There has been an increased awareness among many customers of nail salons regarding the safety issues associated with regular salons. For many, realizing that what they regarded as pampering and self-care might actually have been causing some harm to them has almost caused them to swear off nail salons.
Yes, many regular nail salons use toxic product, which can cause some damage to both the clients and technicians. However, with the growth of the organic industry, you can now enjoy full pampering at organic nail salons without any fear of toxic materials being used.
Harmful Chemicals that Organic Nail Salons Avoid To be able to choose an organic nail salon, the first thing is to understand what makes a nail salon an organic one. We have already stated that they do not use toxic materials but we will now look at a few specific ones that will act as a guide.
Types of Harmful Chemicals Not Used in Organic Nail Salons If you are familiar with regular nail salons, you will agree that there is always a chemical haze around the place. This can be quite intense when a lot of the nail treatment products are in use. Truth be told, most of these nail treatment products contain toxic chemicals, making them largely unsafe for everyone in that salon. Organic nail salons (ideally) stay away from these chemicals. Let’s look at a few of these:
The Toxic Trio The three chemicals regarded as the “Toxic trio” are Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP (Dibutyl Phthalate). These chemicals were popular in nail polish but have now been shown to be very harmful to the body. In fact, Vogue reported Jenna Hipp’s experience with Formaldehyde poisoning, an experience which pushed her to start her advocacy for “Green” manicuring. You will now find nail polishes listed as 3-Free, meaning that they are free of these toxic trio.
Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor These two chemicals are supposed to be “lesser” evils than the toxic trio. However, they have also been found to have toxic properties, which are better avoided. When you see a product listed as 5-Free, it means that that product is free of the toxic trio as well as these two.
Ethyl Tosylamide and Xylene These two, Ethyl Tosylamide a plasticizer and Xylene used for odor masking have also been found to be harmful even if to a lesser extent. Products listed as 7-Free mean these two have also been removed in addition to the five already listed above. Choosing an Organic Nail Salon It will be wrong to assume that once a nail salon uses only products that are rated 7-Free that you can then freely patronize them. Yes, not having to have toxic nail products used for your treatment is great. But using organic or toxic-free products is just the first of many things to look for in an organic nail salon. There are other important factors to consider. These include:
Hygiene A nail salon has to have hygiene at the top of its operational list, organic or not. Customers can get infected in an organic nail salon if tools used are not properly sterilized and disposable items, disposed of and not reused.
Expertise If the technicians in a nail salon do not have the skills needed to deliver great service, it won’t matter if everything they use is 100% organic.
Customer Service Every customer wants to be treated well. Be sure that any organic nail salon you choose offers excellent customer service.
Pricing Check the pricing system of any organic nail salon you go to. Aside from ensuring you will be getting value for money, you should also know exactly what they charge and how they charge before booking an appointment.
Extras Depending on what you want, you may want to find out if the salon offers additional services aside from nail treatment. It may be a good idea to consider an organic nail salon that also offers spa treatments and more.
Conclusion There you have it. Consider all these before choosing an organic nail salon and you will be in a good position to find the right one.
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