Acrylic monomers

[JessHens]

Just wondering if there is any such thing as a non smelling Acrylic Monomer? When I complete my Nail course I plan to do nails from home.. I currently do my own as practice and I’ve got a sample of NSI Attractions Acrylic but the smell is over powering my house even with a window open (Winter here in Aussie Land).. Even though I don’t mind the smell I have 2 little children in the house..

So is there such a thing as a nice smelling monomer? And are they available in Australia?

 

[Trinity]

In a simple word, no, there are 'odour free monomers' but they are not popular due to setting/curing issues - they take much longer to set and can cause other product breakdown issues. You would be better minimising the odours, metal bin, capped dappen dish, only dispense as much as you need, no wiping your brush on couch roll (saturate a cotton pad with IPA and wipe on that), etc. An extractor would be your best buy, for both odour and dust but if you use best practise odour control can be managed.

There is no issue with the smell, it's no different to household bleach or perm lotion - it won't hurt anyone. Remember Carbon monoxide will kill you but has no smell - smell is not an indicator of risk

 

[7th-Heaven]

If you want to keep using liquid and powder, it would be best to have a good look at how to minimise the odours and invest in an extractor. The monomer smell bothers me to no end as well, I absolutely cannot stand the smell so I understand the predicament.

 

[stumars]

Hi, If you have any odor issues in the salon I can help. No sprays or mists so there is no residue.

Delete if not allowed please

 

[BobSweden]

What we see is that acrylic is being increasingly replaced by acrylgels. These are odourless, similar application to pre-mixed acrylic but of course need to be cured in a UV lamp.

 

[thenailbusiness]

Even though the smell can be strong for some, it’s like Trinity said not dangerous. It can be a trigger for people who are sensitive to smells and therefore be an issue, but far from dangerous. Ive always learned that odour free acrylics are more harmful since they are added masking ingredients to remove the smell, but the monomer still gives off gas’s that you don’t notice the strength of and can harm you even more. If you want to work out of your home and do liquid and powder you should invest in a system or in methods of minimising it like suggested by a lot of the comments. And also this might sound strange, but since you are new to nails you will pick up the smell more strongly than you will after some time. Also the smaller the space you work in the more you will notice the smell. Good luck in figuring it out and hope you have a wonderful time the rest of your class !

 

[Ambermist]

Hi, Ravair Ltd, www.ravair.co.uk make a small 2 speed activated carbon extraction unit that is designed specifically for home or mobile use. It also has an internal UV light that will kill bacteria and an Ion Generator to provide an "air vitamin" (you can google that for more info on health benefits), If you check out the Ravair website you can download the Full Independent Lab report that proves without doubt that the unit will remove these fumes and toxins to "99.999" efficiency.and meets and exceeds all the health and safety requirements of Coshh SR13. It costs less that £100 and it works in Australia but you would need to contact them to get a shipping cost.

 

[Ambermist]

"Even though the smell can be strong for some, it’s like Trinity said not dangerous. It can be a trigger for people who are sensitive to smells and therefore be an issue, but far from dangerous."

This statement is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE and misleading, the following stats are cut and pasted from the NSI Safety Data Sheets freely available on their website. These facts would apply to any product with these ingredients in them and most, if not all, liquid monomers do.
ALL Acrylic nail products in the NSI Safety Data Sheets read like this in one form or another, these products are Extremely Dangerous if the proper precautions are not taken.

Identification of the product : Liquid. Type of product : Organic compounds. Use : For professional use only
Components: This product is hazardous.

Substance name Contents CAS No EC No Annex No Classification;
Ethyl Methacrylate : > 75 % 97-63-2 202-597-5 607-071-00-2 F; R11 Xi; R36/37/38 R43
HEMA : > 5 < 10 % 868-77-9 212-782-2 607-124-00-X Xi; R36/38 R43
Triethyleneglycol Dimethacrylate : > 5 < 10 % 109-16-0 203-652-6 -----
Dimethyltolylamine : > 1 < 3 % 99-97-8 202-805-4 612-056-00-9 T; R23/24/25 R33 R52-53
2-(2-hydroxy-3,5-di(tert)-amylphenyl) : < 1 % 25973-55-1 247-384-8 ----- benzotriazole
Benzophenone 12 : < 0.5 % 1843-05-6 217-421-2 -----
CI 60725 / Violet 2 : < 0.5 % 81-48-1 201-353-5

Primary Route of Exposure: Vapours inhalation. Skin and eyes contact.

First aid measures -
Inhalation : Assure fresh air breathing. Inhalation of vapour can cause Breathing Difficulties, Cough, Headache, Dry Throat. Obtain medical attention.
Skin contact :Repeated Exposure may cause sensitization due to allergic reaction of the skin. Prolonged or repeated contact may cause skin to become dry or cracked. Remove affected clothing and wash all exposed skin area with mild soap and water, followed by warm water rinse. -
Eye contact : Rinse immediately with plenty of water. Redness, Pain, Blurred Vision, Burning Sensation. Obtain medical attention if pain, blinking, tears or redness persist. -
Ingestion : Abdominal Pain, Nausea. Rinse mouth. Do not induce vomiting. Seek medical attention if ill effect develops

Personal protection -
Respiratory protection : In case of insufficient ventilation, wear suitable respiratory equipment. -
Hand protection : Gloves. -
Skin protection : In case of possible repeated skin contact wear protective clothing. -
Eye protection : Goggles. -
Ingestion : When using, do not eat, drink or smoke.

Hazardous reactions: May release flammable gasses.
Hazardous Properties: May form flammable/explosive vapour-air mixture.

General: Dispose of this material and it's container at hazardous or special waste collection point. Dispose in a safe manner in accordance with local/national regulations

 

[7th-Heaven]

Her question isn't whether the monomer smell is dangerous or not, that was never the point of the thread. The point she was making was regarding the strong SMELL, which bothers a lot of people regardless of safety. However, she's received many valid answers on odour control now including the option to switch to acrygel, gel etc.

 

[thenailbusiness]

"Even though the smell can be strong for some, it’s like Trinity said not dangerous. It can be a trigger for people who are sensitive to smells and therefore be an issue, but far from dangerous."

This statement is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE and misleading, the following stats are cut and pasted from the NSI Safety Data Sheets freely available on their website. These facts would apply to any product with these ingredients in them and most, if not all, liquid monomers do.
ALL Acrylic nail products in the NSI Safety Data Sheets read like this in one form or another, these products are Extremely Dangerous if the proper precautions are not taken.

Identification of the product : Liquid. Type of product : Organic compounds. Use : For professional use only
Components: This product is hazardous.

Substance name Contents CAS No EC No Annex No Classification;
Ethyl Methacrylate : > 75 % 97-63-2 202-597-5 607-071-00-2 F; R11 Xi; R36/37/38 R43
HEMA : > 5 < 10 % 868-77-9 212-782-2 607-124-00-X Xi; R36/38 R43
Triethyleneglycol Dimethacrylate : > 5 < 10 % 109-16-0 203-652-6 -----
Dimethyltolylamine : > 1 < 3 % 99-97-8 202-805-4 612-056-00-9 T; R23/24/25 R33 R52-53
2-(2-hydroxy-3,5-di(tert)-amylphenyl) : < 1 % 25973-55-1 247-384-8 ----- benzotriazole
Benzophenone 12 : < 0.5 % 1843-05-6 217-421-2 -----
CI 60725 / Violet 2 : < 0.5 % 81-48-1 201-353-5

Primary Route of Exposure: Vapours inhalation. Skin and eyes contact.

First aid measures -
Inhalation : Assure fresh air breathing. Inhalation of vapour can cause Breathing Difficulties, Cough, Headache, Dry Throat. Obtain medical attention.
Skin contact :Repeated Exposure may cause sensitization due to allergic reaction of the skin. Prolonged or repeated contact may cause skin to become dry or cracked. Remove affected clothing and wash all exposed skin area with mild soap and water, followed by warm water rinse. -
Eye contact : Rinse immediately with plenty of water. Redness, Pain, Blurred Vision, Burning Sensation. Obtain medical attention if pain, blinking, tears or redness persist. -
Ingestion : Abdominal Pain, Nausea. Rinse mouth. Do not induce vomiting. Seek medical attention if ill effect develops

Personal protection -
Respiratory protection : In case of insufficient ventilation, wear suitable respiratory equipment. -
Hand protection : Gloves. -
Skin protection : In case of possible repeated skin contact wear protective clothing. -
Eye protection : Goggles. -
Ingestion : When using, do not eat, drink or smoke.

Hazardous reactions: May release flammable gasses.
Hazardous Properties: May form flammable/explosive vapour-air mixture.

General: Dispose of this material and it's container at hazardous or special waste collection point. Dispose in a safe manner in accordance with local/national regulations

I see your point and I appreciate your views on this. I think you are misunderstanding me. What I meant is the smell of monomer is not dangerous. Yes the vapour from it can cause problems with overexposure and sometimes allergy if used incorrectly but it’s made for salon use and approved to use on nails and applied by a human technician. If applied right and with the right environment there shouldn’t be a problem. The reason you use cover your airway is usually not for the vapours of monomer, but for the dust. You would need a specialty airway protection to block out those fumes and I don’t think we would be allowed to work with them if they where that dangerous.

I think instead of making this a debate on the dangers of monomer I would recommend everyone to do their own research on how this works and effects you and contact your distributor or instructor for guidance.

Doug Schoon is an excellent source for information!

 

[Ambermist]

"Her question isn't whether the monomer smell is dangerous or not, that was never the point of the thread."

Whist I don't mind a healthy debate, I think that the above statement is quite wrong. When the post has the statement "Even though I don’t mind the smell I have 2 little children in the house" in it it certainly implies to me that she is concerned about the dangers and not just the smell. Also I have not tried to "make a debate on the dangers of momomer" I merely posted the Safety Data Sheets of the exact product the poster is using and pointed out it is dangerous if "proper precautions are not taken"

 

[7th-Heaven]

"Her question isn't whether the monomer smell is dangerous or not, that was never the point of the thread."

Whist I don't mind a healthy debate, I think that the above statement is quite wrong. When the post has the statement "Even though I don’t mind the smell I have 2 little children in the house" in it it certainly implies to me that she is concerned about the dangers and not just the smell. Also I have not tried to "make a debate on the dangers of momomer" I merely posted the Safety Data Sheets of the exact product the poster is using and pointed out it is dangerous if "proper precautions are not taken"

Of course I wasn't referring to anyone specifically in my post, hence why I have not quoted anyone in particular, as there are several people not just yourself who have pointed out the safety (or lack of) regarding monomer in the house. And while it may have been implied in her post, it can just as easily be implied that the children simply dislike the strong odour, as many people certainly would, regardless of any potential danger.
My point was: The OP posted a question on whether there was a monomer that smelled nicer than most monomers, she said the smell of her monomer is "overpowering the house" and wants a fix to the odour issue. It doesn't really help her predicament to hear several people tell her the smell isn't dangerous. Her house is still going to have an overpowering odour, and her peace of mind regarding potential safety isn't going to make the odour disappear. That said, she has also received good advice on monomer odour control.

 

[Cindy2021]

What we see is that acrylic is being increasingly replaced by acrylgels. These are odourless, similar application to pre-mixed acrylic but of course need to be cured in a UV lamp.

Can I ask where you see this?
I considered training in acrygel however I work with acrylic and can’t see any benefit

 

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

I have the table top Ravair unit. Unfortunately even on full blast you can still smell the monomer. I’m pretty desensitised to the smell now so it’s hard to say if it’s making a noticeable reduction in the aroma for my clients.

 

[Ambermist]

"I have the table top Ravair unit. Unfortunately even on full blast you can still smell the monomer"

We spoke with the poster, Alison, and she is using the unit in rooms over 22 metres squared which is double the recommended size. It will clean rooms this size overnight but not cope with catching the fumes before they disperse into the large room. This came in last week or so ;

“My nail room is in the back of a salon and sunbed shop, it is quite small, just big enough for my desk and a small seating area for waiting and some storage.
I was loaned the fume extractor by Rachel who was trialing it for ravair, as my room was the target size for this unit she had asked me to give it a try and let her know the results.
Well what can I say?? It is amazing!
As my room has no large ventilation, only a small top opening window, I find it hard to keep the smell of monomer to a minimum, especially in winter when opening the window is not an option as it makes the room too cold.
Within the first hour of plugging in the unit some of my colleagues from the salon commented that if already smelled better when the door is opened and closed, usually the fumes flood in and out into the larger space.
I left it plugged in and running over the weekend and when I came back on Monday even I noticed how much the smell had gone. I’d go as far as saying gone completely.

I was very skeptical, and I have been thoroughly impressed.

Highly recommend this unit

Jilly @polishes nails