Originally Posted by The Nail Geek

According to my Grampy legend has it that unbeknownst to us late at night whilst we sleep, the mystic little Fear Fairies are hard at work sewing together webs of misunderstanding and confusion.
Why would they do this you might ponder whilst tapping the theme from Eastenders upon your temple with your nagger finger? Well, according to Grampy, things have just gotten progressively worse for them since those Cottingley photographs.
In this months article we will look at some common myths that these teeny thugs have been pumping out as of late.

Organic products are better for the nail.

This concept ebbs and flows with the clarity of a tropical Blackpool Paradise resort.
What is the benefit of an Organic nail enhancement system? Is it safer? Is it healthier? Will it give me biceps that would turn the Hulk green with envy?

We all naturally associate the word Organic with peace, love and soft fluffy bunnies. That is because the word “Organic” sounds great compared to its antithesis sounding cousin “Chemical” which we have all been brought up to believe is a synonym for nuclear-disaster. Funnily enough, in chemistry the word “Organic” is defined as a compound (or chemical) containing carbon. For example, humans are carbon based life forms (or so Spock claims) we can be considered Organic. In fact, a hell ova lot of stuff can be classified as ‘Organic’. Come to think of it… I can not come up with a single nail enhancement product that is not organic. I can also think of no particular reason why it would benefit a nail technician to believe that their product is Organic whereas others are supposedly not… I mean, isn’t it like someone marketing you their Milk as being All-White?

Drills are the root of all evil and suffering

Some people get really up in arms when the dreaded D word is mentioned. Parties on both side of the fence get themselves into a frothing frenzy announcing and denouncing the benefits and dangers of Electric Files.

The key concerns regarding the safe use of Electric Files are the following:

• They cause more fine dust particulates which can pose a greater health risk than hand filing alone.
• They can aggravate some CTD’s like Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
• They can cause massive micro shattering of your product leading to weaker enhancements.
• There is a dramatic increase in the potential for nail plate damage when using an electric file.

Does this mean they are evil? I don’t believe so. I do find it evil that anyone with some £££ and zero training can purchase electric files right off of a shelf and start to go to work on clients. In fact, I had the pleasure of watching one of these individuals with no training actually drill through a natural nail plate whilst working on a paying customer. Was the Electric Files to blame, or was it the technician, or the seller of the Electric File?
While I do not personally use Electric Files, they do have a place for many within our industry when combined with proper certification and some common sense (like never using an electric file one on the natural nail plate). Tools are not evil, only lack of education is.

ABC products are bad for your nail plate so you should be using XYZ

Here we start running into the Organic trap again. Any liquid and powder system, Gel system, Fibreglass and or Resin system are all acrylics and therefore all as potentially harmful and/or beneficial for your nail plate as the other.
There is not a system around that can cause damage to your natural nail plate all by its lonesome so therefore there is not a system around that is better or worse for the natural nail plate. It all comes down to the application, maintenance, and removal of the system in question.
However there are some systems that lend themselves to promoting nail plate damage simply through their use. For instance, MMA can not cause damage to the natural nail plate; however it does require massive abrasion to the surface of the nail plate in order to get any adhesion (for you naysayer, there is plenty of laboratory data to prove this). Therefore, if you use MMA, chances are your clients plates are ruined from your preparation techniques, not MMA.

Final thoughts

Final? I think not. I am only getting warmed up. Sadly however, I hit my word count limit for this article round about 3 paragraphs ago and therefore I must continue this discussion another time for fear of Al’s fairies coming over to ruffle me up. The last item I shall part with is something my Grampy used to say to me when I was but a wee lad.

“Do not feed the fear fairies with the ignorance that makes them fat and full of sass; slap them with a dose of education upside their big ol wing tipped um…er… buttcheek.” –Grampy Geek