, do not cause any unpleasant sensations in a person. However, if you constantly dry your nails with such a lamp, you can provoke the appearance of severe dryness and, to a greater extent, the cuticle.If after such a manicure you don’t take care of the cuticle of the nails fully, this can lead to the fact that the hands will look unkempt. To moisturize the cuticles, it is better to use special cosmetic products. They perfectly look after this gentle zone, contributing to its restoration.
- Ultraviolet light bulb, which is used for drying nails, can affect not only the nail plates, but also on the surrounding skin. Women who have a high oncogenic risk of developing skin diseases, this feature should be considered. Before carrying out such a procedure, they should better apply sunscreen to their hands. Moreover, if someone from close relatives was diagnosed with melanoma (skin cancer), then in this case, before shellac is often applied to the nails, it is better for such ladies to consult a doctor.
- Shellac is a chemical material that in some people can contribute to the development of allergic reactions. It is worth noting that an allergy to this decorative coating is not so common, however, isolated cases still continue to be recorded. For women with allergic pathologies and individual sensitivity to various chemicals, it is better to consult a doctor before carrying out such a procedure.
After several treatments using shellac, it takes time to restore the nails. To do this, you can use both cosmetic preparations and traditional medicine. The term of their use depends on how badly the nail plates were damaged. In some cases, nail repair can take even several weeks. During the restoration of the plates, one should not forget about the nutrition of the cuticle.
Reviews of specialists
Many manicure masters like working with shellac. They note that this material looks pretty good and rests on the nail plates. At the same time, a rich color palette helps to create various design options. It is ideal for covering even sufficiently weakened plates.
Some manicure specialists note that they do not like this material, as in some women it can lead to the development of thinning of the nail plates. And in this case, a comprehensive recovery is already required.
See how the gel polish differs from shellac in the next video.
