I just watched a segment on the dangers of infection in the nail salon on GMTV and it was the closest I have witnessed to an actual train wreck. With the amount of buzz taking place on the radio and TV about this, I am deeply concerned about the affect it will have on our industry.

Consumer TV, Radio and print generally need to focus on the sensationalism of a story to make it intriguing - but this sensationalism sacrifices the ability to inform in exchange for the ability to scare.

The general public are going to surmise from the GMTV episode:

1- Having a pedicure can give you all sorts of diseases as bacteria can absorb through your skin. Be especially careful not to have a pedicure if you shave your legs.

Bacteria can not penetrate through unbroken skin. If you shave and cut yourself - you have broken skin. If the technician cuts you while working - you will have broken skin. Having broken skin will not give you an infection, but it will stop your best defense against getting an infection.
If you have broken skin and the salon and/or technician does not work in a hygienic manner, then yes - you may run a risk of an infection. Fortunately this is very extremely rare. Best bet - don't go to a cheap salon where the professionals can not clearly demonstrate their sanitation procedures and their training certificates.

2- MMA is a nail glue that holds your floor together and some salons use for nails

MMA is not a nail glue, it is a monomer used in making L&P enhancements (commonly called 'acrylics'). They make nails that are excessively hard and therefore pose a serious risk in the nail salon. Best bet: Don't go to a salon that uses unbranded products and charge lower than average price for their work. Also do not have nail services by technicians who can not clearly demonstrate their ability to work in a safe and hygienic manner. Look for their certificates of education on display.

3- You should sterilize the hands before having a nail service

This is impossible. You can only sanitize hands and feet. Make sure the client and the technician wash their hands before every service and that the technician uses a waterless sanitizer before commencing the service.

4- You shouldn't drill into the nail bed, only scuff up the nail plate

You should do neither. An electric file should never come in contact with the nail plate (let alone the nail bed). A nail doesn't need to be scuffed for long lasting adhesion with a decent product.

Everyone here needs to start educating the public NOW. Snippets like I watched this morning seldom inform - they usually scare and the people it scares the most are seldom the ones that attend salons where they SHOULD be scared. Instead, it affects those that are determined to provide the highest standard of service out there.

So what are YOU going to do to counter the negativity?

im going to ask YOU to get yourself onto gmtv, with the ever lovely samantha, and you are goiing to put the record straight!!!!!!!!!



pretty please??

I think I am going to print this out and keep it with me to recite when anyone asks me!!!!!

Would it help if we bombard these web sites with the correct info.....while it is in the news???? I know it has happened with the radio 1 web site yesterday but GMTV said it was on their web site too.

As a qualified Nail Tech I find it, as I know many others do, so frustrating when this sort of rubbish is broadcast to the public.

Got to do the school run now and then a client but later today I will try and send an e-mail to do my bit......anyone else going to join me????!!!!!

xxx

Yes, a big industry mogul is needed....you, Geeg, Mum, Chocolate....

Will do that too...

Positive Spin??? That has to be the most atrocious interview and information that I have ever seen. The lady in the nail bar was about to talk about 'sterilizing the natural nail' which is impossible. The NY Nail bar made out the to wax your legs was now dangerous if having nails done to pass on infections. The woman in Bristol talked about 'glue' being a form of MMA and Sophy (bless her) talked about it being OK to use drills lightly on natural nails.

Quite frankly - it was appalling and made out industry look more like crap than ever. Why they don't go to the experts is beyond me. Anyone who can use correct terminology and discuss nails with the conviction it needs talking about and to make our industry sound serious rather than pathetic which IMHO is all that 5 minutes did!

I definitely think GMG and Mrs Geek should go on GMTV to put them straight!!

I too will join the crusade and email GMTV. I'm also going to print off GMG's info at the top of this thread for my clients to read if they are worried. (already spent all day yesterday trying to reassure people) and Sam does it so eloquently!

Well I didn't see the article, but it sounds typical. However there is a link on their website to show what to look for in a salon ...

As nail bars fail to make the grade, check out this guide to how safe your salon is

Training and hygiene standards in nail bars need to be stepped up to prevent infections, according to environmental health officers. Bristol City Council showed 20% of 45 salons tested were failing to employ properly qualified staff.

Here's a quick checklist as a guide on how safe your salon is:

• Before each treatment both you and the nail technician should sanitise your hands. Washing alone will not necessarily kill germs so check that they offer you an anti-bacterial gel before the treatment starts
• The nail technician should check your nails for any cuts around the cuticles before they start. If so, they should take extra care when working on these nails.
• Before the treatment begins, the nail technician should sanitise every tool and file in front of you thoroughly. Don't let them just pick a file up and start working on your hands, you don't know where it's been.
• No product should have a nail technician's hands in it. If they need to get product out of a big tub they should use a wooden spatula which is binned after use.
• Ask what qualifications and experience your nail technician has - if they're a good salon, they won't mind answering you.
• Check that any foot soak bowl has been thoroughly sanitised so that foot nasties are not transmitted between clients. Ten's pedicure thrones have a 10 minute cleaning cycle at the end of each treatment to ensure thorough disinfectant.

Info was given by the Ten nail bar, I expect it was edited but it's a start. But why can't they give this type of info out on the tv?

I find these things frustrating and I'm only starting out. Theres enough people who think they know better than well qualified nail techs without Lorraine Kelly making them think they are right Whats with all the articles giving duff info lately and what can the geek community do to try put this straight?

This is getting beyond a joke,have they nothing better to do than slate our industry ????

Maybe they should concentrate on issues which have not yet been resolved such as,why is it that 9 times out of 10 you go to the quacks and you come away with nothing but a diagnosis of a viral infection !!!!!

Someone needs to set the record straight so they leave us alone to earn our living at being a professional !!!!

I sat mouth open couldn't believe what I was hearing and the worst of it we never got to hear or see what the tech was doing as the link broke so the last thing heard was that the glue was used to stick down FLOORING and contained MMA great all bad press
I do think we need to get GMG, Mrs Geek, Geeg, mum and anyone else who can put the facts right on gmtv.

So here's what I've done .. here's my email to GMTV ...

There seems to have been an inordinate amount of bad press resulting from the recent study carried out in Bristol with statistics being quoted rather than factual information. Why could they not say that 80% passed, but sadly 20% did not come up to scratch and give the reasons why?

The nail industry is relatively new and growing all the time. The 80% of us that work correctly are tired of the 20% bringing us down. We want them gone so why don't the EHO's make more of an effort to get their act together or close them down,? I've heard of one client having had terrible infections as a result of a sub standard salon, who was accused as being racist by her EHO when she mentioned it was Vietnamese run. Germs and infections are not aware of race!

Also EHO's are pretty ignorant of the beauty industry as a whole. Having seen MMA referred to as glue, it is not glue it is a liquid monomer that is used in some of the worst salons. (And we don't ever use glue, we use resin.) We are campaigning to get this product banned as it is in many States in America. But no one listens to us.

Watchdog did a similar report to yours a while ago and all it did was confuse the public and scare them from ever entering a nail salon. Advising people to check out a technician's qualifications is not a guaranteed indicator to the standards within a salon. After all we've all passed our driving test, but how many of us continue to drive as we were taught? What you should be doing is telling people exactly what to look for in a good salon ... starting frm the client consultation right down to the aftercare. After all if a consultation is not completed then how will the technician know if there are any contraindicatons to prevent or adapt their treatments?

So when you interview someone perhaps you could speak to an authority within the industry, after all how do you know that you aren't interviewing one of the 20%? Please just for once report responsibly, but then there's nothing like bad news to get the ratings is there.
Sarah Haslam, LCN Advanced Nail Technician of 6 years experience. www.buff-online.co.uk