• Do UV Nail Lamps Emit Unsafe Levels of Ultraviolet Light?
  
  
• How long will it take for my nails to return to normal after removing the gels?
  
  
• Why should I take the time to have my nails professionally manicured?
  
  
• How long will a basic manicure or pedicure last?
  
  
• What are the main advantages of gel applications?
  
  
• Will my natural nails continue to grow under the gel?
  
  
• How are gel nail applications maintained?
  
  
• What are gel nails? How do they differ from acrylics?
  
  
• What is a "Pink and White" and "Back Fill" nail service?

• I heard that gel nail lamps emit dangerous UV waves

• How are gel nail applications maintained?
  
  
• How long do gel nail applications usually last?
  
  
• Why do nails split or become yellow?
  
  
• What are the rules regarding sanitation & disinfection of the instruments used for salon nail care services?
  
  
• Why is this necessary? What are we being protected from?
  
  
• How can I do touch-ups and repairs on my nails at home?
  
  
• What is a Gel Manicure?

Why should I take the time to have my nails professionally manicured?

Beautiful, well-groomed nails are an important part of your overall look.  Attractive nails and hands enhance your appearance, whether you spend your days in a kitchen or in a boardroom. A basic manicure takes between 30-45 minutes. Gels average about an hour. The cost is quite reasonable, and the results are well worth it.

How long will a basic manicure or pedicure last?

A basic manicure or pedicure will last one to two weeks, depending on your lifestyle and the type of service you've had.  If, for example, you work in the garden without gloves, your manicure probably won't last long.

Gels maintain their fresh appearance much longer. Polish between visits can be used but is not necessary.

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For people who have a tendency to bite or pick at their nails, there is a 90 percent success rate of stopping with artificial nail applications. There are two reasons for this:

• First, people are less likely to ruin something they've spent time and money on.
• Secondly, nail biters are generally inspired by having beautiful hands for the first time in their lives.

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Will my natural nails continue to grow under the gel?

Yes.   At Heavenly Nails we use good products and apply and maintain them correctly.

Gel nails can actually improve the health of your natural nails by protecting them from biting, picking, excess moisture and other elements that can weaken or damage them.

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After several weeks your nail technician will fill in the area near the cuticle between where the natural nail has grown and where the gel nail is attached.  This "fill" includes re-sanitizing and re-applying the gel where it has grown out.

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Gels and LPS ("acrylic" or liquid and powder systems) are similar in that they both can be used to extend the length of the nails and make them stronger. Several advantages of the gel service is that they are odorless, no need for acid or damaging primers, more flexible, bond naturally, don't lift, don't need polish or backfills, and stay very shiny between visits. Like LPS , gels can be applied over the natural nail or over artificial nail tips.

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What is a "Pink and White" and a "Back Fill" nail service?

"Pink and White" refers to the use of two colors of acrylic applied to the nails to produce a more permanent, natural-looking "French" manicure look.

A "back-fill" refers to the addition of "drilling" off the white portion of the nail product and applying new white nail product to the area drilled off.

Because of the crystal clear nature of gels, these services are almost obsolete.  The natural color of the nail shines through. "White" or "Soft White" gel is used on the tip to enhance the natural tip color. The white is removed with each fill by simple filing and new gel is repainted. It is coated with a strong shiny finish that does not wear off.

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How often you visit your manicurist is a personal decision.  The client's use of her hands and length of her nail bed plays a big part in the frequency of visits.  Brisa Gel applications should be filled regularly but time between appointments varies with averages at about three weeks.

Shellac can be soaked off at home or in the salon. We'll be happy to share tips on easy home removal if wearing it for a special occasion. Many clients enjoy freshening up their Shellac every two to three weeks in the salon.

It's better for the health of the nail to fill or remove properly rather than picking them off. Regularly scheduled fills will keep your nails beautiful. We can help you decide how long you should go between visits.

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For natural nails, excessive exposure to the elements or chemicals, poor diet, nail biting and other habits can be the cause.

CND Gel, Brisa and Shellac, products don't yellow. We're finding that poor quality gel polishes break down and yellow, which is why we don't use them.  Any splitting around the tip can be the result of using your nail as a tool. Some new habits may need to be formed.

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While each state's board of barbering and cosmetology have different regulations pertaining to salon sanitation procedures, it just makes good sense for a salon to do the most, not the least, when it comes to preventing the spread of contagious diseases.

At Heavenly Nails, we believe that technicians should thoroughly disinfect all implements and surfaces prior to each client's appointment.  Technicians should also practice a thorough hand sanitation regimen to prevent the spread of germs and fungus.
 
We sanitize and disinfect on two important levels in the salon: effective sanitation of the skin and nails, and hard surface and implement disinfection.   Any salon that doesn't follow conscientious sanitation practices is probably not a good choice for a nail service.

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Common viruses -- such as those that cause colds and flu -- are easily spread from hand to hand. Your nail technician is in direct contact with your hands for long periods of time, which makes both of you vulnerable to viruses and other contagious diseases.

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The great thing about Heavenly Nail's Gel Nails is there will rarely be a need!!!

If your nails become too long before your next appointment with your nail technician, simply shorten your nails by using a 240-grit file.  NEVER use nail clippers.

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With a Gel Manicure, we use a flexible gel lacquer that is cured in a UV lamp.
Gel polish is applied without roughing up the natural nail. Gel lacquer is applied similarly to traditional nail polish but each layer is cured under the light. No length can be added but a uniform faux length can be painted on with a French manicure. Gel polish comes in several colors. It is removed by soaking off 2-3 weeks later.

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How are gel nail applications maintained?

After several weeks your nail technician will fill in the area near the cuticle between where the natural nail has grown and where the gel nail is attached.  This "fill" includes re-sanitizing and re-applying the gel where it has grown out. Also if a "pink and white"  look is preferred, the white will be freshly reapplied at no extra charge.
 
Shellac maintenance usually consists of soaking the product off and starting over. Each client is different, and has different needs. We'll proceed accordingly.

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I heard that gel nail lamps emit dangerous UV waves

This is absolutely not true, and involves misinformation. The UV waves found in tanning beds are different wavelengths than the type found in a gel nail UV lamp.Your hands are likely to be exposed to more UV light while driving your car than they will receive from UV gel nail services.Full article follows...

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Do UV Nail Lamps Emit Unsafe Levels of Ultraviolet Light?

Three Experts Rebut Claims that UV Nail Lamps are Unsafe for Skin Doug Schoon, M.S. Chemistry, Chief Scientific Advisor, CND; Paul Bryson, Ph.D. Chemistry, Director of R&D, OPI Products; Jim McConnell, BA Chemistry, President, McConnell Labs Introduction A recent report incorrectly claimed that UV nail lamps are a source of "high- ‐dose UV- ‐A" and also inaccurately compared UV tanning beds with UV nail lamps. The report, "Occurrence of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers on the Hands After UV Nail Light Exposure" (MacFarlane and Alonso) 1 , overestimated the exposure of client skin to UV light emitted from UV nail lamps and improperly characterized the effect of these lamps on the hand.

As three of the leading scientists in the professional nail industry, we were surprised by these claims. To verify the facts, using an independent laboratory we tested the leading UV nail lamps to determine how much UV- ‐A and UV- ‐B they emit and then compared that to natural sunlight.

Testing
In preparation for our study, we tested many UV nail lamps to determine which had the highest UV output and, as expected, found the nail lamp with the highest output was one designed to utilize four 9- ‐watt UV bulbs. We also decided to test a popular UV nail lamp designed to utilize two 9- ‐watt UV bulbs. The purpose for testing both lamps was to determine how exposures vary across the range of UV nail lamps with the goal of providing information that would apply to the majority of salons and situations. The selected two bulb UV nail lamp was chosen and tested because it is a popular brand and representative of other UV nail lamps within the two 9- ‐ watt UV bulb category. The selected four 9- ‐watt UV bulb nail lamp was chosen because it had the highest measured UV output of any UV nail lamp tested. No attempt was made to test UV nail lamps utilizing only one UV bulb, since the overwhelming majority of UV nail lamps use two, three or four UV bulbs. The UV nail lamps selected for testing are likely representative of more than 90% of the UV nail lamps used in salons.

Lighting Science, Inc., of Phoenix, AZ., is a fully equipped, completely independent scientific testing laboratory that specializes in the development and testing of many types of illumination devices, including those that emit UV light and Lighting Science is not in the business of manufacturing or selling UV nail lamps. The two selected UV nail lamps were submitted to Lighting Science in brand- ‐new condition. Highly sensitive UV detectors were placed where client hands would normally reside while inside a UV nail lamp. These detectors accurately measured the amount of UV- ‐A and UV- ‐B light emitted from each UV nail lamp. To ensure a proper comparison, Lighting Science also used the same test equipment to measure the UV- ‐A and UV- ‐B light found in natural sunlight. A discussion of these measurements and results is presented below.

Discussion
The MacFarlane and Alonso report made several errors and misstatements concerning artificial nails products and how they are applied. The most notable involves the improper estimation of UV exposure to the skin by UV nail lamps, resulting in a faulty report conclusion. It is incorrect to conclude that putting a hand into a tanning bed with twelve 100- ‐watt UV bulbs is the same as putting that hand into a UV nail lamp with four 9- ‐watt bulbs because:

1) tanning bed users typically use these devices more often and for much longer periods than seen with nail salon services
2) the authors mistakenly assumed that UV bulb "wattage" is a measure of UV exposure to the skin, when wattage is actually a measure of energy usage
3) the authors erred significantly by relying solely on UV bulb wattage to estimate the actual amount of UV exposure to skin
4) they neglected to consider that UV light reflects many times inside the tanning bed and these internal reflections further increase UV exposure to skin, again demonstrating that MacFarlane and Alonso approach to estimating UV exposure to skin is not valid.
Their comparisons to UV tanning beds simply doesn't make sense logically or scientifically. The UV testing performed by Lighting Science used proper scientific techniques and equipment to measure both UV- ‐A and UV- ‐B radiation in terms of milliwatts per centimeter squared (mW/cm2), which is a measure of how much UV light falls upon each and every square centimeter of skin (about 1/8 square inch). It is important to understand that UV- ‐B is considered by many to be more potentially damaging to skin than UV- ‐A, which is why nail lamps rely on special UV bulbs that contain internal coatings designed to filter out most of the UV- ‐B light.

It is important to note that clients visit a salon for UV gel nail application or maintenance twice each month and that each of their hands are placed into the UV lamp for intervals of two minute or less, for a total of 6- ‐10 minutes. In this report, we will always assume the highest level of exposure: 10 minutes per hand, twice per month.

Results
Testing by Lighting Sciences produced the following information:

1. UV- ‐B output for both UV nail lamps was less than what was found in natural sunlight. The bulbs used in UV nail lamps contain special internal filters which remove almost all UV- ‐B, so this result is not surprising. The test results show that the amount of UV- ‐B to which client skin is exposed is equal to what they could expect from spending an extra 17 to 26 seconds in sunlight each day of the two weeks between nail salon appointments.

2. UV- ‐A exposure is much lower than suggested by MacFarlane and Alonso. Test results show that UV- ‐A exposure for client skin is equivalent to spending an extra 1.5 to 2.7 minutes in sunlight each day between salon visits, depending on the type of UV nail lamp used. A nail lamp with two UV bulbs corresponds to 1.5 minutes and a nail lamp with four UV bulbs corresponds to about 2.7 minutes each day between salon visits.

MacFarlane and Alonso claimed to find two cases of skin cancer that they suggest were caused by UV nail lamps. Both of their patients live in Texas, a climate where significant incidental UV exposure from sunlight is inevitable even in the absence of deliberate recreational exposure. One patient had been exposed to a UV nail lamp only eight times during the same year (we assume every two weeks for 4 months). During this same period, the patient would have been exposed to more UV- ‐A and UV- ‐B simply by spending 10 to 20 minutes eating her lunch outdoors in natural sunlight once per week.

Oddly, the authors described this patient as a 48- ‐year- ‐old white woman who claimed to have "moderate recreational UV exposure". We fail to understand how, under the circumstances, it could be concluded that this case of nonmelanoma skin cancer is caused by these eight exposures to a UV nail lamp, especially in light of the low levels of UV exposure expected during these few visits to a salon. We respectfully disagree and believe the results of Light Science’s independent testing are in agreement with our own laboratory findings supporting the safety of UV nail lamps.

Conclusion
McFarlane and Alonso's report has a faulty conclusion because it is based on incorrect assumptions.

Our testing shows that UV nail lamps emit relatively low levels of UV light and these exposure levels are considered well within safe levels when they are used to perform UV artificial nail services in nail salons.

Unfortunately, inaccurate information can have a long- ‐term damaging effect, even when later disproved. Already, some are unfairly distorting the risks of cancer on Internet blogs, YouTube and other media outlets, even to the extent of offering the exceptionally unwise advice of forgoing the UV curing of products that will not cure otherwise. We believe a fair examination of the facts supports the conclusion that UV nail lamps are safe when used as directed and brief client exposures are as safe as brief exposures to natural sunlight. Client hands are likely to be exposed to more UV light while driving their cars than they will receive from UV gel nail services.

Nail UV lamps are safe when used as directed. Nevertheless, we recognize the Nail Technician's need to address client concerns. For those clients who express anxiety, a Nail Technician can consider doing the following to make the service more reassuring:

Place a small piece of white cloth over the hands when placing them in the UV nail lamp.

If a client insists on wearing sunscreen, they should still be asked to wash their hands before any salon service begins. In this case, the Nail Technician should take special care to ensure nail plates are properly cleansed and dehydrated in order to prevent service breakdown (e.g. product lifting, discoloration or mottling) from the film sunscreen products can leave behind. Also, it is crucial to keep sunscreen lotions and sprays away from implements and supplies used during the nail service to avoid contamination.

Reference:
1. Occurrence of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers on the Hands After UV Nail Light Exposure, MacFarlane, D.F., Alonso, C.A., Arch Dermatol. 2009;145(4):447- ‐449

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Author's Biographies:

Doug Schoon, M.S. Chemistry, UC Irvine, is an internationally known scientist and lecturer with 20 years experience as a scientific researcher in the professional nail industry and has many years experience developing UV cure nail products. Schoon is author of Nail Structure and Product Chemistry, 1st & 2nd editions, many dozens of trade magazine articles and chapters in the textbook Milady's Standard Nail Technology, as well as chapters on cosmetics in a variety of different reference books for Dermatologists.

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If you have concerns or questions about enhancements, please contact us as we always enjoy hearing from you, no matter what the occasion.

Remember, no question is a dumb question!  It's better to ask now than wait until your next appointment.