Let’s face it, there are a thousands of myths out there about the health and safety of various beauty products and despite knowing they exist, we constantly fall for them- especially if they enable our beauty and polish shopping addictions. We’ve set out to de-bunk five popular beauty and nail myths so that our readers can be more aware and knowledgeable about their nails.
Natural and organic products and ingredients are always safer
Despite the media constantly telling consumers that organic and natural is better than synthetic, a lot of the time this is simply not true! The definition of natural is extremely hazy and loosely regulated and just because an ingredient comes from nature doesn’t mean it’s automatically better for you than one that is synthetically made. According to the FDA, products that are labelled as ‘natural’ can contain various petrochemicals and certified organic products can contain as little as 10% organic ingredients (by weight or volume). Dr. Linda M Katz, director of the FDA Office of Cosmetics and Colors told the NY Times “Consumers should not necessarily assume that an ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ ingredient or product would possess greater inherent safety than another chemically identical version of the same ingredient, ‘natural’ ingredients may be harder to preserve against microbial contamination and growth than synthetic raw materials.” Ideally, you should try to find products that contain a balance of both natural and synthetic materials, as products are formulated to ensure the ingredients work in harmony to give your skin the best of both worlds.
There is no way to prevent yellowing nails
Constantly painting your nails can give your nail beds a yellow tinge, but it frustrates us that people believe this cannot be prevented, it absolutely can! Every time you paint your nails, you need to use a base coat before applying colored polish, not only does it prevent staining and yellow tinge, but it preserves your mani for longer. It’s a no-brainer from us, use a base coat!
Clipping and pushing your cuticles is fine; as long as they don’t bleed
Sure, pushing your cuticles back makes your manicure look neater and your nails look nicer, but just because you aren’t clipping them completely doesn’t mean you aren’t damaging your nails. Your cuticles exist to protect the root of your nails and the skin at the base of your nail bed from germs; this means that pushing them back and clipping them allows germs to get in. Use a cuticle cream to moisturize them and push them back if you must, but otherwise just leave them to do their job.
Fake nails are harmful to your natural nails
Almost everyone we know has a horror story from when they were younger and tried out gel or stick-on nails, we know we do. The emotional scarring of torn nail beds and sad nails has led us to avoid gel and acrylic nails (that and we quite like our natural nail shape), but just because everyone has a horror story doesn’t mean that gel or fake nails are damaging to your nails. The key is in proper application and removal, if they are applied, maintained and removed by a professional there is nothing to worry about. So go ahead and get gels or acrylics if you want to, just don’t try and peel them off yourself, that’s where you will cause your nails some serious damage!
Have you fallen for any of these before? Comment below with your favorite old wives’ tale.
The Pedicure Team
xx
